ABSTRACT
Like diplomacy, sport is often over-simplified and misunderstood. For many, it is something they did at school, a trivial diversion from more serious life pursuits, or mere silly games played by ‘flannelled fools at the wicket’ or ‘muddied oafs at the goal’, in Kipling’s (1902) famous phrase. As such, sport is also marginalised in the study and practice of diplomacy and international relations. However, as this chapter demonstrates, it is anything but childish, quaint or silly. Sport is one of the oldest, most complex institutions created by humans for pleasure, spectacle and, most importantly, the sublimation of conflict. Moreover, in the twenty-first century, the ‘sportscape’ is truly global, generates trillions of dollars, and affects and involves billions of fans, players and coaches (Manzenreiter 2008, 39).
