Separation of sport and State: military salutations at US Major League Soccer events
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ARTICLE
Separation of sport and State: military salutations at US Major League Soccer events Kendra Magraw1
© T.M.C. Asser Instituut 2019
Abstract A central tenet of the international sports movement is that sport should be unfettered by politics—in other words, there must be a separation of sport and State. This is regulated by many governing bodies, such as the IOC and FIFA, which prohibit almost all forms of political statements. Nonetheless, sports events can be powerful platforms and many actors have utilised them for political means. This article addresses the now-common phenomenon at US professional sport events of paying homage to the military. This assumes various forms, often consisting of announcers directing the audience to pay tribute to the US armed forces or veterans prior to or during a match. A 2015 enquiry by two US Congresspersons exposed that the US Government had paid over USD 10 million to US professional sports leagues for such tributes, without disclosing the paid nature thereof to sports events audiences, a practice termed ‘paid patriotism’. Focusing on Major League Soccer, one league whose teams were documented to have held paid military tributes, this article argues that, paid or unpaid, such military salutations are impermissible political statements and thus inconsistent with the applicable (FIFA) regulations. Parallels are drawn to the wearing of poppies and associated homages on Remembrance Day organised by the English, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish Football Associations. As a result of the poppy controversy, IFAB modified the Laws of the Game leading up to the 2018 Russia World Cup to permit commemorations of a ‘significant national and international event’. Nevertheless, military salutations remain impermissible political statements within the modified rule. Keywords Political statements · Military tributes · Poppy gate · Poppy wars · Paid patriotism · MLS · FIFA · World Cup · IFAB Laws of the Game · Soccer · Football
1 Introduction A hush falls over the crowd of 70,000 people as the announcers request that attention be directed to enormous television screens in order to pay homage to the veterans of the country’s military services. As urged, the crowd rises to its feet in thunderous applause to thank the military and the soldiers for their service to the government and the country. On their feet still, the audience stands to attention as the national anthem blares over the speakers, while all other activities in the vicinity cease in observance. The above is not a description of the beginning of a political rally or nationalist event, but rather of a typical pre-game ceremony of the major professional sports in the USA, i.e. * Kendra Magraw 1
Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, Switzerland
American football, baseball, ice hockey, basketball and soccer.1 Such homages to the military at sports events have increased markedly in the past 15 years, i.e. in the period subsequent to the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in the USA when it
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