# political football

idiom

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/political-football
Updated: 2026-08-10

## Meaning

A contentious political issue or problem that is often debated or discussed, but that remains unresolved; an issue or problem which is avoided by authorities and handed off to others.

## Examples

- Healthcare is often treated like a political football.
- Local taxes become a political football every time there is an election.
- The city council refused to fix the road, turning the project into a political football between the mayor and the governor.
- The school board keeps using the new budget as a political football instead of actually buying the books that the students need for their classes.
- For decades, the reform of the national pension system has remained a political football, tossed between opposing parties while the underlying economic crisis continues to worsen.

## Origin

The idiom emerges as an allusion to a ball being kicked back and forth between opposing teams, illustrating the process of a policy or issue being treated as a tool for partisan advantage rather than a matter for resolution. It describes the state of a topic being tossed between factions, usually to the detriment of the topic itself.

---

From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.