8 times politicians used football to their advantage as Farage visits Ipswich | OneFootball

Ipswich Town have (rightly) come in for criticism after seemingly rolling out the red carpet for Nigel Farage but the Reform leader is not the only politician who has looked to use football as a way of appealing to the masses.

Pretty much since the game was invented and became popular, politicians have seen it as an open goal to appealing to a huge amount of people. Now, with the World Cup gaining five billion viewers, football can be used a potential weapon not matter how much certain people tell us to keep it politics out of the game.

Here are eight examples of politicians using the sport to further their own agenda.

Nigel Farage’s trip to Portman Road

It had been a pretty positive week for Ipswich. The town was nominated as a candidate for the 2029 UK City of Culture.

The home fixture against Millwall was the designated Foundation Fixture which highlighted the work the club’s charity does across Suffolk. They are also well in contention for promotion back to the Premier League.

And then all that goodwill evaporated with the events of Monday. Alarm bells first rang amongst Ipswich fans when Reform tweeted ‘Portman Road awaits’ followed by pictures of the stadium but it was quickly dismissed as propaganda considering their rally was actually four miles away.

But Tuesday morning began with pictures of Farage around the stadium, pretending to sign a contract and display a shirt with his name and the number 10 on the back of it.

A short video accompanied, in which his most heinous crime may have been suggesting Kieran McKenna would be sacked in the summer, and Ipswich fans, along with the whole country, wondered how a man who profits off spewing hate had been allowed such access.

The Ipswich hierarchy did not help themselves. Initially declining to give a comment to the local media but implying that they were not involved only for The Athletic to report they had seen proof the Reform leader was invited by a senior staff member.

The emergence of an image of Farage signing a shirt addressed to “Mark” did not help matters with many suspect the recipient was club CEO Mark Ashton.

Eventually, the club did respond with a non-statement of a statement. They claimed they had hosted a range of political parties over the years but they remained ‘apolitical’.

They ended the brief statement by stating they were proud to “be an inclusive, diverse, and welcoming organisation.”

For Farage, it worked exactly as it intended, as it got more people talking about him but for Ipswich, they are left with a fanbase angry at how their club was used.

David Cameron – West Ham or Aston Villa?

There is nothing that makes a football fan’s skin crawl more than a politician claiming to like football when they evidently do not.

Case in point in that regard is former UK Prime Minister David Cameron, who made the unforgivable sin of forgetting which team he supports in 2015.

Cameron, a supposed Aston Villa fan, was giving a speech about how Britons can enjoy multiple identities but he went off piste in trying to include a football example.

Cameron said: “Where you can support Man Utd, the Windies and Team GB all at the same time. Of course, I’d rather you supported West Ham.”

Clearly getting confused simply because their kits are the same colour, Cameron’s football credibility was forever destroyed.

Francisco Franco and Spanish football

While Cameron getting his own team wrong is an innocuous error, the use of football in politics has been much more serious and much more organised.

Spanish dictator Francisco Franco used football to further his agenda and while it is far too simplistic to suggest that Real Madrid was his tool and Barcelona his enemy, that is generally the way things worked out.

Madrid was seen as the example of a united Spain, while Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao stood for everything Franco hated.

There are far too many examples of this influence over the years but the most infamous one revolves around Alfredo Di Stefano.

The Argentine was regarded as one of the best players in the world and Barcelona were the early frontrunners to bring him to Europe and even had him playing for them on a pre-season friendly.

But, he would go on to sign for Real Madrid, a transfer that Franco is believed to have played a big part in.

Di Stefano would become one of the best players in the club’s history and a starring member of the side that dominated the early European Cup.

Numerous politicians & the World Cup

Pretty much since its inception, the World Cup has been used as a political tool across the globe.

In 1934, Italy’s win was used by Benito Mussolini as proof of the strength of fascism. Even while on the precipice of war, Adolf Hitler was pushing for Germany to host the 1942 edition.

Spain used the 1982 World Cup to show themselves as a new country, free of the Franco dictatorship. Germany wanted to show how much they’d changed in 2006.

In recent times, Vladimir Putin has exercised soft power by hosting the 2018 tournament and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar is one of the biggest examples of football being used for political gain.

Even now, we are months away from what could be one of the most politicised World Cups of all time as Donald Trump threatens to take games away from cities that don’t support him and with FIFA president Gianni Infantino following his every word, don’t rule it out.

Boris Johnson and the Super League

Former UK prime minister Boris Johnson is not averse to pretending to like something in order to win votes and he has often used football for that very reason.

A self-confessed tennis man, Johnson’s use of football came to the forefront in 2021 with the advent of the European Super League.

Sensing which way the wind was blowing, Johnson gave the government’s backing to the protests and threatened to drop a “legislative bomb” on the six English clubs who had signed up.

While the protests in the street played their part, it is reasonable to suggest that the government threats were actually what made the clubs reconsider and the first domino fell.

Thomas Gibson Poole and bribing the other team

Using football is not just for the politicians at the very top either.

Back at the start of the 20th century, former army man turned club chairman Thomas Gibson Poole had already made headlines for the wrong reasons.

He was accused of buying success after purchasing a player for £1,000 (if only they knew what was to come) but his real crime came in 1910 ahead of a general election.

While Poole was chairman of Middlesbrough, he was also mayor of the city and the leading Conservative candidate.

Worried the election may not go his way, Poole thought it would be best if Boro beat Sunderland in their home two days before the election and set about making sure it happened.

He got his manager Andy Walker to offer the Sunderland skipper £10 and the rest of the squad £2 to throw the game but the captain said no.

Middlesbrough ended up winning the game anyway but both Poole and Walker were reported to the Football League and banned from football for life. Poole lost the election too.

Silvio Berlusconi and Milan

There can be perhaps no more obvious link between football and politics than Silvio Berlusconi, a man who combined running Milan with running the country.

He was elected Italian prime minister on three occasions, all while still being the owner of Milan but winning five Champions League titles is forgiving in some people’s eyes of a competent leader.

Numerous politicians in the stands

While not as brazen as Farage’s trip to Portman Road, he is not the first UK politician to be spotted inside a football stadium.

Rishi Sunak is a well-known Southampton supporter and has been pictured attending Saints games in the past. Keir Starmer is a lifelong Arsenal fan and is a season-ticket holder.