Politics and Sport

Abstract

For those people who continue to cling to the belief that politics ought to play no part in sport, the aftermath of the Brussels disaster provides an interesting case study. The disaster was an instant diplomatic incident. Prime ministers, Cabinets, Presidents and Ambassadors plunged into a dizzying whirl of political and diplomatic accusations, apologies and accepted responsibilities. Within hours, the British government offered a gift of £250 000 to the victims (having a few days earlier given Bangladesh £50 000 for a cyclone which cost tens of thousands of lives) and the British Prime Minister accepted national responsibility for the actions of a small band of marauding football fans.