It was fascinating to see how the conversation unfolded. At the Centurion Club in Hertfordshire in the summer of 2022, former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer had to fight back a shout about whether he was “accepting blood money” through his association with LIV Golf. Well-known names from European golf sat – uncomfortably – on a stage as they had to defend their defection to a Saudi Arabia-funded tour.
The same issues cropped up at St James’ Park when the Saudi Public Investment Fund bought a controlling stake in the club in late 2021. While fans screamed and shouted for the curtailment of the Mike Ashley era, elsewhere there was discomfort with a British sporting institution falling under the pressure of the club. the spell of an autocratic regime that is inextricably linked to the slaughter of Jamal Khashoggi.
Jon Rahm released last month under the brand name LIV. If you had scratched really hard, you might have found some analysis of what the Masters champion’s exorbitant deal meant in moral terms. Last June, the PGA and DP World Tours announced they would kiss the Saudis and make up; a financial necessity rather than a mutual revelation. With this news, golf seemed to collectively decide that Rahm or anyone else who took the Saudi dollar could do so with a clear conscience.
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The PGA Tour is desperately working to strike a deal with the PIF that would allow major events to once again have the presence of Rahm et al. If golf’s grand plan collapses, LIV will continue to lucratively challenge the status quo. The story is about sports and business; Human rights, once the automatic reference point for all things Saudi, are hardly an afterthought. Golfers can reconcile the source of their payday in their own minds, but they no longer face public scrutiny over it.
In Newcastle, the debate is whether Eddie Howe can keep his job, or whether an injury crisis and the demands of Champions League football mean the manager has legitimate extenuating circumstances for a Premier League position on the tenth place. It’s a good thing Howe doesn’t have to deal with ruthless overlords. Newcastle’s followers are audibly frustrated that financial fair play rules are stopping the club from throwing more money at players. Even the Saudis can’t get around that.
Rafael Nadal has agreed to become ambassador of the Saudi Tennis Federation. The first Riyadh season of World Masters of Snooker will take place in March. Presumably, snooker halls will skyrocket across the kingdom at the same time. Back in the golf sector, the R&A has confirmed discussions about funding projects in the kingdom, with the clear subtext that if fortunes are flying around, the governing body would rather want a cut. Jordan Henderson’s move to Ajax was a minor embarrassment for the Saudi Pro League – plus a bigger embarrassment for the England midfielder – but this will pale into insignificance when the next big name comes along for £30m a year. The 2034 World Cup appears safe, and by the time a teenager sentenced to 18 years in prison for expressing support for political prisoners will still have to serve more than a third of her sentence.
The past few days have once again served as a timely reminder of exactly where the sport has ended up. It is not only linked to Saudi Arabia, but in certain cases it is also an obligation. Saudi Arabia is estimated to have spent more than $6 billion on sports deals. This has always looked like a dangerous dance.
Yasir al-Rumayyan is the chairman of Newcastle United. He is the man who almost single-handedly revolutionized elite golf by deciding that the Saudi PIF could take on the establishment. Rumayyan is also reportedly facing a £58 million lawsuit in Canada for carrying out “the instructions” of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman with “malicious intent”. The money is irrelevant; the potential reputational damage to countless sports if this case continues is not.
LIV and Newcastle have referred questions about the story to PIF, which has so far had nothing to say. The claims allege that Rumayyan acted with the aim of harming Dr. Saad Aljabri, the kingdom’s former intelligence chief, to “harm, silence and ultimately destroy.” The plaintiffs allege that Rumayyan was “directly involved” in a campaign against Aljabri that lasted more than three years. This is definitely not toy town stuff. It’s not surprising either; even recent history dictated that the golden egg of goose laying would most likely attract interest for the wrong reasons. As long as people are willing enough to pay attention to it, of course.
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The Premier League insisted it had ‘legally binding guarantees’ that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia would not control Newcastle. Before peace broke out in golf, the Saudis argued that Rumayyan and the fund he controls should be spared from giving evidence in legal wrangles on the basis of sovereign immunity. Eyebrows were raised among some Premier League clubs, but true to form the issue effectively disappeared. Let’s focus on VAR.
The website reprieve.org reports that at least 172 people have been executed in Saudi Arabia in 2023. Is this a fair trade-off for sporting prowess? Amnesty International continues to raise concerns. Felix Jakens, head of UK Priority Campaigns and Individuals at Risk, said: “If the sheer ruthlessness of Saudi sportswashing has meant that human rights issues have recently taken a back seat to the big name signings and prestigious events, then Our assessment is that this is a relatively unstable situation and that the pendulum can swing back quickly.
“We have recently seen deeply disturbing reports about the alleged involvement of the chairman of Newcastle United and LIV Golf in serious human rights abuses, which is currently under investigation. Beneath the glitz of sports photos and carefully staged events in Riyadh and elsewhere, the country’s human rights situation remains dire. With the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia continuing to deteriorate, it is almost certainly no coincidence that the Saudi sports washing machine has been running at increasing intensity of late.”
Ah, sports washing. It was once a living thing. Rumayyan’s last stint in the spotlight dictates that it might have been unwise to look the other way. Sports may simply be too deep.