Football players really shouldn’t be getting mixed up in political debate, but modern technology allowed them to communicate with millions of fans so their opinions can be seen by a lot of people.
We live in a time where politicians are more despicable and self serving than ever, so it makes sense that some people would choose to listen to the opinions of people they like, even if they are just footballers or social media stars.
There’s a serious global situation in regards to the USA’s actions with Turkey and Syria, and from afar it looks like Turkey’s actions are pretty deplorable.
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This isn’t the place to get bogged down in serious political debate and decide if the Turkish Prime Minister is really a dictator, but there seems to be a pretty clear divide between his supporters and opponents.
All of this makes a recent tweet from Roma star Cengiz Under seem pretty controversial, considering he appears to be very much in support of his country and their actions:
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— Cengiz Ünder (@cengizunder) October 11, 2019
It’s a move that won’t go down well with any anti-Turkish element of the support, but considering he plays in Italy that should be minimal. It just depends how the supporters as a whole view the situation.
For example German club St Pauli are facing a situation where the club’s ultras have released a statement demanding the club release one of their players who praised the Turkish assault on Syria. Under is a very important player for Roma and would be worth a lot of money, so it’s hard to see them facing similar demands.
Of course people have to be allowed to express their opinions, but it’s a further example of what happens when football and the real world meet. Football is an escape, a joyous past time to distract everyone from everyday life, when the two start to intertwine it can start to get very murky indeed.