Colin Sheridan: In sport, principles now come at a price
Aston Villa's Anwar El Ghazi (centre) celebrates with team-mates Jack Grealish and Matty Cash.
Back in 2018, as the Black Lives Matter movement gathered momentum and America was in the grip of its first Trumpian nightmare, conservative TV host Laura Ingraham had something to say to sports stars who had the temerity to speak up and out on social issues.
Taking specific aim at LeBron James, Ingraham had this to say; "It's always unwise to seek political advice from someone who gets paid $100 million a year to bounce a ball," she said. "Keep the political comments to yourselves. ... Shut up and dribble.”
It was that last line, the one about the dribble, that caught fire. A rich, angry white woman telling an opinionated man of colour to shut up and get back to work was much more than just a political commentator reminding a pampered celebrity to stick to the sports.
It was a wolf whistle to racist, white America. James, as you would expect, did the opposite of shutting up, both on and off the court, proving that, when you are as powerful as he is, there is nobody going to shut you up.
Anwar El Ghazi is not LeBron James. He is an out-of-work professional footballer who last week had his contract terminated by Bundesliga side Mainz 05 over social media posts related to the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The action came at the same time the English FA informed clubs the governing body will consult with police if players use the phrase “from the river to the sea” in relation to the ongoing conflict.
The governing body’s statement comes after a now-deleted post on Twitter by Leicester’s Hamza Choudhury in which the player used the phrase in support of the Palestinian people.
In both the cases of El Ghazi and Choudhury, Mainz and the FA have reacted not - one would assume – out of an anti-Palestinian bias, but out of sensitivity towards Jewish communities in their respective countries, and with a heavy nod to the insidious reach of antisemitism.
In the case of Mainz and El Ghazi in particular, the context of Germany’s collective trauma regarding World War II and the Jewish Holocaust was an undeniable factor in his sacking. The islamophobia many Muslims in Germany face daily was probably not.
The El Ghazi case stands out as the first high-profile example of a sportsperson losing their job because of posts made on social media regarding the conflict in Gaza, a conflict that has seen Israel kill over 9,488 Palestinians in Gaza, including nearly 3,900 children and 2,500 women, and wound more than 23,516.
Palestinian Ministry of Health reports and international organisations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
After initially appearing to accept sanctions from Mainz, El Ghazi was due to return to training last Monday.
Instead, his contract was terminated on Wednesday, leading him to double down on his original position; “My position remains the same as it was when this started,” El Ghazi wrote. “I am against war and violence. I am against the killing of all innocent civilians.
"I am against all forms of discrimination. I am against Islamophobia. I am against anti-Semitism. I am against genocide. I am against apartheid. I am against occupation. I am against oppression.”
In a brief statement, Mainz said the player’s contract had been terminated because of his statements and posts on social media.
Undeterred, El Ghazi responded on Instagram: "Stand for what is right, even if it means standing alone. The loss of my livelihood is nothing when compared to the hell being unleashed on innocent and vulnerable in Gaza."
Since 7 October, all major political actors in Germany have been united in their unwavering support of Israel.
In that context, Mainz 05 will have surely felt on safe ground, cutting ties with El Ghazi. Other sports leagues, such as the Premier League, the NFL and the NBA will no doubt be taking note.
There is a problem here, however, that in forcing players to take a political stand on some issues - racism, the war in Ukraine, LGBT inclusion, wearing the poppy - it runs the risk of gross hypocrisy should more players - and more important players than El Ghazi - insist on taking a stand on the conflict, especially a stand at odds with Big Sport's commercial interests.
LeBron James was amongst the first high-profile stars to express unequivocal support for Israel in the aftermath of the October 7 attacks. As that support was in line with US foreign policy, his position was practically endorsed by the NBA.
In 2019, then Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey posted an image on his social media that was captioned "Fight for Freedom, Stand with Hong Kong."
The tweet almost collapsed the NBA’s lucrative relationship with China and caused a de facto diplomatic incident between Beijing and the US.
Rather than sanction Morey, the NBA backed his right to free speech. Quite an evolved position, you would think, until you dig a little deeper and discover Morey’s post coincided with the Trump administration's diplomatic shadowboxing with China, ergo his expression of support for Hong Kong played up to Washington's line that China was a human right abusing authoritarian state.
Money talks. It always has and always will. Anwar El Ghazi will undoubtedly sleep soundly at night knowing he stuck to his principles, regardless of the cost.
It will be interesting to see who, if any, follows him.
Mayo county finals - where Gaelic Football goes to die. Given the uproar that followed Ballina Stephenites' six points to four defeat of Breaffy last Sunday, it once again feels like the GAA has reached a tipping point in terms of amending the rules to “improve the product”.
The widely held perception is that, although a consensus that change is required is widely accepted, the bureaucracy and red tape required to implement whatever change is agreed upon is too tall a hill to climb, and because of that the status quo is likely to remain.
Just as the country was hanging its head in shame at the Castlebar Catastrophe, news broke that the association’s Standing Committee on Playing Rules was considering a major alteration to how the black card functions. As it stands, a player who is shown a black card in the final ten minutes of a game (therefore leaving the pitch), has that card carried into extra time should a game require it.
This is different to red and yellow cards, which do NOT carry over into extra time. Rather than change the policy concerning the latter, the GAA are considering altering the former, meaning black cards would no longer carry over. The player who is shown a black card inside the last ten minutes of a game would have to be replaced by a different player but would be available to come on off the bench.
Given what we saw in McHale Park – possession-obsessed football with incredibly poor skill level - the black card issue seems to point to a firm grasp of the non-essentials. Gaelic Football is stuck, unable to respond to evolutions in coaching and players' ever-increasing athletic capacity.
Tinkering with the black card is about as useful as putting a plaster on a breaking dam. What happened in Castlebar may well be a turning point. Who’d bet against Mayo saving Gaelic Football all over again?
What Jude Bellingham is doing at Real Madrid is simply astonishing. His two goals in last weekend's El Classico victory over Barcelona brought him to 13 goals in his first 13 games for the club, and he’s not even designated as a striker.
At 20, he has already surpassed his former Dortmund teammate Erling Haaland as the most exciting footballer on the planet. Doing it in Spain means that, bizarrely, to most football fans, he remains something of a mystery.
Should his rise continue, surely it puts England as favourites for Euro ‘24. How his national manager Gareth Southgate contrives to politely mess it all up remains to be seen, but with Bellingham in this form, it will take some doing.
The death of Bobby Knight, the legendary Indiana basketball coach, prompted the usual amount of complimentary testimony for a man who was widely regarded as a tough disciplinarian, a product of the old school, a military man who built good men.
For those interested in Knight, take a look at Jonathan Chait’s long read in the New York Mag, in which he pulls no punches. Knight, says Cait, was a “dreadful human, a grotesque model of twisted masculinity, and he should be remembered as a symbol of wickedness”. No doubt, given the state of the Leadership Industrial Complex, Knight’s methods will probably be taught on some MBA program, somewhere.
