Sports

Football As A Commons

September 15, 2024 Yavor Tarinski, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Create! Privatization, Soccer, Sports, The Commons

In his book Football in Sun and in Shadow, Eduardo Galeano pointed at the commercialization of the world’s most famous sport and its detachment from the grassroots. In it he says that “when the sport became an industry, the beauty that blossoms from the joy of play, got torn out by its very roots. Professional football condemns all that is useless and useless means not profitable.”2 Once again we saw this in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil where modern football appeared for what it really is: a mechanism serving the logic of constant capital accumulation, aggressive towards those at the bottom who cannot afford to participate in this celebration of modern consumerist culture.

United States Elites Fail To Sink Chinese Swimmers

August 12, 2024 Rick Sterling, Resumen English. Educate! China, Doping, Media, Olympics, Propaganda, Racism, Sports

US political and media elites tried but failed to sink the Chinese swimming team at the Paris Olympics. The Chinese swimmers performed well despite the increased stress caused by media-induced rumors of “Chinese doping”. And now, the tables are being turned as the US anti-doping regime is coming under increasing scrutiny and criticism. The media manufactured cloud of suspicion Just a few months ago the NY Times and German ARD media ignited the controversy with an “investigation” regarding an incident from December 2021. At that time, 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive for a trace amount of the heart medication Trimetazadine (TMZ) during a swim meet for top swimmers from across the country.

A Historic Ruling: NCAA Ordered To Pay Student Athletes

May 29, 2024 Otis Grotewohl, Workers' World. Create! Athletes, Higher Education, NCAA, Sports, Victory, Worker Rights

A historic working-class victory was achieved on May 23, when the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) bosses agreed to settle three federal antitrust cases that were filed by three student athletes. The agreement will allow schools to directly pay student players for the first time in history. In what is known as the “amateurism model,” college athletes have traditionally been excluded from receiving any compensation for their athletic talent, name recognition and labor. The recent settlement is expected to change that super-exploitative practice. The NCAA Board of Governors, as well as the parasitic leaders of its five “power conferences” — the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), Big Ten, Big 12, Southeastern Conference (SEC) and Pac-12 — agreed to pay more than $2.8 billion in back pay and damages over the next 10 years to both past and current athletes.

Irish Women Basketball Players Protest Israel’s Genocide In Gaza

February 12, 2024 People's Dispatch. Resist! Basketball, BDS Movement, boycott, International Solidarity, Ireland, Israel, Palestine, Sports

Defying heavy pressure and the threat of sanctions and expulsion, the members of the Irish basketball team, playing in Riga, Latvia at the Women’s EuroBasket qualifier match, refused to shake the hands of the opposing team, Israel. Five members of the Irish team decided not to play in the match at all. The move was in response to allegations of antisemitism from the Israeli team against the Irish team and Basketball Ireland, which had raised objections to playing against Israel amid its ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people. Ahead of the match on February 8, progressive organizations in Ireland including Irish Sport for Palestine, People Before Profit, Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC), had urged Basketball Ireland to boycott the match with Israel organized by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA).

‘We Will Not Leave’: The Canary Talks To The Gaza Sunbirds Paracycling Team

November 28, 2023 Steve Topple, The Canary. Resist! Apartheid, colonization, Gaza, Genocide, Israel, Palestine, Sports

As Israel pauses its bombing of Gaza during a temporary cessation of violence, both it and Hamas have been releasing hostages. However, it is likely that Israel’s attempted genocide in Gaza and the Occupied Territories will continue after the so-called temporary ceasefire ends. Israel has already killed nearly 15,000 people in Gaza, including over 6,100 children – and injured more than 36,000 more. Moreover, it has obliterated much of the territory, destroying vital infrastructure and homes. It is unlikely that Israel will end there – hence people’s objections to a ceasefire in the first place. Moreover, journalists are reporting Israel has breached the ceasefire, regardless – as its forces fired on Palestinians trying to return to Northern Gaza, killing two people.

Ahead Of The Final Four, Houston Criminalizes Homelessness

March 25, 2023 Arturo Dominguez, Unicorn Riot. Educate! Homelessness, Houston, Human Rights, Sports, Texas

In Houston, TX., where the NCAA Final Four (college basketball tournament championship games) will take place March 31 – April 3, the mayor’s office has taken it a step beyond displacing the unhoused. Mayor Sylvester Turner’s office has ordered police to target people feeding those in need. After opening a facility to move people miles from downtown from a homeless encampment near Minute Maid Park and the Toyota Center, Mayor Turner began invoking old city ordinances to ticket Food Not Bombs Houston (FNBH) food-sharing volunteers and trying to discourage them from doing what they’ve done for decades: feeding people at the Houston Public Library every night.

Baseball Players Defeated Non-Competes To Build Union

February 21, 2023 Brian Callaci, Labor Notes. Strategize! Baseball, History, Noncompete Clause, Sports, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

The Federal Trade Commission has proposed to ban the non-compete clause—a type of coercive labor contract that prevents workers from leaving their employer to work for a competitor. One in five workers labors under a non-compete agreement, costing workers $300 billion annually. The AFL-CIO was part of a large coalition of organizations petitioning the FTC for a ban on non-competes in 2019. Now the FTC is considering banning them. The long struggle of Major League Baseball players shows how the fight against non-competes can be linked with increasing union strength.

