Sports Diplomacy. Michał Marcin Kobierecki
Canadian diplomats in Moscow took it as a suggestion and met with the author of the article Boris Fedosov who expressed Soviet willingness to organize matches against Canadian NHL players.146 The planned exchange was supposed to create a chance for political rapprochement. Soviet acceptance to compete against professionals suggests that it attached lesser importance to the sports result (contrary to sports diplomacies with the United States), which can be explained by Canada’s different status.
Negotiations concerning the hockey exchanges were held at the occasion of talks between Canadian officials and IIHF concerning Canada’s return to international competition after its withdrawal in 1970 as a result of disagreement concerning the right of Canadian professional players to compete. The agreement was reached in April 1972 with the support of Soviet officials. During the same meeting, the decision was made to organize a series of eight matches between teams from both countries in September:147 four in Canadian cities and four in Moscow.148 Canada established a special body in the Department of External Affairs—International Sports Relations Desk149 to coordinate preparations, negotiations, and the protocol of the exchange.150 It suggests that the Canadian government cared a lot about improving relations with the Soviet Union and wanted to avoid any unnecessary controversies.
The Canadian-Soviet ice hockey exchange also known as the 1972 Summit Series between the Soviet national team and a team of Canadian NHL stars was held in autumn 1972.151 Within their preparations, Soviet players lived according to Canadian time for two weeks before the first matches. Canadians, on the other hand, had some problems with completing the squad since some of the clubs did not allow their players to participate in the series.152 Still, Canadians were regarded as the favorite to win since for the first time professionals were allowed to compete against the Soviet team. In a way, this embodied earlier Canadian requests to allow professionals to compete in international ice hockey.
The Canadian team won the Summit Series, although by a very narrow margin thanks to a goal in the last seconds of the last match in Moscow. Canada won four matches, the USSR three, and there was one tie.153 Within the exchange meetings between politicians from both countries were organized. As the US ambassador to Moscow recalled, all this resulted in greater interest in Canada in the USSR and the improvement of diplomatic relations.154
Both sides tried hard to win the series, but the prime motivation of the exchange was to improve bilateral relations. Hockey exchange was supposed to affect both societies according to the assumption that more people are interested in sports than in international relations.155 Such an attitude in general lies behind the usefulness of sports diplomacy in affecting international relations. Still, there were several setbacks for achieving this objective. A very aggressive style of play of the Canadians was one of them. Numerous fouls led to a situation that instead of friendship, the matches were arousing dislike or even hostility against Canadians. Of course, Soviet players were not entirely blameless,156 but it were the Canadians who played particularly roughly. Generally, though, it is believed that the exchange was beneficial, particularly from the Canadian perspective, since it gained higher status and recognition within the USSR.157
The 1972 Summit Series is commented as the most crucial act of Canada-USSR hockey diplomacy, but hockey exchanges were arranged later as well. For example, in 1974 newly established World Hockey Association (WHA) which competed with NHL and sought to improve its status organized a series of matches between Canadians playing in WHA and the Soviet national team. The format of the exchange was similar to the 1972 series. Soviets won four matches, there were three ties, and the WHA team won once. It should be noted that despite the lower status of WHA comparing to NHL its squad was composed of some of the players who participated in the 1972 series.158 According to John Soares, this dimension of hockey diplomacy fitted in Trudeau’s efforts to improve relations with the USSR and to reduce the tensions.159 Considering these goals, an aggressive Canadian style of play was an obstacle. There were also controversies concerning organizational issues. For example, there was a threat of breaking the series after Canadians chartered an aircraft instead of using commercial flights to travel between Canadian cities (as was agreed). In turn, Canadian officials boycotted one of the matches in Moscow because they were upset with the seats they received. According to the report by the Canadian embassy to Moscow, the 1972 series probably improved bilateral relations, but “at the conclusion of the second series it is more difficult to draw a balance sheet.”160 It demonstrates that sports diplomacy directed at bringing hostile or estranged states closer is a tool that should be used very carefully, and it is very easy to jeopardize its positive effects. In this case, controversies were connected to the aggressive style of players (similarly as in some matches of the US-USSR basketball exchanges) and organizational issues, but a similar problem might be connected to the risk of stimulating nationalist emotions, something that, for instance, organizers of cricket exchanges between India and Pakistan were afraid of.
Canada-USSR hockey exchanges also included other contacts in ice hockey. For example, in late 1975 and early 1976 Soviet Central Army Club (CSKA) of Moscow and Wings of the Soviet traveled to America to play friendly matches against American and Canadian teams. Particularly worth mentioning is one of the games between CSKA, the Soviet champion and nucleus of the national team, and Montreal Canadiens, the NHL four-time champion between 1976 and 1979. The match ended in a tie 3-3. In 1976 Canada hosted first of a series of hockey tournaments called Canada Cup, with Soviet and Czechoslovak national teams and teams of professionals from the United States and Canada, and occasionally others such as the Swedish national team. Another exchange was held in 1979 when a series called the Challenge Cup between NHL stars and the Soviet national team was organized. After two matches there was a draw, while the third one was won by the Soviet team 6-0. In Canada, some people perceived it as a loss of democracy.161 It was not purely a Canadian-Soviet exchange since American players were also playing in the NHL team, but to some extent, it can also be classified as a form of Canada-USSR hockey diplomacy. The diplomatic effect of these exchanges was much more modest though comparing to the 1972 Summit Series.
The hockey diplomacy was not necessary to arrange traditional diplomatic contacts between Canada and the Soviet Union. Its fundamental goal was to develop cooperation and to build more considerable sympathy toward another country in respective societies in a way typical for public diplomacy. The primary obstacle was the aggressive behavior of Canadian players. With this in mind, hockey diplomacy can be assessed as a mixed success. Canada managed to receive more recognition in the Soviet concepts concerning international relations and became more recognizable among Soviet society but on the other hand, various controversies limited the diplomatic benefits.
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