International Sports Events and Global Tension

It is thought that sports competitions held on a worldwide scale are safe platforms for the tensions between countries to be mitigated and nationalist sentiments to be safely expressed. In my opinion, although there are certain justifications for such a proposal, I disagree with this school of thought as these two aims cannot always be achieved in a safe way. There are sound reasons to argue that harmonious relationships between nations can be promoted by means of international sports events. This is predicated on the assumption that through these tournaments, athletes from various countries have the chance to compete against each other in a friendly and constructive manner. Even though their countries of origin might be Suggested change: at war or in conflictat war or in conflict1at war or conflict, the top footballers from each country shake hands and greet each other, which would somewhat ease the current hostile relationships between countries. However, this line of reasoning can be flawed given the fact that during the match, athletes and supporters might be prone to getting carried away with their emotions, and upon completion of the match, some spectators and sportspeople can blame their country’s defeat on the partiality and unfair treatment of a referee. In extreme cases which once happened, several athletes, together with supporters, had fought against each other and resorted to Suggested change: violent behaviourviolent behaviour2violent behaviors when their Suggested change: temperstempers3temperaments went beyond control, which ended up worsening the international relationships which used to be relatively close. In terms of patriotism, global sports occasions are likely to promote nationalism for the whole country. This argument presupposes the fact that when a country participates in a grand sporting event, the whole country, irrespective of its political, religious, economic and social divisions, Suggested change: tends to direct its full attentiontends to direct its full attention4tends to direct their full attention towards their country’s team and take a great deal of pride when their country’s flags appear at a global stadium. However, when victory cannot be accomplished, the effects can be rather negative. To illustrate this point, Suggested change: when the Vietnamese football team loseswhen the Vietnamese football team loses5when Vietnamese football team loses a match, more often than not, Vietnamese people try to spot inaccuracies in the results announced and with a view to protecting their national football team, they post online and spread information of their feelings of frustration, or report any opponents’ behaviours and body movements during the match which violate the regulations. Worse than that, they attack social media accounts of footballers of the opposing team and Suggested change: post extremely offensive commentspost extremely offensive comments6give extremely offensive comments and criticism. Undoubtedly, this is Suggested change: a completely unhealthya completely unhealthy7completely an unhealthy and also unsafe way to express patriotic feelings. In conclusion, while it is understandable why popular events such as the Suggested change: Football World CupFootball World Cup8football world cup and other international sporting occasions are likely to alleviate hostility of countries across the globe and encourage patriotism of the whole nation, I am of the opinion that there is not always a guarantee of the safety factor when two goals are aimed for.