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Sport does not primarily aim to prevent conflict. On the contrary, it initiates conflict. All sport is based on healthy competition against opponents trying to reach a similar goal. Sport is on the other hand trying to facilitate constructive conflict in a peaceful form, accepting the fact that there have to winners and losers.
In order for us to better assess the use of sport as a peace building tool we have to gain understanding in the nature of the antagonism and conflict in the various cultural and geographical areas we choose to work. It is also advantageous for us to reflect upon some common values and principles that seem to guide most sport and development project working to address conflict prior to program implementation.
A balanced level of conflict is not only healthy, but also needed in order for us to craft change and development. Conflict is always difficult, and often end with a positive sollution.
The negative sense of conflict is violence. This has many forms and shapes from personal disagreements, inner-city gang crime, and ethnical conflicts to full fletched clashes and war between countries. These conflicts have a broad impact on the society and a number of innocent bystanders usually become targets and victims.
War and violently performed conflict breaks down communication and erects barriers for interaction between people. The social unity between people is often disturbed and neighbors and friends become rivals and enemies based on identities like e.g. ethnicity and religion. Propaganda is often used to maintain the image of an enemy and prolong and increase the division between the people involved.
There are numerous examples of sport (and football in particular) actively been used as a tool to create and to ad fuel to conflicts, e.g. Balkan, South America, England.
Conflicts are never one-sided and one can never point at one reason why conflict escalates to clashes or acts of hostilities. There is therefore no one response or method for conflict transformation, peace building or to reconciliation. The more we understand about the complexity of a conflicts nature, its parties, history and cultural settings the better we can craft activities adapted and suitable to the various situations.
Even though no conflicts are identical, factors like reduced communication and movement, increased perception differences as well as increased stress and uncertainty, limited resources and services, and reduced safety are often common limitations and outcomes.
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