Can Rashford's victory unpack sportsmen's commitment?

• Briton Marcus Rashford admired everyone ten days ago by forcing his government to extend a food aid program for children.
• Very committed to this subject, the MU player, who himself grew up in a very modest environment, can be a source of inspiration for athletes from around the world.
• Many are already donating time and money for social work, but a new way of doing things could emerge, more visible and more effective.

"Rashford Prime Minister"! Obviously, we know the propensity of the Daily Star to make it a little too much on its Unes. Nevertheless, the English tabloid this time hit the nail on the head, June 17, by dedicating its first page to Marcus Rashford. Not that the Manchester United striker is seriously considering investing in 10 Downing Street, but the manner in which he has bent current tenant Boris Johnson is impressive.

Tomorrow's front page: Rashers for PM #tomorrowspaperstoday https://t.co/OyZbf4MafR pic.twitter.com/I4EO9fvoyw

Affected by the end of a food aid program allowing 1.3 million disadvantaged children to eat for free, set up when the confinement forced the schools and their canteens to close, the 22-year-old Mancunian launched the revolt. An open letter to parliamentarians, a column in the Timesto tell his story of a kid who didn't always have something to eat on his plate, all relayed tens of thousands of times on social networks, and the government backed down in less than 48 hours. With the congratulations of PM himself for the hero of the people. “I thank him for what he did. I think he is right to draw attention to this problem, "said Boris Johnson, who has to be a good loser.

This Rashford victory left a lasting impression. But the Englishman is not the only sportsman to venture out of his natural habitat at the moment. In the United States, the death of George Floyd in late May sparked a tsunami in society, to which NBA and NFL players, in particular, largely contributed. LeBron James launched an association to push black American voters to vote massively in the presidential election of November 3, while a group of a few hundred players said that he reserved his answer as to his presence in late July in Orlando for the resumption of the basketball season, secondary to the current struggle against social and racial injustice.

Not new

“It calls into question a very widespread presupposition that an installed sportsman only thinks about his small career, earning a lot of money, developing his brand, etc. But Rashford or the others are not isolated cases at all, poses the sociologist Benjamin Coignet, who has long been interested in the integration of clubs and athletes in society. There are a lot of them who invest themselves for social or ecological causes, who finance training academies, Unicef-type programs, in developing countries or in their hometown. Athletes are not just beasts of work and competition who think only of themselves. "

Nor did they wait to be confined to pay attention to the world around them. One example among many: the “Common Goal” association created by Juan Mata in 2017, which invites players from around the world to donate 1% of their salary to help disadvantaged populations. Two years ago, we also told you how the players of the France football team became more and more involved with charitable associations. Incidentally, one of the lessons learned from this article was the difficulty in obtaining information from the players or their advisers, who prefer that this kind of initiative, which is however very honorable, is not widely publicized.

French team: The Blues, (discreet) symbols of the generosity of footballers? https://t.co/zx2WTaCbOB via @ 20minutesSport pic.twitter.com/qcgyHiLvQV

This may change. Thanks to the exponential power of social networks and the emergence of leaders, in particular. This is in any case the opinion of Sébastien Bellencontre, specialist in the image management of professional athletes with his agency 4Success. “The example of Marcus Rashford is canon. The strength of the community, the new means of communication, it has an enormous echo power, observes the one who takes care of sportsmen of all horizons (Blaise Matuidi, Dimitri Payet, Amandine Henry, Pierre Gasly, Mathieu Bastareaud, Thomas Heurtel , etc.). This can reassure athletes that they have the right to communicate, helping them to uncomplicate their commitment. Until now, they were often afraid that they would be criticized for appropriating a subject in order to do business. These are people with high ego who take it badly when they hear negative things about them. "

Donation and counter-donation

We are not yet to see Blaise Matuidi directly challenge Emmanuel Macron, but the idea that kicking a ball (or throwing it, or what you want) does not prevent us from positioning ourselves on a current fact his way, little by little. Why do they do it, by the way? Our sociologist enlightens us:

"We called it the logic of donation and counter-donation [theorized in the 1920s by Marcel Mauss, nephew of Emile Durkheim and considered the father of French ethnography - click here after reading this paper, you will see it's exciting]. These are people who come from socially disadvantaged backgrounds, who have succeeded thanks to sport, to institutions, to social life in general, who at some point in their lives feel the obligation to give back in a way other than that of emotion, of spectacle. Pleasing people is already a way of giving back, but many feel the need to give something back to the population, the territory, society, and even humanity. "

The new generation more comfortable?

