O/T:- Football & Politics

[Magpies1959]

Is it ok then for footballers to get involved in politics if they do not agree with 'taking the knee' for example. As the black ex Florist player did quite recently. This would not necessarily make him a racist by the way.

[countygump]

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.

No, we've no idea and it's none of my business either. Not sure I suggested that Rashford should pay, but posting wild inaccuracies has never stopped you before, so carry on.

[BigFatPie]

No, we've no idea and it's none of my business either. Not sure I suggested that Rashford should pay, but posting wild inaccuracies has never stopped you before, so carry on.

Oh. What did you mean then?

[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?

That was the original post I replied to and my answer was.

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

[BigFatPie]

That was the original post I replied to and my answer was.

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

I suppose the same thing applies to them as to Rashford.

The champagne socialist nonsense is one of the more pervasive themes of the right wing media. The idea that you can have done alright for yourself but not then be allowed a social conscience is obviously rubbish. Quite handy for conservative central office though.

[i961pie]

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?

Is that the same Owen Jones who writes for the Guardian? The left wing Labour party activist who also writes for the New Statesman by any chance?

[sidders]

Is that the same Owen Jones who writes for the Guardian? The left wing Labour party activist who also writes for the New Statesman by any chance?

Indeed it is. So?

[BigFatPie]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics...e_iOSApp_Other

Snouts in troughs provided by betting companies.

[cher1]

What is is with editing a post that makes it disappear? Such a pain.

Owen Jones? The nasty misogynist (allegedly)?

That aside, if footballers wish to use their fame to campaign for equality and social fairness, that's fine by me. We're living in strange times where celebrities (of all sorts) have the loudest voices, and considerable influence.

It's interesting that footballers feel emboldened to share their political views, that's a relatively recent phenomenon. I guess that the ever more overt racism fuelled by Trump, the murder of George Floyd and, to a point, Brexit, has conversely given people courage to speak up. That's a good thing as far as I'm concerned.

[cher1]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics...e_iOSApp_Other

Snouts in troughs provided by betting companies.

Snouts in troughs provided by many companies it seems. Tennis, rugby, Facebook, and over £20k to Yvette Cooper from one company. The document itself makes such depressing reading.