Whereas in the UK sport is class-associated, in Cyprus sport is politically-orientated. This is a current phenomenon that sucks the pleasure out of sport; divides rather than unites, thus creating more problems and (wrongly) states that if you support team X you must support political party X, rather than Y.
You can imagine the complications and frustrations this arouses.
I am a football fan. I am not saying which team I support but I will say that my attitude towards sport is free of my passions for politics. This is because a) my political opinion is fluid (as I constantly re-evaluate our nation’s political process and my political beliefs), whereas my loyalty to my team is not fluid; and b) sport never was ever linked to politics so why now?
I was shocked to discover that during out Presidential elections of 2008, several teams conducted a press conference stating which candidate they support. Why? For what reason? What would that have achieved? In a way it was a selling of votes. Yes, we all more or less follow our parent’s political inclinations (not me) but now, as football teams advertise, literally as well as figuratively, who they are supporting, thousands of half-brain dead football hooligans will go out and vote for that specific political party. Because Ronaldo says so!
Don’t you just love democracy?
It amazes me how we now come to identify our political beliefs with that of the football team we support; it’s like an outfit where all colours must match (but do not necessarily have to). People do not realise that with politics and sport, you do not need to wear the same colours all the time. You need to mix and match, and not follow the rules, except the off-side rule which no-one understands.
Can you imagine if the same thing happened with fashion?
‘Well I wear Gucci, so I support the conservatives.’
‘What? F. U! I only buy Juicy Couture because I’m a liberal!’ It would be complete mayhem. At least the fights would involve (fake) fur rather than fists.
(But one question remains: if fashion follows politics? Does that mean Oxfam is communism?)
No comments:
Post a Comment