The Cricket World Cup’s opening game, scheduled to pit Australia against England on Valentine’s Day, is the latest development during a summer when Australia has hosted two of the world’s most prestigious sporting events. The Football Asian Cup and cricket’s World Cup have attracted teams from 27 nations to the shores of Australia to compete for two elusive trophies.
The unique geographical geography of international sports has resulted in the only countries participating in both teamsincluding, including Australia and the United Arab Emirates. Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, and Sydney are the only Australian cities that can host both cricket and football matches.
Apart from the shocking spectacle of The Australia Day knighting of Prince Philip and the subsequent political tensions within the Liberal Party, the sport has provided the most glamorous summer games. As the cricket World Cup final rolls around on the day before Easter, games will run continuously since the pre-Christmas test matches against India.
What is the significance and worth of these international events of sport? Are you worth the time, expense, and risk? Many public funds are spent on protecting and presenting them, including intense concurrence between states for the host rights “packages.”
International sports create a huge carbon footprint, which is not favorable for the sustainability of our planet. As the cultural scholar Toby Miller has noted in 2010, this year’s World Cup in South Africa:
… was the most significant environmental footprint for any commercial event in history. It produced 8,50,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide, which was released with 65% because of flights.
Few events depend more on the flight of massive numbers of people over long distances than a crucial sporting event in Australia.
There is also the well-known “bread and circuses” critique that sports distract people from the most important things. If you think this is too strict, there’s the fact that “big sport” seriously disturbs the social and media environment. News programs on radio and television schedules are frequently altered, and when news programs can be watched, they will likely be influenced and controlled by the sporting event that changed the program in the first place.
What are the traditional arguments for hosting massive events? The most common idea is economic and emphasizes the advantages of sporting activities and tourism. Tourism Australia described the Asian Cup as providing a “free kick” in generating more than 500,000 spectators (in reality, 650,000), with an estimated 30,000 who came from outside.
Additionally, the advantages of attracting the curious globe’s eyes to Australia are highlighted through TV numbers of viewers. The number was believed to be more than 1 billion people worldwide for this year’s Asian Cup. A similar figure is anticipated to be the case for the cricket World Cup.
The benefits to the economy of hosting significant sporting occasions are generally inaccurate. A similar claim that mega sports events make more sustained participation in sports and better fitness and health is also frequently discredited.
The persistent absence of evidence linking massive sporting events with actual earnings and health improvements pushes the proponents into more obscure areas – for instance, they serve as crucial sports diplomatic vehicles, particularly as Australia is moving towards and embracing Asia and Asia, where twenty-seven of the teams competing in these two tournaments are derived.
Although sport can promote friendship among nations, it could also be a focal point for geopolitical tensions. There were whispers coming from West Asia, on the final day of the Asian Cup final between Australia and South Korea, that the hosting nation should be removed from the Asian Football Confederation for not being Asian enough. The irony wouldn’t be lost on sports diplomatic advocates and skeptics alike.
Australia took home the soccer’s Asian Cup in dramatic circumstances on its home soil in January. AAP/Paul Miller
In addition, had Indonesia qualified to play in an appearance at the Asian Cup, sports diplomacy would have been a sensitive issue, as several individuals made a concerted effort to protect Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran from the dreadful possibility of being sent to the firing squad.
Events in sports are characterized by large crowds of people with a competitive and spirited atmosphere. Although a severe social disturbance was likely, a “diplomatic incident” involving protest over the apparent intention by Indonesia to execute two men could not be.
In any case, the risk of sports-related or even facilitated violent acts of violence in the political arena, as well as the desire of the authorities to subject individuals who are at or near major sporting sites to strict surveillance and control, has already resulted in an undiplomatic humiliation on the people who attend them.