The News Chronicle
  • About Us
  • Advert Rates
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
Thursday, August 18, 2022
  • Login
Advertisement
  • News
    • Breaking
    • Business
    • Celebs
    • Sports
    • Africa
    • Technology
    • World News
    • Interviews
  • Social Diary
    • Events
  • Columns
    • Monday
    • Tuesday
    • Wednesday
    • Thursday
    • Friday
    • Sunday
    • Opinions
    • Editorial: Our Stand
  • TNC TV
  • Interviews
  • Books
    • Reviews
    • Author Profiles
  • Entertainment
  • Gist
  • Gossip
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Breaking
    • Business
    • Celebs
    • Sports
    • Africa
    • Technology
    • World News
    • Interviews
  • Social Diary
    • Events
  • Columns
    • Monday
    • Tuesday
    • Wednesday
    • Thursday
    • Friday
    • Sunday
    • Opinions
    • Editorial: Our Stand
  • TNC TV
  • Interviews
  • Books
    • Reviews
    • Author Profiles
  • Entertainment
  • Gist
  • Gossip
No Result
View All Result
The News Chronicle
No Result
View All Result
  • News
  • Social Diary
  • Columns
  • TNC TV
  • Interviews
  • Books
  • Entertainment
  • Gist

Path Naija News » Opinions » Sportswashing at Tyneside: Saudi Arabia moves into English Football

Sportswashing at Tyneside: Saudi Arabia moves into English Football

Dr. Binoy Kampmark by Dr. Binoy Kampmark
October 9, 2021
in Editors' Pick, Opinions
Reading Time: 4 mins read
A A
Curfew Panda
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Whatsapp

The recent acquisition of the Newcastle United football club by Saudi Arabia’s Public
Investment Fund, along with financier Amanda Staveley and the billionaire Reuben brothers,
was a source of much excitement for some former players. Old boy Alan Shearer did little to
conceal it. “We can dare to hope again,” he rejoiced.

In The Guardian, Barney Ronay was less enthusiastic, notably at the appearance of the House
of Saud in English football. “Welcome, Mohammed bin Salman, to the billionaire boys club.

RelatedPosts

Nigeria’s two trillion Naira fight

Nigeria’s two trillion Naira fight

August 18, 2022
Salman Rushdie And The Satanic Verses

Salman Rushdie And The Satanic Verses

August 18, 2022
The Maybe Mob and the Rushdie Attack

The Maybe Mob and the Rushdie Attack

August 18, 2022

No need to wipe your feet. Although maybe, on reflection, do wash your hands. Those
damned spots, eh?”

Hatice Cengiz, fiancée of the Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi so brutally carved
up in his country’s Istanbul consulate in October 2018, spoke of her heartbreak. It was “a
real shame for Newcastle and for English football” that the club was now in the hands of “the person responsible for the murder of Jamal.”

The CEO of Amnesty International UK, Sacha Desmukh, described the deal as “an extremely
bitter blow for human rights”. Great football clubs, she claimed, were “being used to
sportswash human rights abuse.” Saudi Arabia had undertaken this move as part of an
“aggressive move into sport as a vehicle for image-management and PR plain for all to see.”

Stumbling Surveillance: The end of the COVIDSafe App
Trending
Stumbling Surveillance: The end of the COVIDSafe App

The deal had been reached in April last year but stalled after Qatar-based beIN Sports voiced
opposition. The broadcaster, holding broadcasting rights to the EPL for audiences in the
Middle East and North Africa, was banned by Saudi Arabia in 2017 as part of the Kingdom’s
effort to blockade Qatar.

Relations between the states have since thawed. “Following completion of the Premier
League’s Owners’ and Directors’ Test, the club has been sold to the consortium with
immediate effect,” the EPL confirmed in its October 7 statement. The body had also been
given “legally binding assurances that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will not control
Newcastle United Football Club.” This is much wishful thinking, given that the PIF is
personally chaired by the crown prince and governed by a board stacked by Saudi
government ministers and royal favourites. And just to make matters that much darker, the
fund was behind the purchase of a company which owned the two private jets used by the
death squad responsible for Khashoggi’s killing.

The fanbase had other priorities: the celebrated departure of the detested Sports Direct
billionaire Mike Ashley; the closing of a dark chapter lasting 14 years; a shell of a club that
could be revived. Under Ashley, the club went into decay, suffering two relegations and the
estrangement of its supporters.

They gathered in number, cheering the announcement, sporting Saudi flags and, rather
disconcertingly, donning masks of bin Salman. One fan, Paul Loraine, claimed that there was
“not a lot we can do about the human rights stuff”. He reflected upon the clothing “borne out
of sweatshops in countries with human rights issues. The moral compass is always a strange
one in times like this.” Strange, and relativised to such a point that Ben Machell of The
Times could suggest an off-colour joke regarding the unpopular manager, Steve Bruce.
“Hope Newcastle United’s new owners don’t have Steve Bruce strangled and dismembered”.

Russia Scrambles for Higher Performance Marks in Africa
Trending
Russia Scrambles for Higher Performance Marks in Africa

While topflight football has a habit of drawing out bleeding heart sentimentalism, the Saudi
role provided a suitable distraction from a competition that long ago ceased being concerned
with human rights or the moral compass. The acquisition was merely another move that has
become common in the English Premier League, a form of soft power at play, a place to park
dirty money and a forum for blood-soaked finances.

