Today’s presentation will be a virtual meeting.

NOTE: we would normally have a room at The 519 for a Hybrid meeting this week but because of June Pride Month activities, The 519 will be taking the opportunity to refresh all the rooms. We will be back live on July 20th.

Join Zoom Meeting https://us06web.zoom.us/j/971381033

“The Power of Sports in Society”
Presented by Tanya Long

I am not a sports fan. I watched Hockey Night in Canada with my family and the occasional golf tournament when Tiger Woods was playing, but other than that, not a shred of interest. Yet I got caught up in the general frenzy when the Edmonton Oilers managed to tie up the Stanley Cup finals 3-3 after being down 3 nothing and eagerly awaited the Toronto Star headlines Tuesday morning to see who had won. Sigh of disappointment to learn it was the Florida Panthers. 

Sports is captivating; it is also big business. The 2010 Winter Olympics cost Vancouver $1.84 billion. Toronto is hosting 6 games in the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The Toronto Police have already spent more than $1.5 million on new cars, computers, salaries, air pods, conferences and commemorative medallions in anticipation of an event that is 2 years away, this in a cash-strapped city with a major deficit and severe problems with traffic congestion. 

I pay attention to sports because it is a microcosm of society. It mirrors our problems: reducing everything to a question of profit; intense competition; corruption and cheating; lack of concern for the health of players in the interest of winning (doping in the Olympics, refusal to consider the issue of concussion in football and hockey); discrimination against transgender athletes, especially trans women; discrimination against women athletes on many levels, from the lack of scholarships and funding to a gender pay gap; sexual harassment and assault (Hockey Canada has paid $7.6 million to settle sex abuse claims since 1989; Olympic committee statements in 2007, 2016 and 2019 stated that sexual harassment and abuse happens in all sports at all levels). 

Canada just recently created the Canadian Women's Professional Soccer League, set to launch in 2025 with 6 teams. After a rocky history for professional women's hockey, in 2023 the Professional Women's Hockey League with 6 teams from Canada and the US was established. Both have been a long time coming, and note the NHL did not support the establishment of a women's professional league. 

Finally I am sure you have heard of greenwashing but have you heard of sportswashing? That is what Saudi Arabia was doing when it set up the international LIV golf tournament to compete with the PGA. The prizes were huge and many key players from the PGA decamped, most notably Phil Mickelson, in favour of this more lucrative event. Why is Saudi Arabia doing this? Movement away from fossil fuels threatens their main source of wealth, oil. Tourism is one way to pick up the slack. 

Questions

1. Do you agree that sports is a microcosm of society, even amplifying many of our issues?

2. Many negative things can be said about sports; are there any positives?

3. Why do people get so caught up in sports events? Is it blood lust, the same atavistic urge that used to bring people out to watch public hangings?

4. Are you a sports fan? If yes, which sports do you favour and why?

5. Can anything be done to mitigate the harmful aspects of sports?

6. Do major international events like the Olympics or FIFA World Cup serve any useful purpose or are there better ways to use the money?

Sportsmanship used to refer to excellence, ethics, respect and friendship. These are good values not just in sports but in society as a whole. They seem to have gone the way of the dodo bird. Join us for a lively discussion