Ross Clark Ross Clark

Banned Wagon | 20 September 2003

A weekly survey of world restrictions on freedom and free trade

issue 20 September 2003

Sven Goran Eriksson and David Beckham have launched a charity to bring about world peace through football, with Mr Beckham’s immortal words: ‘I think my advice to any children out there looking for world peace is, you’ve got to enjoy life, be happy, and if football or sport is going to make a difference, then, you know, go for it, because it’s important to people.’

If football really is a promoter of peace, Mr Beckham might like to try to explain why Britons, many of whom simply wish to potter harmlessly around cultural sites, have been advised, for their own safety, to stay away from Turkey on 11 October, the day England plays Turkey in a European Championship qualifier.

Football does play a role in international relations, but it is not the one imagined by Messrs Eriksson and Beckham.

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