World Wars & World Cups

Warfare

History Hit

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4.5 • 943 Ratings

🗓️ 12 December 2022

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

An accusation that has dogged the Qatar World Cup throughout the tournament is that of ‘sportswashing’. You’ve probably seen it in an article, or heard it in a news report. But what does ‘sportwashing’ actually mean, and where did it come from? While the term itself wasn't coined until 2015, the idea of despotic rulers and authoritarian regimes using large-scale sporting events to help cleanse their global image has been in practice for nearly a century — just look at the ‘Nazi Olympics’ in 1936. But how did Nazi Germany end up hosting those games, and what comes next for Qatar?

In today's episode, James is joined by Professor Martin Polley, the Director of the International Centre for Sports History and Culture at De Montfort University, to talk about the history of sportswashing. Together, they discuss the relationship between authoritarian regimes and Premier League football clubs, look at what the Nazis got right about the 1936 Olympics, and ask whether ‘sportwashing’ really does work…

This episode was edited by Joseph Knight and produced by Annie Coloe.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Apart from hearing England football fans chanting two World Wars and one World Cup but pretty much every major international game since the Second World War,
0:12.0	what is the relationship between World Wars and World
0:15.6	Cups?
0:16.6	Well, it comes down to this idea of sports washing, how controversial governments and despotic regimes choose to host sports events
0:26.0	in an attempt to cleanse their reputation on the world stage. We need only think
0:32.0	of Hitler and the 1936 Olympics, known as the Hitler Olympics, or Russia in 2018
0:38.8	after their first invasion of Ukraine or even Argentina in 1978 before invading the Falkland Islands.
0:46.0	And of course the controversies around Qatar hosting the FIFA World Cup today are another
0:51.8	pertinent example of sports washing. Put simply, there are many
0:56.2	instances where war and sport cross over. Now I'm your host James Rogers, this is the
1:02.1	warfare podcast and to take us through a history of sports washing I've invited Professor Martin Polly onto the podcast now Martin is a sports historian he is director of the International Center for Sports History and Culture,
1:17.0	an author of a book, Moving the Goldposts, a history of sport and society since 1945. He fits the bill. He's the
1:27.1	expert we need. Simply put, I think you're going to find Martin's take on World Wars and
1:31.7	World Cups. Fascinating. Enjoy. Hi Martin, welcome to the Warfare Podcast. How you doing? I'm good, thanks James. Great to meet you.
1:52.4	Good to meet you too, and thank you so much for taking the time to come on the podcast. The World Cup is in full swing so I'm sure this is a super busy time for you.
2:01.6	Absolutely, yeah and in a couple of hours England v Wales kicks off, so I'm excited about that one.
2:06.4	Yeah, they do. So we've got to get this done that's sharpish so we can get out there, get a beer and go and watch the game.
2:12.1	Now, one of the things that has come to the world's
2:15.2	attention off the back of this World Cup is this idea of sports washing. Now it's a term I know
2:22.4	has been around for a short period of time but the way I see it and perhaps you could clarify for me is it's the idea that a country or a regime takes on a sporting event, whether it's the Olympics or a World Cup or a European
2:37.2	Championships, as a means to bolster their reputation in international politics. So it's to kind of cleanse them of previous sins
2:46.1	and to make them look acceptable on the world stage. Have I hit the nail on the head?
	...

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