The problem with politicians is that they always try and act like humans.
Ever since politics has existed, politicians have struggled to look like average Joes in the public sphere. After all, their careers depend on being likable and relatable in the eyes of the electorate, a near-impossible task when you focus all your efforts on trying to be likable and relatable whenever you make a public appearance.
Overthinking normality can be fatal, particularly when you consider how indefinable the concept is. For example, Donald Trump maintains that difficult situation on top of his head is a completely normal hairstyle, whereas most people believe it’s the result of some sort of taxidermy-related accident.
One person who doesn’t try to be ordinary, at least in a sporting sense, is Scottish Conservative party member Ruth Davidson. Watch her prove that she understood the sentiment of Nelson Mandela’s speech about ‘our deepest fear’ by refusing to go right down the middle (literally and figuratively) with this penalty.
https://twitter.com/aidankerrpol/status/720560057247735808
However, not all politicians are like Davidson. The vast majority struggle to act natural during sporting photo-ops. We’ve put together 11 prime examples of politicians who have tried and failed to act like a human while trying their hand at sport.
Enda Kenny
I wonder if our founding fathers ever envisioned the leader of the Republic wearing lycra.
…or engaging with some good old fashioned horseplay with arguably the greatest rugby player the country has ever produced.
Bertie Ahern
When Bertie settles on a pose, he sticks to it.
Leo Varadkar
He’ll never make the county panel whiffing air shots like that… well, he might scrape onto the Leitrim team.
Boris Johnson
All we can say about the Mayor of London is that his sporting appearances may be brief, but they’re almost always memorable. Whether it’s flattening some Japanese schoolboy in a friendly game of rugby…
Mayor of London Boris Johnson takes out 10 year old boy in Japan. 😂🙈 https://t.co/ZVlqqTwXY0
— Jörgen Sundberg (@JorgenSundberg) October 15, 2015
… or flattening some German in a friendly game of soccer, Johnson always makes an impact regardless of what sport he’s playing.
Tony Blair
Still a better finisher than Depay.
Gordon Brown
His table tennis match against Harry Redknapp, of all people, went exactly as awfully as everyone expected.
George Osborne
If you show up to a netball game wearing a suit, prepare to be excluded.
Nick Clegg
We can only imagine the look on the coach’s face as the former Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom assured him that he had rugby’d before.
Rob Ford
The former Mayor of Toronto was never the most athletically gifted, but man was he an entertaining football player. RIP.
George Bush
To the party president’s credit, it was a decent drive.
Frank Underwood
That’s right, even fictional politicians find sport a struggle.
