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Showing posts from December, 2015

How Football Can Fight Terrorism

Pic: Reuters With the deadly attacks in Paris and in Beirut in November still in the headlines, it is easy to concentrate on the problems, not on solutions. Even as we mourn for the victims of these crimes, and question the justification for such acts, let us not lose sight of the fact that humanity, for all its apparent hatred and evil, is also imbued with the ability to make peace and find love. And sport is one of the most powerful means of realising these positives. The evidence for this is, to some extent, embedded within the acts of terrorism themselves. For decades, terror groups have targetted major sporting events for their campaigns. It is no shock, in historical terms, for instance, that the terrorists behind the Paris attacks honed in on the Stade de France where a friendly football match between France and Germany was being played. This simply follows a pattern that has existed since at least the murders of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.