Soccer scores an own goal
Imagine someone kills members of your family and then refuses even to discuss making amends, despite a court ordering them to pay damages. What would your response be?
If you’re Canada Soccer, the answer is simple: invite them to a “friendly” soccer game. That’s right, in advance of this year’s FIFA World Cup, Canada Soccer has invited the Iranian national soccer team to play the Canadian squad in a June 5 match in Vancouver.
The invitation came despite Iran’s Revolutionary Guard shooting down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 on Jan. 8, 2020, killing all 176 passengers and crew, including 55 citizens and 30 permanent residents of Canada.
The invitation came despite Iran admitting responsibility, blaming the “accident” on human error. And it came despite Iran’s refusal to discuss making amends, missing deadlines to do so after the Ontario Superior Court of Justice this year awarded $107 million to family members of those killed.
The family members, who have fought valiantly for justice, now believe the matter must go to an international court. Yet it’s awfully difficult to present a united front when Canada’s national soccer organization has placed itself squarely on the other side.
Under intense pressure this week, Canada Soccer released a statement offering the perfunctory response we hear all too often from sports organizations. The statement read, in part: “We believe in the power of sport and its ability to bring people from different backgrounds and political beliefs together for a common purpose.”
Yes, sports can do that. This is precisely why some countries engage in “sportswashing” — the attempt to launder their soiled reputations by hosting or participating in international sports events.
Beijing engaged in successful sportswashing by hosting the 2022 Winter Olympics, as did Russia when it hosted the previous World Cup in 2018. Now Canada has joined that disreputable club by abetting Iran’s efforts at sportswashing.
Granted, some sports organizations lament the intrusion of politics into their sphere, arguing that boycotts penalize players and fans while doing little to change the internal politics of targeted countries.
Yet while that might be true in certain situations, this isn’t about making some vague demands for Iran to change its laws or practices in this or that direction. This time it’s personal. This time it concerns the specific devastation one country visited upon another — in fact, upon several others — and then compounded that devastation by refusing to accept any responsibility for the incident beyond blaming it on human error.
As Iran’s response to the incident demonstrates, words are cheap. Actions, on the other hand, often speak louder than words. And when it comes to actions, Iran has remained silent.
Canada Soccer, conversely, said nothing until its brief statement on Tuesday, but its actions speak volumes. Its actions have said that selling tickets to a game is more important than Canadian lives — the lives of both those killed and those left behind to mourn, who described the organization’s actions as “a slap in the face.”
Indeed, Canada Soccer’s actions are unconscionable. If its leaders have any decency, they will do the right thing: reverse the decision and tell the Iranian soccer team that it isn’t welcome here, unless and until Iran does the right thing.
This, too, is a way of using sports “to bring people from different backgrounds and political beliefs together for a common purpose,” and it will at last allow family members and their departed loved ones to live, and rest, in peace.
If Canada Soccer’s leaders have any decency, they will do the right thing: reverse the decision and tell the Iranian soccer team that it isn’t welcome here, unless and until Iran does the right thing