For such an emotive, well-worn term, it is hard to pin down the exact origin of “sportswashing”. But in the last few days it has been used many times in relation to Qatar.
The weekend, not only saw the tiny, fabulously wealthy state stage its first Formula One race, but it marked exactly one year before the World Cup kicks off in Qatar.
For the country’s critics, this noisy entrance on to the global stage represents the ultimate in sportswashing. The practice – using sport to improve a country’s questionable image – goes back decades. The 1934 World Cup in Italy painted a gloss over Benito Mussolini’s fascist regime, and Adolf Hitler used the 1936 Olympics in Berlin to spread Nazi propaganda.
But the word itself is relatively new. Even those who use it most are unsure who first coined it. Some thought it was used as early as 2008, in response to China hosting the Beijing Olympics to distract from the country’s human rights violations.
Some said Amnesty International invented the word and people at the charity agreed – only to realise, after speaking to the person they considered responsible, that it was a myth.
Sportswashing actually first seems to have been used in 2015 when the European Games – a minor version of the Olympics – were held in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku. It emerged from a brainstorming session that year between Padraig Reidy and Mike Harris, of the London-based creative agency 89up.
“As a fledgling communications agency with a focus on human rights, we were particularly interested in how large London agencies were increasingly engaged in laundering the reputations of the new-style post-Soviet dictators in the former Soviet Union,” says Reidy.
“The Azerbaijani regime was not only hosting the European Games, it was also angling to make Baku a regular fixture in the Grand Prix circuit. Global sport was clearly the main focus of the public relations spin to cover up the government’s appalling record in arresting journalists and human rights activists.
“There had been conversations in activist circles in the 2010s about corporate ‘pinkwashing’ – particularly by the fossil fuel industries in the US and the government of Israel – where corporations would loudly proclaim their dedication to LGBT causes to divert attention from their damaging practices.
“The phrase had also been used by critics of the Israeli government. The term ‘greenwashing’ dates back even further. So the inspiration was clear.”
Newcastle Utd Saudi takeover led to latest sportswashing claims
But it was Amnesty that thrust the term into the global conversation. The rights group used it in 2018 to criticise Abu Dhabi’s attempt to “sportswash” through its ownership of Manchester City football club.
Since then, a takeover of a sporting event or football involving the Gulf’s oil- and gas-rich states cannot pass without an explosion of anger about attempts to clean images and wash away historical and current human rights abuses. The most recent example is Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) finally attaining clearance from the Premier League to buy Newcastle United in a £305m deal in October.
Just why Gulf states have become so keen to invest in major sports is a matter of much divisive debate and the term sportwashing has helped to sum up the case against.
From the investors, there tends to be silence. Sheikhs and crown princes seem happy to let their others argue for them on social media. Newcastle fans have taken to defending aggressively a regime they probably had little interest in until the takeover, as has been the case for a long time with Manchester City fans and Abu Dhabi.
Criticism has trailed the Qatar 2022 World Cup since 2010, when the country was awarded the right to host the event. It will also have a big presence in Formula One. And it’s not just this weekend’s debut. Qatar has also agreed a 10-year deal to host more races, beginning in 2023.
A revealing Formula One statement in September said that the “driving force” between this “long-term strategy” was “for F1 to be the showcase for Qatar after the Fifa World Cup in 2022”.
So sport is crucial for the way that Qatar wants to be seen by the rest of the world, and from 2023 that will be partially through the prism of fast cars, multimillionaire owners and drivers, and affluent, champagne-sipping spectators.
But does the fierce spotlight that global sport brings with it actually help to improve hosts’ reputations? Or can it end up damaging them?
When Newcastle United travelled to Selhurst Park for their first away game following the takeover, Crystal Palace supporters held aloft a giant banner listing Saudi Arabia’s human rights abuses.
The Premier League is the most-watched league in the world, the image will have travelled. “As a result of Newcastle and the Qatar World Cup, there are a million more armchair geopoliticians than there were 10 years ago,” says Simon Chadwick, a global professor of sport at the Emlyon Business School in France.
“We know more about Qatar’s immigrant rights than we ever did, more about the Saudi PIF. It is shining a light on it. This is not sportswashing, it is sports-staining.”
Amnesty’s Felix Jakens, however, is not reassured. “The Saudi royal family aren’t particularly bothered about the North East of England, what they gain by owning Newcastle, or having indirect influence over the ownership of Newcastle, is being broadcast all over the world,” he says.
“It’s not going to be the case in all of those places the narrative about sportswashing comes through so strongly. There are going to be tons of territories around the world who are now seeing Saudi alongside Newcastle United and that positive thing happening.”
Qatar has transformed PSG
If atrocities — like the murder of Saudi government critic, Jama Khashoggi — are still being discussed in years to come, sportswashing will not have been a complete success. But will they be if Newcastle are winning trophies, signing the world’s best players, attracting the game’s best managers? Will we still be discussing the mistreatment of immigrant workers in Qatar after the World Cup has rolled into town then rolled back out again?
Paris Saint-Germain, purchased by the Qatar Investment Authority, the country’s sovereign wealth fund, has been transformed into a lucrative lifestyle brand, with Michael Jordan X PSG collaborations, collections modelled on Paris Fashion Week catwalks, Hollywood stars attending matches at their Parc Des Princes stadium.
“The Qataris don’t think they have got anything to wash,” a source close to the Qatar World Cup organisers says. “They’re investing in sport and leagues. BeIN SPORTS is a major broadcaster with Premier League rights. A lot of people lump Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE together. But the countries have very different issues. The societal progress is different in each country. The World Cup has been a catalyst for change.”
But Jakens points to the two million migrant workers in Qatar “who are working in really difficult conditions, facing delayed or non-payment of salaries, heavy debts from recruitment fees, living in really crowded and unsanitary accommodation, have restriction on movement”.
And if hosting major tournaments is such a force for good, how can China’s rapidly deteriorating human rights record in the 13 years since it hosted the Olympics be explained?
Ultimately, for all the articles, posts, debates and protests, sportswashing continues on unabated. In fact, the birth of a simple term to push back against it has, from its creator’s perspective, ended up having the opposite effect of its intention.
“The sad thing is,” Reidy says, “since we coined the term the practice seems to have become more and more prevalent, with international sports bodies willing accomplices.”
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3FH4K5M
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