Paris (AFP) – In an echo of the Cold War, ice hockey has become central to international diplomacy, after it was mentioned by Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump during talks on Ukraine, and during tensions between the United States and Canada over trade. The US and Russian presidents’ phone call on March 18 focused on Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy sites, US military aid to Kyiv, and peace negotiations. But according to the Kremlin, Putin also brought up a subject close to his heart — ice hockey — and raised the possibility of matches between players of both countries.
“We’ve been seeing efforts by the Russians to warm up the situation with Donald Trump and vice versa…Putin is a big hockey fan,” Gary Smith, a former Canadian diplomat and author of “Ice War Diplomat,” told AFP. Smith’s book focuses on a series of hockey matches between Canada and the Soviet Union during the Cold War in 1972, which is considered one of the most significant events in 20th-century Canadian history. “The advantage of sports is that it impacts foreign societies from top to bottom because there’s such a mass interest in sports,” he added. “So you have an opportunity to really convey a message, a cultural message. And what it does is it helps break down cultural stereotypes. For instance, we didn’t like the communists at all but they had a goaltender, 20 years old, named Vladislav Tretiak, and he put a human face on communism.”
– ‘Relationships of trust’ –
Whether ice hockey can help to “humanise” modern-day Russia more than half a century later remains to be seen. First, games would have to actually take place between the Americans and Russians, and despite Trump’s agreement in principle, this is not yet a done deal. The North American NHL cut ties with its Russian counterpart, the KHL, after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and Russia is banned from international competitions until at least 2026. Smith assesses the chance of the offer coming to fruition as “50-50” — and dependent on the course of the war. “The longer the war in Ukraine goes on, the less likely this series will happen,” he said, noting that the White House read-out of the call made no mention of ice hockey.
Putin, 72, portrays himself as having a healthy and athletic lifestyle and took up ice hockey late in life, playing in high-profile gala matches every year. Ice hockey “brings people together and helps build relationships of trust,” he said during one match in 2019 when asked about possible “hockey diplomacy.” By coincidence, Russian Alex Ovechkin, who plays for NHL franchise the Washington Capitals, is closing in on the league record of 894 goals set by the player widely considered the greatest of all time, Wayne Gretzky. Ovechkin founded “PutinTeam” to support the Russian president in the 2018 election, and his Instagram profile picture shows him standing with Putin.
– Elbows up! –
In recent weeks, ice hockey has also emerged as a proxy for tensions between North American neighbours the United States and Canada. In February, a clash on the ice between the two countries in an international tournament in Montreal was marked by three fights in the first nine seconds and a chorus of deafening boos. Faced with Trump’s repeated calls to make their country the “51st state,” Canadians have adopted a rallying cry of resistance directly drawn from the vocabulary of their national sport: “Elbows up!” New Prime Minister Mark Carney, himself a former player, also alluded to ice hockey in a speech about the trade war with Washington over tariffs. “Canadians are always ready when someone else drops the gloves,” he said, referring to ice hockey’s notorious punch-ups. “The Americans should make no mistake: in trade as in hockey, Canada will win.”
The former central banker donned his national team jersey for the final of the tournament. Despite a phone call from Trump himself to the American players before kickoff, the United States lost the final 3-2 to Canada.
© 2024 AFP
