I do not normally write about football; however there is a media storm in Spain at the moment which is worth a few comments.
Last year was the FIFA men’s world cup in Qatar. As the tournament got started, there were some high-profile footballers taking a stance against the attitude towards homosexuality in the host nation.
This year there was the FIFA woman’s world cup in Australia and New Zealand. The recipients of the best player awards and then the Spanish team walked across a podium lined with officials for the award ceremony. I think that I noticed some nervous confusion among the female and male officials on the podium – should they offer a cool handshake or a warm hug to the players Then one exuberant male Spanish official kissed the team captain on the lips. I saw this live and, at the time, I thought that this was strange. The next thoughts I had were – well maybe they know each other very well or maybe that is culturally normal in Spain or maybe there is some other reason for it, which I do not know about. I forgot about it for a few days until it was all over the media, with the captain complaining about the Spanish official’s behaviour, followed by protests, resignations, threats of legal action and today a hunger strike.
My reason for writing about these two consecutive world cups is not really to comment on the rights and wrongs of either topic; rather I want to openly ask a question – why do we think it is a good idea to look to footballers (or football officials) for moral leadership? These are footballers or ex-footballers who then moved on to other football-related jobs. They became well-known for their ability to run around and to kick a ball, not for their critical thinking and contributions to moral philosophy and ethics. So why do we expect moral leadership from people who become successful in sports?