Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
President Aoun: We urge the activation of the monitoring committee, the cessation of hostilities, ongoing Israeli violations, attacks
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun to US Envoy Morgan Ortagus: Southerners must be enabled to return to their homes and rebuild
Syrian sources: The Israeli occupation has begun withdrawing from the areas it infiltrated last night in the Quneitra countryside.
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: Massive bombings in eastern Gaza, the second within half an hour, and its sound was heard from central area.
Russian air defense units destroyed a drone that was heading toward Moscow.
Maduro: Tomorrow, a business meeting will be held bringing together hundreds of entrepreneurs from advanced Russian industries with hundreds of Venezuelan businesspeople.
Maduro: In the face of threats, Trinidad and Tobago agreed to suspend all effects of the energy agreement and everything that had been agreed upon in that regard.
Maduro: It’s time to make a choice, either stand with the warmongers who want death and violence, or stand with life.
Maduro: They want our wealth. This is not about drug trafficking, and they know it.
Maduro: Everyone in the world knows that what the economic elite ruling the United States seeks today is Venezuela’s oil, gas, and gold.

What about Yemen? Palestine? Arabs denounce sports 'double standards'

  • By Al Mayadeen Net
  • Source: Agencies
  • 25 Mar 2022 22:48
4 Min Read

The sports world was mobilized following the war in Ukraine but maintains silence over the war on non-Western countries.

  • x
  • A
    A "No War" sign with the colors of Ukraine, lifted during an English Premier League match

Russia's special military operation in Ukraine has drawn unprecedented sanctions that caused its ban from most international sports.

For many Arabs, who have seen their own sportsmen and women punished for refusing to compete with Israeli athletes, the exception made for the war in Ukraine exposes double standards.

Solidarity with #Ukraine is being shown across stadiums worldwide, breaking the sports no-politics doctrine.
On the other hand, athletes and football clubs were fined and even punished for showing support for #Palestine.
Who's politicizing the matter? #Russia pic.twitter.com/GVZ6Sxjyfl

— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) February 28, 2022

Commenting on the situation in Ukraine, Egyptian squash champion Ali Farag had recently said this month that "nobody should be happy about what's going on."

"We've never been allowed to speak about politics in sports but all of a sudden now it's allowed," he highlighted.

"Now that it's allowed, I hope that people also look at oppression everywhere in the world," he pointed out.

The Egyptian athlete underscored that "the Palestinians have been going through that for the past 74 years but I guess because it doesn't fit the narrative of the media of the West, we couldn't talk about it." 

Wholesale bans on Russia, unprecedented support for Ukraine

Days after the beginning of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine, football governing bodies FIFA and UEFA swiftly suspended Russia from all international competitions. Similarly, Formula One suspended its contract with Russia, barring it from hosting its Grand Prix in Sochi.

However, the bans on Russia coincided with unprecedented support for Ukraine. The blue and yellow colors of its national flag were displayed at all English Premier League matches on the first weekend of March in a show of solidarity.

#Formula1 drivers have been posing for pictures in front of the #Ukrainian flags while wearing "No War" t-shirts and choosing to ignore one fact: The ongoing #Saudi-led coalition war on #Yemen. #StandWithYemen pic.twitter.com/XQcQtoZD08

— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) March 22, 2022

Related News

2 killed, 11 injured in armed attack on passenger bus in Syria

Israeli forces raid Syrian military barracks in Quneitra: SOHR

What about Yemen? Syria? Libya?

"International sports associations, including FIFA, have banned any political or religious expression on the sports field," said James Dorsey, a senior fellow at the National University of Singapore's Middle East Institute.

"What they have done now is they effectively have lifted that for Ukraine. There is Palestine of course, but what about Yemen? Syria? Libya?" he wondered.

FIFA exceptions

In the past, sports governing bodies have tolerated some exceptions to the general ban on making political statements, but they have all been short-lived.

