Throughout the years, sports has been deprived of world-class performances not because of poor preparation of athletes, but the constant selective interference of the political directorship of the world.

How many times in history will sports-loving people be deprived of seeing athletes in the sporting arena because of boycotts and sanctions. Too many Summer Olympics have been boycotted, depriving the world of seeing world-class athletes.

Case in point, the 1980 Moscow Olympics and the 1984 Los Angles Olympics in recent memory.

In the Moscow Olympics, the United States of America boycotted the Olympics, depriving the world from seeing great talents such as Hurdler Edwin Moses and Sprinter Steve Williams.

Then, at the Los Angles Olympics, we were deprived of seeing top athletes from the Eastern Bloc, Cuba, and Russia, all in the name of boycotting. Did these boycotts solve the situation of the cold war? The answer is a resounding no.

The world has become very selective in supporting causes by sanctioning countries and boycotting of sporting events. I say selective because every day of life countries inflict atrosicities on each other, sometimes without a whimper from the world.

Where was the world outcry for the travesties in Rwanda, Taiwan, Vietnam, Iraq, Sudan, Syria, Ethopia, Libyia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, and we could go on and on. Where was the public outcry, where were the boycotts, where were the sanctions?

Now, don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is politically correct. As a matter of fact, it is completely wrong and against my moral principles. I live by the verse of one of my favorite heroes, the Third World trailblazer Robert Nesta Marley, who so rightly said in his song Zimbabwe from the Survival album: “Every man has a right to decide his own destiny and in this judgement there shall be no partiality…”

But politics and international relations need to take their ugly heads out of sports. Take a stance if you like, if you mus, and if you are inclined to, but don’t use sports as the proverbial political football to be kicked about to the likes and dislikes of world leaders. Boycotts have never solved world issues, but sports is an arena where people from countries of opposing ideologies can compete in peace and harmony.

I say leave sports out of it because if we were to ban athletes for every global confict in the world, we would not have global sports. We would have no Olympics, no football World Cup, no Cricket World Cup, and no more international sporting events.

Leaders of the Free World, solve your problems through diplomacy or economic sanctions, but please leave the sportsmen and sportwomen out of it, and allow them to play.

History will show that we sat idly by and allowed several atrocities to take place for centuries without kicking the proverbial political football in support of the worthy cause of democracy. Instead, give peace a chance, give sports a chance.

Andrew Price is a corporate marketer, football coach, administator, and commentator.