Before each game, players and officials took a knee to show support for the Black Lives Matter movement. Sky Sports commentators wore pins to show their support for the movement, and people talked more openly about racism in football. This doesn't mean that this solved the problem of racism in society as a whole, because of course it didn't. Still, it showed again how powerful football can be in politics.
Politics and football are so intertwined that it is impossible to separate them. It has always been. Politics haven't been added to football recently. It has been the place where political and social issues have been played out over and over again, for better or for worse.
During the 1970s and 1980s, football grounds were one of the most obvious places where racism was still alive and well in Britain. The rise of hooliganism also showed that some people were unhappy with society as a whole.Because football is so popular, it shows society and its problems in a way that few other things do. Because it is so well-known, it could be a strong voice for change, like Black Lives Matter.
Marcus Rashford most recently used this voice to support free school meals. The 23-year-old forward has been very vocal about how he doesn't agree with the government's plans to cut off provision during school breaks.
People who say politics shouldn't be in football only say this about things they don't want to deal with. Because football is so popular, any issue it takes on gets a lot of attention. Most of the time, this doesn't seem to be a big deal. Football often backs campaigns about prostate cancer, men's mental health, and the rainbow laces campaign, which wants to make the sport more welcoming to LGBT people.
Do you think that politics and football should be separate?