O/T:- Football & Politics

[sidders]

There's been scarcely a mention on here of something very important happening to football at the moment. Over the last year - starting with Rashford - footballers have opted to put the sport that makes them a living into a bigger context. 20 years ago it would have been unthinkable that a professional player would dare to criticise a member of the cabinet much less take on their policies and force change.
I would like to lift what Owen Jones said in today's paper:
For most of the nation’s under-40s – the generations known as millennials and zoomers – Tory Britain represents a double-pronged onslaught on their economic security and deeply held social values. When Marcus Rashford – a “23-year-old black man from Withington and Wythenshawe”, in his own words – shamed the government into feeding hundreds of thousands of children, he was leading a rebellion on behalf of that most voiceless demographic, the young working class. Since 2010, when the Conservatives came to power with the help of the Liberal Democrats, 800,000 children in working households have been driven below the breadline; however momentarily, they were handed one of the nation’s loudest megaphones. When the England team took the knee, they affirmed the value of the lives of Black people in a nation whose government has cynically fanned racism for electoral ends, up to and including constructing a hostile environment that deported Windrush-generation Britons from their own country.
Should players stay out of politics?

[laddo]

No.

[Elite_Pie]

No, just like in any other walk of life they should be free to say whatever their conscience tells them to say.

[crazyfists]

I think players should (if they want to) get involved in causes that are important to them. They have a platform and can do alot of good.

[countygump]

No, just like in any other walk of life they should be free to say whatever their conscience tells them to say.

Haven't high profile people always had their say on political issues since the days of Dylan and Lennon? The only difference now it that sportsman, (especially footy players) are possible a lot more higher profile than they have ever been. So no, it's not really any different to the way it's always been.

[Elite_Pie]

Haven't high profile people always had their say on political issues since the days of Dylan and Lennon?

Yes they have, and from memory I think that very few of these high profile celebs have held right wing views. Does that make them 'champagne socialists', or does it make them people who can still see right from wrong despite their vast wealth?

[countygump]

Yes they have, and from memory I think that very few of these high profile celebs have held right wing views. Does that make them 'champagne socialists', or does it make them people who can still see right from wrong despite their vast wealth?

It makes them people who are generous with their advice, but not so much with their money.

[upthemaggies]

Yes they have, and from memory I think that very few of these high profile celebs have held right wing views. Does that make them 'champagne socialists', or does it make them people who can still see right from wrong despite their vast wealth?

Dylan went through his political signwriting phase to impress his then girlfriend. After the relationship was over, he changed direction, went electric and got booed and called a Judas at every concert he played.

Lennon admitted he went through his political phase out of guilt at the wealth he was accumulating after he was attacked by the underground newspaper "Red Mole" for his stance on his song "Revolution," which was basically opposed to the anti-capitalist movement. Just before he died he wrote a song addressed to himself called "I don't wanna face it" which included the line "Say you wanna save humanity but it's people that you just can't stand."

[Elite_Pie]

It makes them people who are generous with their advice, but not so much with their money.

That's fine with me. Even with the vast amounts a footballer at the very top level earns it's still just a tiny piss dribble in the ocean in the bigger picture. It's not a footballer's job to make the world a better place, that's down to politicians. If Marcus Rashford can force Boris into a humiliating U-turn, he's alright by me.

[BigFatPie]

It makes them people who are generous with their advice, but not so much with their money.

So not only does Marcus Rashford have to campaign to feed school kids, he’s got to pay for it himself?

And we’ve no idea how generous either he or anyone else is with their money.