On football, opium and popular resistance: Not all sports are created equal 

A view as a child stands next to a World Cup replica football on November 19, 2022 [Muhammed Said/Anadolu Agency]

My friend is not an elitist. To the contrary, he has spent decades of his life fighting social inequality, racism and championing the rights of disadvantaged groups. Therefore, I was taken aback when he surmised that "football is the opium of the people". The reference, which summons a famous Marxist maxim about religion written in a specific historical context, suggested that governments use mass sports events to distract from political problems or social conflicts. He is partly right. Not only do governments invest in sports as a form of distraction, but they also often turn sports into a form of political legitimisation. While all governments play this game, the US excels in it. In his seminal 2010 documentary, "Not Just […] Source

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