According to Amnesty, 196 people were executed in Saudi Arabia in 2022, the highest number in over 30 years. So far this year, a three-digit number has also been rounded off. This is one of those aspects of the rule of the kingdom that many of us have believed they use sport as a means of camouflage. By buying football stars or attracting tennis tournaments or big boxing matches, they divert attention from the rights situation of minorities and systematic violations of universal human rights. Since 2015, we have called this phenomenon “sports washing”. Now, for the first time, it has been used by Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman himself. In a quite sensational interview with American Fox News, he refers to the sports washing with a mixture of embrace and pure ridicule. And with that, he has in effect drained the entire concept of power and fossil energy. BNP for MBS There is much that is not very easy to believe about the powerful crown prince, including his lament about the kingdom’s strict laws, after a retired teacher has now been sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia for a tweet critical of the regime (“I am ashamed” ) or his lack of involvement in the murder of opposition journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 (“The murder was a mistake. It was painful”). But it is actually possible to believe that he is telling the truth when he says that he does not care at all about the accusations of sports washing. Or whether the term continues to be used. To the extent that he almost condescendingly says he will happily continue with it. Because everything it entails helps to increase the income of the kingdom. “If sports washing continues to increase our GDP by 1 percent, then we will continue with sports washing. I don’t care at all. We aim for a further 1.5 per cent. Call it what you want. It’s the 1.5 percent that matters.” Whether this is through the purchase of even more sports such as golf, even more football stars such as Ronaldo, Benzema or Neymar, or whether there are even more major championships such as the FIFA Club World Cup in December or the Asian Winter Games in 2029. STARS: Cristiano Ronaldo is one of several football stars who now play in Saudi Arabia. Photo: – / AFP When the lion goes out hunting Much more is in store anyway, in the country with the highest economic growth in the entire world in the last year. Tennis’ leaders have already paid light-hearted visits to Saudi Arabia to try to get their share of the huge sums the nation invests in sport. And in the increasingly less distant future lie opportunities such as the World Cup in football or an Olympics. For Mohammed bin Salman, or MBS, as he is often referred to, is obviously far past the stage where he cares about spending time washing everything we in the West think is dirty. Qatar, Bahrain and the Emirates were the hyenas who ran ahead in this context – and in many ways enticed the prey. Even China and Russia do not come close to using sports with such power as the giant lion now on the prowl, namely Saudi Arabia. Sport is a medium among many, for a regime with a steeply rising self-esteem. And with good reason. In the crown prince’s first ever full interview in English, he mostly talks about more important things than sport. Including an ongoing normalization of relations with archenemy Israel, about Iran and nuclear weapons – and about relations with the United States. Where, during his three years as president, Joe Biden has turned completely around, from calling the nation a pariah to appearing almost wobbly. VISIT: US President Joe Biden in a meeting with bin Salman in Jeddah in 2022. Photo: BANDAR ALGALOUD / Reuters We who were parked Then it is also easy for MBS and his compatriots to ridicule the sports laundering. And much worse for all the rest of us to continue to insist on using the term and think it has any real power. It feels like a bitter defeat. Because the strategy these states have used has seemed so cynical, but at the same time so obvious, that it has been easy to attack and criticize. And tentatively undress. But the suspicion that the world has moved on has been dawning. Not because anything has really changed in a positive direction. It’s more a sense of increasing irrelevance. The one of having parked in a cul-de-sac. It is the feeling of ending up in a pack of powerless spectators to Qatar being cheered for its World Cup, that the sport of golf willingly allows itself to be bought in its entirety and that fewer and fewer and even fewer are close to criticizing that the football stars use their social media to praise life in the Saudi Arabian opulence. The interview with bin Salman unfortunately confirmed the suspicion. I believe in bin Salman. And that makes me almost a little relieved. COMMENTATOR: news’s sports commentator Jan Petter Saltvedt. Photo: Lars Thomas Nordby / news Our honor and our power Because it gives a more accurate picture of the world as it is to see this as pure, financial investments rather than outlays to improve an image. These are expenses for the acquisition of income, as it was once called. Saudi Arabia will not only increase its power and international position. They want to use sport to create new industries, new sources of income, new jobs – and attract huge numbers of tourists in the years to come. It was as if the sensational victory over eventual world champions Argentina in their opening match at the World Cup in Qatar in 2022 did something to the entire Saudi Arabian self-image as a footballing nation. Bin Salman speaks enthusiastically about this fight to Fox. About the horror of a total humiliation against the Argentine world stars – which instead ended up with a national football euphoria on a level Saudi Arabia has never experienced before. Only weeks later, one of the greatest sports stars of all time, Cristiano Ronaldo, had most surprisingly signed for Al-Nassr, a club very few outside Saudi Arabia had heard of. At the time, which is actually only months ago, it was called both desperate and greedy and unworthy of a fading legend. But should instead prove to be a real turning point for the whole of world football. And thus for our perception of what the intentions behind the almost surreal investments in sports from the Gulf states actually are. Afford to experiment Saudi Arabia has so much money that they can afford to experiment. They can afford to let their oil fund, PIF, spend billions on investing in footballers and facilities. Simply to see if it is possible to create a financially sustainable industry from this, in a country that partly has a football-mad population. And where you can give your own, young population opportunities in the home country that you have so far had to travel abroad to experience. And through that keep larger parts of the money flow internally in Saudi Arabia. Outside the country, they have bought Newcastle in the Premier League and through that have gained a strategic foothold in the north-west of England. They have merged their own golf league, LIV, with the PGA and through this have gained a strategic foothold in American sport. Where, despite congressional hearings, they will continue this expansion, whether it is in the basketball league NBA or the American football league NFL. Here, too, they send little brother Qatar ahead of them, to prepare the ground for the real hunt. The Noble Art of Execution This is a logic that does not care about criticism of the conditions for homosexuals, about the number of executions or about how many innocent Ethiopian refugees are killed by Saudi Arabian border guards. The rest of us can keep trying to remind ourselves and others of everything we overlook. But it feels more and more like a lost battle. Anyone who doubts can only witness the confidence Crown Prince bin Salman exudes in the Fox interview that quickly spread around the world. At the same time, Amnesty sent out one of its worried warnings here at home about a situation they believe requires the world’s attention. This time it is a cry for help and support on behalf of the aforementioned retired teacher in Saudi Arabia, Mohammad bin Nasser al-Ghamdi. He who has been sentenced to death for peacefully spreading criticism of the regime to his 10 followers on Twitter. So far, only the discussions about the Saudi Arabian sports laundering Crown Prince bin Salman has in practice killed. Or more precisely “executed” – to continue to stick to a language bin Salman has really shown he has a command of.
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The death of sports washing – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcasting schedule
