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Athletes Political Prowess
This is my original work that has been uniquely appeared for this course
Word Count: 2090
Hamad Al-khamees
Brian Goss
Political Communication
04/29/16

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Politics and sports have never been considered to be two areas that intertwined
with each other, having absolutely no common ground. As of recent history many actors
in the sports world have taken their status to good use and advocated their thoughts
knowing that they will be heard politically. Although there is no common ground
between the two subjects, throughout time, famous athletes and sports teams have used
their status to advocate on many political issues and social movements that may affect
them along with the athletes that purely just support the cause. Because of their fame, any
statements that these athletes make will be covered by the media and heard by the public
and eventually by the politicians and policy makers.
The impact of sports and prominent athletes in our culture and society is rather
significant and not only through a political lens. The main enjoyment that people receive
from sports is entertainment and the drama that it brings to the table during important
games, but sports can serve much more than that because it lies on an enormous platform.
Depending on how you want to look at it, sports and the actors in it can be analyzed
through their performance on and off the playing field. Of course the performance on the
field can help their prominence off it and the influence they can have since naturally, the
greatest athletes that are the ones that are liked more and heard by the public. In most
cases, the athletes that do take these political stances usually do it because they have
some personal attachment to the subject matter in which they decide to invoke on.
Muhammad Ali, formerly known as Cassius Clay is considered to be the greatest
heavyweight boxer in history by millions of fans and boxing enthusiasts. When speaking
of boxing and you utter the words the greatest, the phrase “float like a butterfly, sting like
a bee” comes to mind. Muhammad Ali initially did gain his prominence from his skills

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within the ring, but his charismatic personality and cocky attitude definitely helped his
reputation as a quotable fighter outside the ring as well by the media. Although he is a
globally loved icon not only for his boxing but also for what he stood for, at the time,
Muhammad Ali was condemned by the American government and by the people since he
refused to go fight in the Vietnam War. Muhammad Ali also stood for religious freedom
and racial injustice, as they were also topics that affected him personally.
At the mere age of 22, still known as Cassius Clay, Muhammad Ali won his first
world heavyweight championship in 1964 against Sonny Liston causing a major upset as
Liston was expected to win the fight easily. Two days later, Cassius Clay formed a
friendship with Malcolm X leading him to join the religious group led by Elijah
Mohammad called the Nation of Islam and officially changed his name to Muhammad
Ali shortly after. During this time, the United States of America was already at war with
Vietnam since November 1955. Muhammad Ali was informed that he would be ineligible
to take part in military service since he scored in the 16th percentile in the Army I.Q. test,
whilst you need to at least be in the 30th percentile to be permitted to do military service.
About 2 years later, president Lyndon Johnson decided to change the passing percentile
to join the military service from 30th to 15th changing his draft status from 1-Y (not
qualified for military service) to 1-A.
Upon hearing about the news, Muhammad Ali famously said, “Man, I ain’t got no
quarrel with them Vietcong!” (p.9, Not Just A Game, Dave Zirin). During this time,
America had already been at war with Vietnam for 9 years and there has been very little
anti-war protest to this point. Ali refused to be enlisted in the army using religious
grounds as the main reason amongst others as to why he did not want to fight in this war.

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He publically stated various times that he was against this war and for what it stood for.
Another reason as to why he did not want to fight in this war was because he believed
that black American’s were still fighting for equality on home turf. Muhammad Ali said
“Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop
bombs and bullets on Brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in
Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights?...I have been warned
that such a stand will cost me millions of dollars…The real enemy of my people is here. I
will not disgrace my religion, my people or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those
who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality.” (p.10, Not Just A Game,
Dave Zirin)
In 1967, Muhammad Ali’s heavyweight title was stripped from him and was
given a suspension on his boxing license from the State of New York because of his
refusal to fight in the Vietnam War. He was sentenced to about 5 years in prison to which
he paid a bond and waited until the final verdict was decided. During what could have
been the twilight years of his career, Muhammad Ali was not allowed to fight for about 4
years. Rather than just accepting his punishment for not drafting in the armed services, he
used his time to continue talking about social issues and about his opposition to the
Vietnam War. He was invited across the country to talk at different universities about his
thoughts on the war and also advocating for racial justice. With his time outside of the
ring, Muhammad Ali did not only gain supporters to protest the Vietnam War but also
gained sympathy from the public that once hated him for standing up for what he believes
in. It was unfathomable to think that a professional athlete who scored in the 16th
percentile in the Army I.Q. test could be correct about a political matter that many

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politicians were wrong about and gained supporters to join his cause on why this war was
wrong.
Muhammad Ali eventually made it back in the ring with an even bigger fan base
than when he first started. He regained his title as the heavyweight champion on October
30th 1974 against George Foreman. The man that was once hated by the American public
for not wanting to fight for his country, a man who was unable to fill up stadiums during
his fights, had come back in a gran fashion and packing a harder punch despite not being
able to fight for 4 years. Muhammad Ali the boxer is known as the greatest to have ever
lived and Muhammad Ali the political advocate became a global icon for fighting the
fight outside of the ring as well.
One athlete can be the reason for big changes in any given country. Muhammad
Ali is evidence of this. If one athlete can have that big of an influence on a country like
the United States of America, just imagine what a whole football (soccer) team led by the
country’s biggest star can do in a more unstable country than America. Ivory Coast is a
former French colony located on the bank of West Africa. In 2002, a civil war broke out
between the rebel Muslims who controlled the north and the Christian held government,
which had control of the south. The civil war lasted for several of years and even the
French military was unable to calm the situation. Upon qualifying to compete in the 2006
FIFA World Cup for the first time in the nation’s history in Germany, captain, Didier
Drogba, of the Ivory Coast national team took the opportunity to talk to all Ivoirians. On
national television, with the whole squad standing behind him in a euphoric fashion
having just qualified for the FIFA World Cup, Drogba takes the microphone, calms
everyone down and begins talking from the heart. “Men and Women of Cote D’Ivoire,

