Orville Taylor | To be global, host must be neutral

Proud I am that the only UN body that is headquartered in a developing country is in Jamaica. It is a big deal. Other UN organs, such as the WHO and the ILO, are based in Geneva, Switzerland. It is a relatively small country with a 9.1 million population. Importantly, it is a neutral country, which right through the global wars and the cold war stayed peaceful. Although it has healthy relations with the American-led NATO, it is not a member and has maintained this for decades.

Not being involved in wars, Geneva, although not the capital, is a ‘Mecca’ of peace and, therefore, an ideal place for real international relations.

Jamaica and the Anglophone Caribbean, on the whole, comprise a zone of peace. We are special and privileged that there are no hostilities among us. We welcome many, are not in war with any, and, therefore, present a wonderful template for the hosting of international events and entities. Certainly, though, it is if we can afford to.

Among things that have brought me great pride were the 1975 Commonwealth Heads of Government Conference and the World Junior Championships in 2002, which saw the beginning of the ascendancy of one Usain Bolt. 

So now, we have the world’s most popular event, a real global occurrence taking place, the World Cup. It is one of the true sports, with FIFA having 211 member federations. Note that the UN itself has only 193 member nations. The difference is because FIFA also includes other territories that do not qualify as nation-states.

Curaçao, who effectively kicked us out with a 2-0 thumping in Willemstad, is an overseas ‘colony’ of the Netherlands and not an independent country.

Given this reach, FIFA is only second to World Athletics, with 214 members and ahead of the International Olympic Committee, which has just over 200 national committees. 

World Cup Football, the World Athletics Championships, and, of course, the Olympics Games are all true global events. For a team or individual to be a true world champion in any sport, it has to be either in track and field or football. 

With this in mind, and to bring legitimacy to the title, the objective must be to maximise participation across all nations.

For me, it is not just about the number of persons who play the game. After all, the combined population of the handful of cricket-playing nations exceeds two billion. 

Other sports like basketball have large numbers of members, but the total aggregate of people who actually are involved in the sport is nothing like football or track and field.

That is why Bolt is the greatest athlete in modern history because he has been the best in a sport with the largest participation across nations and territories.

This World Cup and a number of other sporting events in the USA have been dogged by visa refusal and cancellations. The most recent was the turning back of a Somali referee. It certainly did not help that the first red card was just given to South African Sphephelo "Yaya" Sithole, whose surname evokes an eponymous association spouted by the American president. 

Now, let it be clear that a nation’s borders are its own, and every single country has an inalienable right to determine who it admits or not.

As painful as it might be, but using an analogy of one’s home, we must never be dictated to about who we should let into our dwellings. Therefore, I have no issue with the USA locking out whomever it wants to. Unless one was born there, being in that country, whether for a short tourist visit or permanent residency leading to citizenship, is a privilege; not a right.

But, how does one host a community function when there are elements in the neighbourhood that one considers to be undesirable? Imagine hosting an event, where one has to allow into one’s house someone who ordinarily would be unwelcome.

America has four major sports that it hosts, plays among its own teams, and crowns ‘world champions.’  Doubtless, the winner of a domestic competition cannot be a global champion. Thus, for all the declaration that the national champions of basketball, with a token Canadian team, is a world champion, it is not. 

Never mind the impasse between Stephen A. Smith and Noah Lyles and the former’s weak defence regarding the heavy sprinkling of foreign nationals; the NBA is not an international competition. Similarly, the MLB is not a world series although it has a single Canadian franchise, and NFL football is local. Although played in Canada, in a league of its own, American ‘football’ is simply that - American.

America is a large enough country, with enough internal diversity for the majority of its citizens to live comfortably, relatively isolated from the rest of the world, playing its own games and defining itself as it feels.

If a non-American wants to get into the high-paying American sports, then it is entirely up to the Americans to let such person in.

Bu, as we once more face the spectacle of teams being at a disadvantage because their players, coaches, or fans are banned, even with perfect justification, it might simply mean that countries like America are ill-suited to host truly global events because to do so compromises their control or autonomy over their borders.

A country, which is a prime target for illegal migration, has a growing list of enemies and fighting too many wars on too many fronts, should leave the hosting of global or even hemispheric football, track and field, and other incorporating sports to more open and neutral countries.

What say you?

Orville Taylor is senior lecturer at Department of Sociology at The University of the West Indies, a radio talk-show host, and author of ‘Broken Promises, Hearts and Pockets’. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and tayloronblackline@hotmail.com.