So much for the foundations. Then, the shine brought in the finishes is perhaps a question of generation. Marcus Rashford is 22 years old. Kylian Mbappé, who did not hesitate to think big for the launch at the beginning of the year of his project "Inspired by KM", imagined by his mother and created to support 98 young people from the vast majority of modest Islanders -from France until their entry into working life, 21 years old. "I don't feel like we are inventing something new, I would rather say that we are doing what we did 20 years ago but with more means and more visibility," said Fayza, the mother, on this occasion. Right in the target.

In the United States, Joe Burrow, 23 years old and number 1 in the last NFL draft, clashes with his committed speeches, notably to defend the black community. “Open your ears, listen, speak. It’s not politics, it’s human rights, ”he said on May 25. Burrow is white, he will be very wealthy, but he grew up in southeastern Ohio, where the poverty rate is twice the national average.

"Champions have two dimensions"

"The young athletes who are arriving now are better prepared for all of this," says Bellencontre. They grew up with the idea that we could be heard. "They're going faster, that's for sure," says Coignet. It is a matter of personal conscience and those around you. Off-field engagement is in step with the times. Fabien Paget has been defending this for a while. Former athlete manager, hired in particular by Serena Williams to support her in her fight for the cause of women, at the start of 2020 he launched the agency 17 Sport, which claims to be "the first agency for impact in sport ”.

His credo, concretely: doing business does not prevent putting meaning in what we do. On the contrary, even. This applies to businesses, sports clubs, and the athletes themselves.

"Champions are not just that, they have a responsibility to improve society," he says. They have two dimensions. Serena Williams is tennis champion and engaged for women. What do soccer players often do? A gala dinner, a check for a foundation. It's good, but it should not stop there. They can find a mission of their own, on a social issue that affects them. It must be authentic and sincere, of course. Serena, if she was talking about sustainable development, it would be less credible than the cause of women. "

An observation shared by Sébastien Bellencontre. “The modern athlete can no longer just perform on the field, he must also play the role of ambassador, of opinion leader. On subjects that he masters and that are specific to him. Which is not always easy to find. He thus takes the example of a young F1 driver whom he advises: "He's looking for himself a bit, we're talking about a lot of things, the dangers of the road for young drivers for example. At one point we started talking about ecology, because he's still a 24-year-old guy who sees that the world needs change, except that it can't work. He often takes the plane and he drives a polluting car… He would like to do it, but it would be very badly interpreted and he would miss his shot. "

You don't become a voice that counts when you snap your fingers when you wake up. Before even talking about his actions, they must already exist. Rashford, to come back to it, had raised 450,000 euros during a first personal campaign, then allowed to collect a little more than 22 million euros for the association FareShare (which fights against food waste and malnutrition), before to go on a crusade against his government.

Guys, I have AMAZING news !! 😬😬😬 We had a goal that by end of June @fareshareuk would be able to supply 3million meals to vulnerable people across the UK. TODAY we have met the financial goal to provide these meals. Thank you all SO much for the support (1)

Another important element for those who take the plunge: keep a step back. Getting involved is time, energy, stress. A slap, too, sometimes. "The moment we say that we have done something good, it is very short," describes Marie-Amélie Le Fur, a bridgehead in handisport in France. Behind, we immediately think of how we can go further. The causes that we defend have no end, unfortunately, and many athletes are caught in this spiral. The more we do, the more there is a need, the more we have to continue. This is where you have to be careful. "

Solicited from all sides since his victory, Marcus Rashford has already made it known that he would not stop there. "I do not want this to be the end of my engagement, because other measures must be taken," he assured the BBC microphone. Decorated by the city of Manchester during the crisis, already favorite for the title of sports personality of the year awarded by the BBC, he saw his odds to be made Knight of the Queen drop to 6 against 4 among bookmakers. Incidentally, his coach Ole-Gunnar Solskjaer is counting on him to bring MU back into the same spheres as City and Liverpool. Sacred program.

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