The Australian Rugby Union warned David Pocock on Monday after the former Wallabies captain was arrested for chaining himself to machinery to “raise awareness about the plight ... of all of us who are beginning to suffer the impacts of climate change”.
Protests by sports people are rare which makes it all the more resonant when someone does make a stand on the field of play – often in full view of a global audience. Here we recall five famous incidents of protest in the world of sport.
St Louis Rams, 30 November 2014
Five St Louis Rams players came on to the field at the Edward Jones Dome with their hands up in an apparent show of solidarity with protesters in Ferguson, after police officer Darren Wilson shot and killed unarmed Michael Brown in August. Tavon Austin, Kenny Britt, Stedman Bailey, Jared Cook and Chris Givens came out and stood together with their arms raised in the ‘Hands up, don’t shoot’ pose that has been adopted as the slogan of those demonstrating.
The St Louis Police Officers’ Association subsequently denounced their actions as “way out of bounds”, adding: “I’d remind the NFL and their players that it is not the violent thugs burning down buildings that buy their advertiser’s products. It’s cops and the good people of St Louis. Somebody needs to throw a flag on this play.”
Moeen Ali, 28 July 2014
The spinner wore two wristbands during England’s third Test with India at the Rosebowl in Southampton, each bearing a message of support for Palestine which had been enduring Israeli bombings. The wristbands, which read ‘Save Gaza’ and ‘Free Palestine’, quickly generated great debate and England backed their man, arguing he was making a humanitarian statement rather than a political one.
However, David Boon, the former Australia batsman and ICC’s match referee, banned the bowler from continuing to wear his protest bands. With his point already made and loudly heard, Ali relented.
Andy Flower and Henry Olonga, 10 February 2003
As their country prepared to host its first World Cup match, the Zimbabwe cricketers released a statement in Harare in which they condemning the “death of democracy” in their homeland. Both wore black armbands in a symbol of defiance against Robert Mugabe to draw attention to human rights abuses in the country. “In doing so,” they added, “we pray that our small action may restore sanity and dignity to our Nation”.
Zimbabwe won the match but the political storm in Zimbabwe and subsequent government pressure forced the pair to retire from international cricket prematurely and flee the country.
Robbie Fowler, 20 March 1997
After scoring his second goal in Liverpool’s 3-0 win over Brann Bergen in a European Cup Winners’ Cup match, Fowler lifted his shirt to display a T-shirt which read “Support The 500 Sacked Dockers”, in reference to workers on Liverpool’s docks who lost their jobs after a dispute in which they refused to cross a picket line.
The Liverpool striker was fined 2,000 Swiss Francs by Uefa, who said Fowler would have received a more stringent punishment but for his reputation for sporting behaviour (two days before he had told a referee not to award a penalty after a challenge from David Seaman against Arsenal – the referee ignored his request). The disciplinary committee began their statement with “It may seem strange and even unfair ...”.
Tommie Smith & John Carlos, 16 October 1968
Whose idea it was has long been the subject of a rift between the two US athletes who raised their fists on the Olympic Stadium podium in Mexico City. Smith had earlier won the 200m (setting a new world record) with Carlos in third, and the pair took the opportunity to deliver their message to a global audience.
They wore gloves to represent black America, and removed their shoes and wore black socks to symbolise the poverty of the American black community. Both wore the badge of the Olympic Project for Human Rights, and raised their clenched hands, which Smith said “stood for the power in black America”.
After a major dispute between the IOC and the US Olympic Committee, the athletes were banned from the Games. Both Smith and Carlos went on to play in the NFL – and the legacy of their actions lives on.
