During the World Cup, the media will set up a checkpoint Thoughts

“Why should African and Middle Eastern groups be held accountable for what their governments are doing but European groups are not?” South African comedian Trevor Noah he asked recently at the National Committee’s management party.

He answers the questions that the Western media asked the Iranian players following their matches. But the question goes beyond Iran. It speaks to a common trope in international journalism: Some players are allowed to be athletes. Some are turned into ambassadors, accused and moral demonstrations.

The World Cup is often marketed as a place where football rises above politics. This has always been a canard. Politics, and deception, have always been part of the game. Teams have boycotted or been banned from competing due to the policies of their governments. Russia has been banned for invading Ukraine. South Africa was eventually banned due to apartheid. Israel, however, plays the right game despite being in Palestine, Lebanon and Syria, bombing Iran, and despite what Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and UN experts have found that it is killing people in Gaza and maintaining the apartheid system at home and in the occupied territories. The United States has also not been banned despite many violent wars.

And the World Cup is not unique. The international cultural and sporting competition is full of politics and deception dressed up as facts. Just look at the controversy surrounding Israel’s participation in Eurovision.

Noah’s Question is a case of a journalist who likes to pretend to be strong but often shows his opinion. Much ink has been spilled over the eligibility of Russia and Qatar to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, based on those governments’ policies. Yet there have been few questions about the right of the US to host the tournament while it is attacking Iran and Venezuela, deporting asylum seekers, and banning or restricting the travel of tournament officials, players and fans.

The selective response that goes through the institutions – which are banned, which are allowed to exist – also goes through the press box. So we should not be surprised that some political questions are only for some teams and not others.

Before their match against Egypt in Seattle, which was known as the “Pride Match”, Iran and Egypt both were asked about LGBTQ rights. The FIFA official also read a statement saying that Iran wants to answer questions about the game. However, the media persisted. The Egyptian authorities also protect their players from such questions.

Again, the point is not that LGBTQ rights, war, oppression, racism, discrimination or genocide are unimportant. They are very important. Journalists will ask difficult questions. But difficult questions should not be a ritual reserved for other passports.

American actors are rarely asked to comment on US bombings, border policies, racism, police brutality or support for Israel. English players are rarely asked about British imports or colonial heritage. French players are not expected to respond to military affairs in Africa. German players are not under any pressure for Berlin to crack down on Palestinian protests.

And when the European teams were drawn to politics – the OneLove fans and the German team to close their mouths for a team photo in Qatar 2022, England kneeling at Euro 2020 – it was a demonstration that they chose to make, not an acknowledgment that they were asked before they were allowed to speak. No journalist forced them to criticize their governments as the cost of discussing sports.

Western football players are considered as the people who represent the country. Players from Iran, Egypt, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Senegal or Ghana are easily converted into government representatives.

For many players from the Global South, the sports press conference becomes a spectacle. Before they are allowed to talk about tactics, injuries or between opponents, they are asked to describe their governments, their groups, their religions, their laws and their wars.

Sound good?

Remember the Palestinian interviewees having to denounce Hamas at the beginning of every interview before talking about the massacre in Gaza? The intention was not to clarify. You were in groups. It established a moral hierarchy before negotiations began: Israel good, Hamas bad. The suffering of Palestine was felt only after passing through the checkpoints of Western countries.

The same principle can be seen in these World Cup posters. Iranians should oppose Iran. Egyptians must oppose Egypt. Africans need to prove that they understand Western polite words before they are allowed to speak. But Americans will not be asked to criticize the United States, or the English UK.

This is the real answer to Noah’s question. The issue is not whether politics is sports. It always has. The issue is who is made to carry politics, and who is allowed to play.

Western media don’t just ask questions. It forces a narrative that Western governments and institutions have long made: The West is the moral standard, and the rest of the world must answer to itself.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial policy.