In July, the German publication Sport Bild gave Bayern Munich CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and TSG Hoffenheim owner Dietmar Hopp their “Gesture of the Year” award for “standing side by side against hate”. Rummenigge and Hopp were standing up against the Bayern ultras who were protesting against Hopp’s for his three-year ban of Borussia Dortmund’s fans from TSG Hoffenheim’s ground. The award was met with widespread ridicule, given that it was made at the height of the Black Lives Matter protests, when black footballers around the world were making gestures of a far greater scale and significance. Jonathan Harding, the football writer, broadcaster and author of the brilliant Mensch: Beyond The Cones, addresses this award below in his “Ode to Gestures”.

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