Even Shearer had to admit that the sport had faced a number of sketchily drawn lines in the
sand, making any claims to moral fibre weak. “Maybe it was Russian involvement in the
Premier League, China or Abu Dhabi. Maybe it was Americans using the club’s own money
to help complete their purchase of it.” Qatar was set to host the World Cup while Saudi
Arabia had invested “in all kinds of businesses in this country and a variety of sports
worldwide. It was only a matter of time before it turned to football.”

Fans of a club such as Manchester City, having tasted the sort of success in recent years
Newcastle United has only dreamed of, would also have to face these lines. In June 2007,
Thailand’s former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra purchased it for £81.6 million.

Affectionately known to fans as Frank, he promised much, delivering a coach in the form of
Sven-Göran Eriksson and a number of top-shelf players. But during his time in office, the
human rights record of the country was severely blotted. Between January 2001 and January
2005, eighteen human rights defenders were assassinated; one was disappeared. In February
2002, the Thaksin government commenced its own version of the “War on Drugs”, which
saw over 2,700 extrajudicial killings.

Allow 7m Nigerians to complete voter registration or face legal action, SERAP tells INEC
Trending
Allow 7m Nigerians to complete voter registration or face legal action, SERAP tells INEC

With Sheikh Mansour of the United Arab Emirates taking the reins at Manchester City
through the Abu Dhabi United Group just over a year later, a corrupt, sanguinary owner had
been replaced by a member of an absolute ruling family. “City fans knew that the UAE had a
dodgy human rights record. But many of us preferred to turn a blind eye,” recalls ManchesterCity follower and writer Simon Hattenstone.

In 2020, Amnesty International noted the continuing UAE practice of banning political
opposition and imprisoning those seeking a change of government. To this could be added
the conduct of trials marked by forced confessions and the incommunicado detention of
accused parties. In terms of labour conditions, the UAE’s kafala sponsorship program for
migrant workers remains famed for its brutal conditions and lack of protections. The Gulf
state has also been a co-leading member of the coalition with Saudi Arabia in the brutal
conflict in Yemen and supplier of arms and drones to the rebel Libyan National Army.

In a singular mark of cognitive dissonance, the Sheik’s ownership of the club could somehow
sit alongside the wearing of a yellow ribbon by club manager Pep Guardiola, worn in
solidarity for political prisoners jailed for campaigning for Catalan independence.

In turning over a new leaf, Newcastle United has placed its faith in a theocracy that does
away with its dissidents using bone-sawing death squads. A support base long starved of
success is already looking the other way, while the city will be looking for Saudi money to
fuel investment. The ghosts of Khashoggi and other victims will be, at least for a time,
passed over as needless distractions.

Dr. Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge. He
lectures at RMIT University, Melbourne. Email: bkampmark@gmail.com

Hot Gist

  • Photoprotection: Why You Need a Sunscreen
  • “I was disappointed by [Wole Soyinka’s] uncharacteristic silence between 2015 and 2019” – Farooq Kperogi
  • Importance of dentures in oral functions and aesthetics
  • “When I make a Mistake, it’s a Beauty” Fiorella H. La Guardia

Tags: Newcastle United football clubSaudi Arabia

Get real time update about this post categories directly on your device, subscribe now.

Unsubscribe
Previous Post

Democracy and rule of law fading so fast in Nigeria

Next Post

Jojobaby entices fans with ‘Obsession’

Related Posts

Nigeria’s two trillion Naira fight

Nigeria’s two trillion Naira fight

August 18, 2022
Salman Rushdie And The Satanic Verses

Salman Rushdie And The Satanic Verses

August 18, 2022
The Maybe Mob and the Rushdie Attack

The Maybe Mob and the Rushdie Attack

August 18, 2022
Peace

Nurturing Places

August 18, 2022
African Renaissance: the burden of religion and a call to reality

African Renaissance: the burden of religion and a call to reality

August 18, 2022
Emmanuel Maliki’s heart of gold

Emmanuel Maliki’s heart of gold

August 17, 2022
Next Post
Jojobaby entices fans with ‘Obsession’

Jojobaby entices fans with ‘Obsession’

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

ADVERTISEMENT

What's New?

ASUU Strike: University Don, Nwanolue, Frowns At Seeming Silence Of Judiciary, Legislature
News

ASUU Rejects Federal Government’s Offer For The Following Reasons

by Shalom Grace
August 18, 2022
0

The Academic Staff Union of Universities has rejected the Federal Government’s salary offer, citing reasons of non-compliance with earlier agreements...

Read more
Police Commission issues stern warning ahead of Edo polls

20 Mummified Corpses Found As Police Bust Suspected Ritualist Den In Edo

August 18, 2022
Anambra Govt House Abandoned For Over 31 Years To be Completed In 18 Months

Anambra Govt House Abandoned For Over 31 Years To be Completed In 18 Months

August 18, 2022
Prev Next
The News Chronicle

© 2022 The News Chronicle

Navigate Site

  • About Us
  • Advert Rates
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Breaking
    • Business
    • Celebs
    • Sports
    • Africa
    • Technology
    • World News
    • Interviews
  • Social Diary
    • Events
  • Columns
    • Monday
    • Tuesday
    • Wednesday
    • Thursday
    • Friday
    • Sunday
    • Opinions
    • Editorial: Our Stand
  • TNC TV
  • Interviews
  • Books
    • Reviews
    • Author Profiles
  • Entertainment
  • Gist

© 2022 The News Chronicle

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

News updates based on facts and evidence.