Dodger Stadium Concession Workers Threaten An All-Star Strike

July 15, 2022 Peter Dreier and Kelly Candaele, Capital & Main. Resist! California, Sports, Strike, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

Among the owners of Major League Baseball’s 30 teams, 24 are billionaires. For decades they have complained that labor costs — particularly players’ salaries and pensions, but also the stadium workers who park cars; sell hot dogs, beer, peanuts and T-shirts; clean the stadiums; show fans to their seats; and provide security — have undermined baseball’s finances. Yet since 2011, the teams’ average value has tripled — from $523 million ($680 million in today’s dollars) to $2.1 billion. Mark Walter, the founder and CEO of Guggenheim Partners, a Chicago-based investment company with over $310 billion in assets under management, has a personal net worth of $3.7 billion. In 2012, Walter and his partners purchased the Los Angeles Dodgers for $2.15 billion in cash — a record cash amount for any sports franchise. The team is now valued at $4.1 billion, according to Forbes magazine.

Fans Remind US About Its Number Of Military Interventions During Game

March 21, 2022 Sputnik News. Resist! Serbia, Sports, US Imperialism, Wars and Militarism

Fans of Red Star Belgrade rolled out banners featuring the number of US military interventions during the club's match on Thursday. According to local media, the performance was dedicated to the anniversary of the ethnically-motivated violence against Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija. The banners featured the number of all military operations US forces have participated in since the Second World War, including the first Gulf War, the bombing of Yugoslavia, as well as the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. The banners also featured a line from an anti-war song by the late singer John Lennon: "All we are saying is give peace a chance". Red Star Belgrade defeated Rangers 2-1, but this was not enough to progress to the quarterfinals of the Europa League as the club lost 3-0 during the first leg.

Just Stop Oil Supporter Locks To Goalpost During Football Game

March 19, 2022 Just Stop Oil. Resist! Oil and Gas, Sports, United Kingdom (UK), Youth Activism

At 8:50 PM today, a young supporter of Just Stop Oil ran onto the pitch during the Everton vs Newcastle United game to draw attention to the group’s demand that the Government ends all new fossil fuel supply projects. Louis, 21, locked on to the goalpost at Goodison Park wearing a Just Stop Oil t-shirt, causing the referee to stop play or nearly 10 minutes. The shirt featured a link – bit.ly/WeHaveNoFuture – which leads to a short video message. Louis said: “It’s 2022 and it’s time to look up, time to step up and not stand by. It’s time to act like it’s an emergency. “Report after report is telling me that my future is going to be dire, and my government is telling me not to worry and pay into a pension. “My generation is being shafted — we face a cost of living crisis, a housing crisis, a fuel crisis and an unlivable planet — but we have a choice. We can choose to highlight that our climate is breaking down, we can choose to resist this government that is betraying us, we can choose to step up and not stand by.”

Cleveland MLB Team Renamed The ‘Guardians’

July 26, 2021 Levi Rickert, Native News Online. Resist! Cleveland, Indigenous Rights, Sports

“I have seen first-hand the harm that mascot names and imagery cause to the self-esteem and self-confidence of our young people. I know only too well what the research proves about the harm the imagery does to them. By selecting a team name and image that reflects a city’s shared values and celebrates all its citizens, the Cleveland Guardians have set a welcome and higher standard for how change can be managed by listening to all community members, including all voices in a shared vision, and helping a city, an enterprise, and citizens grow as they move forward.”

For A Workers’ Olympics!

July 23, 2021 Nathaniel Flakin, Left Voice. Create! Germany, Olympics, Sports, Women's Rights

We need a Workers’ Olympics as an alternative to the bourgeois Olympics! This might sound like an empty slogan, but the International Workers’ Olympiads took place from 1921 to 1937. The workers’ movement had always organized its own sports competitions. The Workers’ Olympiads let workers from all over the world exercise and compete together. Participants did not march under national flags — instead, everyone used the same red flag as the universal banner of labor.

German Olympic Gymnastics Team Will Wear Unitards In Protest

July 23, 2021 Greg Evans, Indy100. Resist! Olympics, Protests, Sports

Germany’s women’s Olympic gymnastic team will wear unitards at the Tokyo 2020 games in protest against the “sexualisation” of the sport. The team will wear full-body outfits that cover their legs from hip to ankle. This is an obvious difference from the traditional leotard which usually leaves the entire leg and hip exposed on the female gymnasts. The unitard, although breaking from conventions, doesn’t defy the rules of the competition.

The Tokyo Olympics Are In Peril

July 8, 2021 Dave Zirin, Edge of Sports. Resist! COVID-19, Olympics, Pandemic, Sports

Ten thousand people. That’s how many Olympic volunteers quit their posts in Tokyo, with the games just 50 days away. That is one of every eight volunteers needed to pull off the 2021 (still called the 2020) Olympics. This is just the latest warning sign that, despite the Panglossian protestations of the International Olympic Committee, this summer’s Games are in peril. Japan is currently wrestling with a coronavirus upsurge and less than 3 percent of the population is vaccinated. According to polls, as much as 80 percent of the country does not want to host the games, for fear of it exacerbating this omnipresent public health crisis, currently classified as a state of emergency. The masses of Tokyo want to postpone or cancel the games, but the government says it’s the IOC’s decision, not the host country’s, sovereignty be damned.

Visibility Alone Will Not Keep Transgender Youth Safe

April 1, 2021 Chase Strangio and Raquel Willis, The Nation. Educate! Human Rights, Sports, State Government, Transgender Rights

On March 3, Missouri father Brandon Boulware begged lawmakers not to pass a bill that would ban his transgender daughter from participation in her dance squad, volleyball, and tennis teams. To date, a video of his testimony shared by the American Civil Liberties Union has impressively drawn more than 7.5 million views. But visibility alone has been no match for the tide of anti-trans legislation introduced over the past three months. The Missouri bill that Boulware testified against is just one of the more than 100 bills introduced around the country targeting trans people’s ability to update our identification documents to accurately reflect our gender, play sports in school, and access health care.

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