During the Israeli occupation's war on the Gaza Strip last May, England's Football Association announced that players would not be punished for raising the Palestinian or Israeli occupation flags.

But in November, FIFA fined the Scottish Football Association 10,000 Swiss francs (about $10,700) after Scotland fans booed "Israel's" anthem and raised Palestinian flags during an October match between the two sides.

Later, the head of the Palestinian Football Association, Jibril Rajoub, urged FIFA to commit to applying its standards equally.

Talking about double standards, when Algerian judoka Fathi Norine refused to face off against an Israeli athlete at the Tokyo Olympics in July out of solidarity with Palestine, he and his trainer were slammed with a 10-year ban.

Cheaper lives?

In early March, Palestinian midfielder Mohammad Rashid refused to stand with his Indonesian club Persib Bandung when they raised a sign reading "Stop War" at a game.

"I am against any war in any country, but people are dying every day in Palestine and in Syria and Yemen," he said in video remarks published by an Egyptian sports website.

According to Rashid, "When war erupted in a Western country, everyone stood with it, but when people die in Palestine, we are not allowed to show solidarity and are accused of mixing politics and sports."

"It makes us feel like our lives are cheaper than the lives of those in the West," he added.

Politics & sports are inseparable

Senior fellow James Dorsey said keeping politics out of sports was always an impossible goal.

"The idea that politics and sports are separate is fiction. They are Siamese twins inseparably linked at the hip," he considered.

Dorsey pointed out that "the only solution is to acknowledge the relationship."

  • Syria
  • Fethi Nourine
  • Palestine
  • Libya
  • Egypt
  • Russia
  • Formula 1
  • Israel
  • Olympics
  • FIFA
  • Olympic Games
  • English Premier League
  • Yemen
  • Ukraine
  • Scotland
  • Algeria
  • Sochi
  • Premier League
Russia & NATO

Russia & NATO

As the Draconian Western-led sanctions on Russia exacerbate the economic crisis worldwide, and as Russian troops gain more ground despite the influx of military aid into Ukraine, exposing US direct involvement in bio-labs spread across Eastern Europe and the insurgence of neo-Nazi groups… How will things unfold?

Most Read

'Israel’s Digital Iron Dome: Weaponizing the web against Palestine

'Israel’s Digital Iron Dome: Weaponizing the web against Palestine

  • Technology
  • 24 Oct 2025
Arab League chief exposes secret US deal shielding 'Israel’s' nukes

Arab League chief exposes secret US deal shielding 'Israel’s' nukes

  • Politics
  • 27 Oct 2025
Abu Hamza, the spokesperson for the Al-Quds Brigades, during a speech televised on October 22, 2025 (Al-Quds Brigades Military Media)

Al-Quds Brigades' Abu Hamza mourns leaders, vows continued resistance

  • Politics
  • 22 Oct 2025
US missionary kidnapped in Niger capital, suspected taken toward Mali

US missionary kidnapped in Niger capital, suspected taken toward Mali

  • Africa
  • 23 Oct 2025

Coverage

All
War on Gaza

Read Next

All
Delta Air Lines flight lands at Harry Reid International Airport, Wednesday, April 9, 2025, in Las Vegas (AP)
Politics

Nearly 3,800 US flights disrupted amid ongoing government shutdown

FILE - The Amazon logo is pictured at the Amazon Robotic Sorting Fulfillment Center in Madison County, Miss., Aug. 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)
Economy

Amazon to cut 30,000 jobs in largest layoff in company history

Eurofighter Typhoon Spain's Air Force fighter jets fly above the military parade marking 'Día de la Hispanidad', or Hispanic Day, in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025. (AP)
Politics

UK sells 20 Eurofighter jets to Türkiye in £8bln defense agreement

Smoke billows after drone strikes by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) targeted the northern port in the Red Sea city of Port Sudan, Sudan, May 6, 2025 (AP)
Politics

RSF tighten El Fasher siege as Sudan risks fragmentation: Reuters

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS