[James]

Yeah, I can see why people want to keep political gestures out of sport. Politics is very divisive, and people who are okay with it in sport, when it is a cause they agree with - like BLM - are often against if it was something they opposed like, say, supporting Trump.

Originally Posted by bitontheslide

there should be zero politics in sport. Take a look at what happened to the Manchester City Manager when he did a silent protest by wearing a ribbon in support of Catalonia here in the UK .... Removing any form of political statement from sport is the correct solution.

I was just going to mention Pep Guardiola's ribbon. People in this country didn't care much about it, because not many people here have strong views, or much interest, about that issue. But if it was something that was a controversial issue in the UK (eg. Brexit) there would be a lot against it.

The FA chief executive [Martin Glenn] said:

....."We have re-written Law 4 of the game so that things like a poppy are OK. But things that are going to be highly divisive, and that could be strong religious symbols, it could be the Star of David, it could be the hammer and sickle, it could be a swastika, anything like Robert Mugabe on your shirt, these are the things we don't want," he told UK newspapers.

"And to be honest, and to be very clear, Pep Guardiola's yellow ribbon is a political symbol, it's a symbol of Catalan independence. And, I can tell, you there are many more Spaniards, non-Catalans, who are p***** off by it.

"All we are doing is even-handedly applying the Laws of the Game. Poppies are not political symbols; that yellow ribbon is."

Glenn questioned where the FA would stop if it allowed Guardiola to continue wearing his ribbon.

"Where do you draw the line – should we have someone with a UKIP [UK Independence Party] badge, someone with an ISIS badge?" he said.

"That's why you have to be pretty tough that local, regional, national party organisations cannot use football shirts to represent them."

From http://www.goal.com/en/news/should-w...p1aher9969pkez