Conditional acceptance of minority and immigrant athletes by host countries

[True Believer]

When a minority footballer with immigrant parents scores, he provides the host country with prestige, national pride and a shared sense of joy. At that moment, the host country rewards him with temporary membership in the national identity. The moment that the same player misses a penalty or has a bad game, the condition for the host country's acceptance is no longer met. The majority goes back to viewing him as an outsider instead of the same nationality.

 

[True Believer]

 

[True Believer]

Zinedine Zidane may have captained France to the World Cup in 1998, but he never sang the national anthem because he has immigrant parents from Algeria; a former colony that the French brutalised.