Don’t mention the election: why are Australia’s sports stars staying silent?

As a rule, politicians in Australia love sport. And they have no qualms using sport for electoral ends.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s suburban dad persona is underpinned by his support of NRL team, the Cronulla Sharks. He is their number one ticket-holder and frequently pictured in Sharks apparel, even if some question the authenticity of his fandom.

Morrison thrives in sporting environments – running bottles for the Wallabies, enjoying a fast lap at the Bathurst 1000 and joining the commentary box at the fourth Ashes test. His opponent, Anthony Albanese, is an even bigger rugby league fan – the opposition leader’s Twitter profile proudly notes his life-membership of the South Sydney Rabbitohs.

It is not always easy to determine whether an individual politician’s sporting allegiances are genuine or strategic; Labor has condemned Morrison’s sporting image, claiming he “switched codes and switched teams”. But there is no doubting that sports funding is determined through a political lens.

Indeed recent analysis from Guardian Australia found that the two major parties have pledged over $40m to sporting clubs that benefited from the sport rort program. And a website updated by sports researcher Greg Blood lists a staggering number of sporting promises made during this election: almost 100 from the Coalition (ranging from $200,000 for a refurbished basketball stadium in Canberra to $30m for an aquatic centre in Western Australia) and 87 at last count from Labor (including $500,000 for a skate park in Merimbula and $8m for a swimming pool in Kalgoorlie).

All of which makes a mockery of that often-repeated claim that sport is not political. It also underscores the hypocrisy of Morrison’s message to Cricket Australia, after