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North and South, we proved today that all Ivoirians can co-exist and play together with a
shared aim… Today we beg you, on our knees (the whole team proceeds to get on their
knees), FORGIVE! FORGIVE! FORGIVE!...Please lay down your weapons, hold
elections. All will be better.”(min. 0:16-1:07) And within a week, his wish had come true.
It was simple, Didier Drogba was no ordinary football player, and he was a
political hero in the eyes of his people. He was the symbol for the post-civil war Ivory
Coast and his importance in the country can never be forgotten. Many football players are
involved with charities and many even starting their own foundation, but Drogba remains
to be the only one to stop a country from splitting in half. He of course does have
foundations in the Ivory Coast, helping people who have much less than him saying, “As
a man, I just want to be accomplished and focus on my foundation and save lives.” (min.
11:25-12:24) Drogba spent most of his footballing career in Europe, playing in clubs in
France, England and Turkey. He is currently playing in the MLS for the Montreal Impact,
entering the final stages of his career at the age of 38. Regarded to be one of the best
striking forces in the game, Drogba was also considered to be a hero for his clubs but in a
very different matter. He knocked in goals left and right in important matches and finals,
winning his clubs, most famously Chelsea F.C. in England, many titles and glory. In the
Ivory Coast, he was regarded as a footballing legend and more importantly, a
peacemaker.
There are many great instances of individuals in the sports world that take action
for political and social reasons, but it is important to recognize the fact that sports can
also be used to unite people. For example, during the Cold War period, the winter
Olympics in 1980 were held in Lake Placid, New York and the summer Olympics of the

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same year was hosted in Moscow, Soviet Union. There was great competition between
the athletes that competed for the Soviet Union and the German Democratic Republic
(East Germany) against the United States of America and West Germany. Apart from the
main actors in the binary fight of us versus them, the Olympic games were a clear
example of East versus West, capitalism versus communism. Rather than the fight or
struggle being done politically, it was done in through sports as it was seen as a physical
culture. Sports historian, James Riordan says that communist sport was to exemplify
communist culture and utilitarian purposes like promoting health, defense, labor
productivity, integration of multi-ethic population into a unified state and international
recognition and prestige (p.48, The International Politics of Sports in the Twentieth
Century, James Riordan). In simpler terms, it was used as tool to show ‘nation building’,
and what Antonio Gramsci would refer to as the superstructure. With the state as the
pilot, sport had the ability to have a revolutionary role leading to social change.
Sports and politics have had involvement with each other and the way they have
influenced each other has varied. Athletes have picked their own causes for personal
beliefs, teams have stood together for to unite a country and/or support a certain regime
and politicians have also used sports as a unifying technique. This tactic was used during
Nelson Mandela’s first term as the president of South Africa, using the country’s rugby
team as a tool to unite a broken country. Whether or not if sports have a political
connotation, it can always be considered something that can unite people despite any
differences that they may have, linking it to the idea of having sports has a superstructure.
As seen with the Muhammad Ali example, taking a stance does not always mean
that you will have the publics support. With time, patience and faith in your stance, things

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can change through the means of sports. At the end of the day, athletes and sport teams
consider themselves as one more person in society with the ability to be heard. They may
not be politicians but they do believe in justice and justice shall always prevail. Sports
can be considered an important factor when speaking of political issues since it has the
ability to unify and a stage with actors that is recognized on a global level.

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Work Cited Page:
Hayes, Alex. "Didier Drogba Brings Peace to the Ivory Coast." The Telegraph. Telegraph
Media Group, n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2016.
Zirin, Dave. NOT JUST A GAME (n.d.): n. pag. Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung New York
Office. Web. 15 Apr. 2016.
Miller, Jake. "Throwback: Muhammad Ali Talks Islam, Presidential Politics in
1976." CBSNews. CBS Interactive, n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2016.
Riordan, James, Arnd Krüger, Bill Murray, and Othello Harris. "The International
Politics of Sport in the Twentieth Century." (1999): 48-179. E & FN Spon. Web.
Rainbow, Jaime. "Football as Peacemaker? In Ivory Coast It Might Just Work - World
Soccer." World Soccer. N.p., 30 Mar. 2013. Web.
Smith, David. "Mandela and the Rugby Hero Who Rejected the Prejudices of the
Whites." The Guardian, 8 Dec. 2013. Web.
Didier Drogba - Peacemaker. Perf. Didier Drogba and the Ivory Coast National
Team. Www.youtube.com. ESPN, n.d. Web.
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lf6kLSAM5sA>.

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Didier Drogba Interview (12 Mins) - Rio Ferdinand Interviews The Chelsea Legend.
Perf. Didier Drogba and Rio Ferdinand. www.youtube.com. BT Sport, n.d. Web.
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p74CXfICnr4>.