Foul!: Tackling Politics in Sport

by John Leonard

Overview

Sports have their own controversies: fights over tactics, disputes over refereeing calls, the specter of drugs and cheats. Then there are those with dark political overtones. Foul! Tackling Politics and Sport takes a look at controversial moments when sport and politics have collided during the past century, some tragic, others plain sinister, a few bizarre; all the subject of hot dispute. Ranging from the infamous Berlin Olympics, hijacked by Hitler and the Nazis, the tragedy of Munich, and the Cold War boycotts, to the curious case of the Gaelic Athletic Association throwing out Irish President Douglas Hyde. It shows how sport can be cynically manipulated by some of the most unsavoury of characters in world history; and how ultimately athletes and the fans end up losers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781785311413
Publisher:	Pitch Publishing
Publication date:	09/01/2016
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.70(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

John Leonard is a journalist with more than three decades’ experience. He began his career on local newspapers in Staffordshire as a reporter for the Stafford Newsletter and then the Leek Post and Times before working for BBC News. He moved to ITN, employed there as a sports producer before becoming a program editor for Five News and ITV News.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Strutting the World Stage 7

Hitler's Olympics: Berlin 1936 17

England's Football Shame: The Nazi Salute 32

The Black Power Salute 42

Cricket and Apartheid: The D'Oliveira Affair 56

Rugby: An Afrikaans Religion? 64

Nelson Mandela and the Rugby World Cup 79

The Football War 87

World Cup Final 1954: 'The Miracle of Bern' 96

Melbourne 1956: 'Blood in the Water' 107

Black September: Munich 1972 115

The Miracle On Ice 128

Cold War Boycotts 139

Zola Budd: The Barefoot Runner 156

Jackie Robinson: Breaking Baseball's Colour Barrier 164

Fight of the Century: Joe Louis v Max Schmeling 177

A Gaelic Game and the Garrison Game 184

The Strange Tale of the GAA and President Hyde 199

Defying Terrorist Threats: 'At Least We Turned Up' 212

Bodyline 223

The Brazil World Cup 2014 241

Select Bibliography 253