When you look at football in its rawest form, it is initially hard to see how it has become such a politically and financially powerful tool. From the Syrian refugees using breeze blocks as goalposts to the glistening multimillion pound academies of the world’s top clubs, the game remains, at heart, the same. It is a sport that, like rugby, cricket and tennis, can be picked up by just about anyone. Yet football stands alone – arguably commanding more respect and wielding greater power among ordinary people around the world than many governments.
Throughout history, the accessibility and universal appeal of football have made it a powerful means for fighting back against all forms of oppression, from Didier Drogba and his Ivory Coast teammates calling for an end to the civil war to Bundesliga clubs joining together against anti-immigration rhetoric, and from players taking the knee against racism to Marcus Rashford challenging the UK government over child food poverty.
As a girl growing up in east London in the early 1990s, I could feel the power of the game on every warm day when, with the balcony windows of my family’s council flat open, you could determine the score of the Arsenal men’s match from the faint far-off roars from Highbury, and from the cheers around the estate as people listened on radios and watched on televisions. A community united in celebration.
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