Critiques may say it is a waste of time,
say for example the 90-minutes of a
football game. But if you take a step
back and look at the connections formed
through sports and lessons learnt, there
cannot be a better way to pass time.
Communities are formed (look at fan
clubs and sports clubs), new friendships
are made (look at sports rivalries on and
off the pitch) and old friendships are
strengthened.
People learn about themselves, their
limits and how best to work with one
another. There is so much that can be
communicated through sports that
cannot simply be spoken in a conference
or seminar room.
Sports reach is universal, and it is now
important that this reach be translated
into action. Partnerships through
teams and clubs, sports federations and
governments need to be strengthened
with constructive projects implemented
on the ground. This is usually espoused
by the Olympic movement but can be
reinforced at more localized and grass-
root level.
Let’s not misconstrue with the angles
that are wont to be taken by the
politicians in which sports is considered
a propaganda tool - the 1936 Olympic
Games (Germany), 1976 (Canada)
and 1980 (former USSR, now largely
Russia) too.
moments like this show that sport has huge
potential to effect social change. It helps
in improving individual health and well-
being. The Olympic Games serve as one of
the world’s few sporting events where the
mighty fall, and unknown figures become
sports stars - the list of these is too long to
include here.
Sports also serves individual and team
psyche building these physically and
mentally, teaching important values and
social skills. It unites and inspires people
collectively as we saw in the Kobe Bryant
passing and as we shall see in the coming
months in the Olympics.
You could have completely different social
and political backgrounds and views but for
the few minutes or hours on a sports field -
you become one, rooting for the same team.
Two people could be completely unable to
communicate verbally but identify a team
92 MAL34/20 ISSUE
Sports has a mag-
nificent ability to
unite people mak-
ing it a powerful
communication
tool. Its reach is
unrivalled, pro-
moting universal
values that tran-
scend both lan-
guage and culture.
with the same goal regardless of race,
religion or conviction. That is the power
of sports!
Sport is used as a way of social control,
leaving aside the real problems. It
generates public spirit and national
identity, associating the politics of the
country to sporting success. It may offer
politicians good public relations and a
valuable photo-op but there often are
serious repercussions when the worlds
of sport and politics collide as seen in
the examples shared above.
Sporting excellence has become a
marketable commodity. The most
logical thing then follows for us sports
marketers, how do we view our sports
personalities? Do we value them for their
worth? How do we treat our audiences?
Are we enabling them to partake of
our activities in an ethical manner? Do
we value our partners and brands who
support our sports activities?
Kobe Bryant had to forgo his college
years to fast-track his basketball career,
whether that came back to haunt him