#Sportswashing

[orangebridgeskaterboy]

When watching the World Cup in Qatar remember this:

#world cup #job in qatar #wc 2022 #migrant workers #sportswashing

[liberalsarecool]

PGA caved to blood money. When does Prince Bone Saw get camera time?

#liv golf #pga tour #sportswashing #blood money

[redlightspellsdaanger]

Our Last Stand (chapter 2)

Title: Our Last Stand

Pairing: Sebastian Vettel x Jenson Button

Rating: +18

Word count: 4.2k (chapter 2)

Warnings/notes: M/M, Violence

"There are topics that are just bigger than the interests of a sport."

Summary: 2022. Sebastian Vettel, one of the most successful drivers in the history of the sport, has also become one of the loudest voices in the paddock campaigning for sustainability and human rights.

Not everyone is pleased. Enemies are made.

And in Formula 1, where Cash is King, pushing against the status quo can come with a hefty price.

Link to chapter 2 on AO3 here.

#sebastianvettel #sebastian vettel #jenson button #sebson #friends to lovers #cash is king #f1 politics #it's all about money #sebastian vettel imagine #f1 fanfic #f1 imagine #sebastian vettel fanfiction #sebastian vettel fanfic #sebastian vettel smut #thriller #action #drama #sportswashing #f1 smut #Our Last Stand

[mylfcjournal]

Klopp is such a good person. He could've bash Henderson, or (very understandably) tell people that he's lying.

Instead, he's very graciously trying to understand Henderson's point of view. Something that Hendo didn't do.

.

So, I guess it's true that 🎵Jürgen loved him more than he will know 🎶, even though he doesn't deserve it.

#jurgen klopp #jordan henderson #lfc #liverpool fc #sportswashing #football transfers #premier league

[formula1hottakes]

Sports in Qatar are going to get so much more fun with climate change. How many years until we see athlete deaths from heat? My money's on 3.

I wonder if news coverage of athlete deaths will impact people more than all the coverage of worker deaths in Qatar? And by that I mean, will people actually give a shit?

#sportswashing #qatar gp 2023 #f1 #formula 1 #f1 2023

[spaceshipsandpurpledrank]

#talkin #tik tok #bomani jones #jesse owens #racism #sportswashing #propaganda

[zestingbloodorange]

ok.

#this is just what first popped in my head and the first google searches #saudi arabia #free palestine #palestine #sportswashing #capitalism #riyadh season #middle east #arab #swana #al jazeera #ukraine #america

[dweemeister]

Congratulations to Man City! A club owned by a royal family who partake in mass human slavery to fund their incredible wealth and are facing 100+ charges of financial doping, obstructing an investigation, and refusing to comply with an investigation. Set to dominate English and European football for years to come!

An absolutely beautiful footballing story.

#Manchester City #Inter Milan #UEFA Champions League #City Football Group #Pep Guardiola #sportswashing #human rights

[randomnoteforfuturereference]

There is a point that a lot of the opposition to Qatar hosting the World Cup is fueled by anti-Arab/Muslim bigotry. Esp since there have been tons of dickery in prior host nations (eg the favela clearings in Rio prior to 2014 or Russia becoming increasingly imperialist in 2018) didn't garner the level of international controversy that Qatar does today.

So in comparison, the homophobia*, horrific working conditions, and general authoritarianism of Qatar aren't that egregious.

*Though the reactionary response of queer rights are a white ideology (which doesn't help that it's usually white folks arguing with them) would be hilarious if it weren't so horrifying. And it ironically plays back into prejudicial viewpoints about PoC being backwards.

However, something that I feel undermines the "mind your business" argument is that Qatar's media arm, Al Jazeera, all but brands itself as the voice of the people and human rights. That it goes abroad to other countries to shine a light on what's happening and highlight abuses to the rest of the world. It wants to know your business. And you know what? It legit frequently does a good job, especially in representing parts of the world skimmed over or ignored by Western media (which isn't to say that it doesn't focus a fair bit on the US/West).

I mean, look at this editorial:

But when it comes to reporting about its own house to the rest of the world? Crickets. Well... unless the reporting is either a fluff piece about Arab culture or shining infrastructure... or about how its neighbors will gang up on it (which they will).

Which again, would be one thing if it were just a random private or even public funded outlet. But this is literally run and owned by the monarchy/government of Qatar.

#qatar #world cup #al jazeera #sportswashing

[blackwidowrising]

Watching the Amazon Prime Newcastle docuseries and it’s really really laundering the ownership group’s image. Like it’s not even pretending the way other Amazon docuseries do

#jamie jams #newcastle united #jamie watches television #sportswashing

[coochiequeens]

maybe the ATP should have offered equal prizes fir men and women players before they tried to help Saudi Arabia "sportswash" it's image

Egyptian tennis pro Mayar Sherif does not pretend to be an expert on the subject of Saudi Arabia’s record on women’s rights, other than to say: “I know it’s not the best.”

What Sherif, who made her Wimbledon debut this week, did say is she thinks it’s possible positive steps can be made in that area if tennis follows the path of golf and other sports by doing business with — and competing in — the kingdom that boasts a $650 billion sovereign wealth fund.

“Women’s rights in the Arabic world need to improve. ... If you start changing this from the outside by bringing in tournaments, and start to create a different kind of atmosphere, that’s going to help,” Sherif said in an interview with The Associated Press at the All England Club.

“If you put women with skirts — and so on and so forth — on court, maybe one young girl from Saudi Arabia sees the matches there and says, ‘I want to play tennis. I want to be like those girls.’ And that’s a way to change a mindset.”

Sherif is not alone in hoping for that sort of transformative effect in a place where rights groups say women continue to face discrimination in most aspects of family life and homosexuality is a major taboo, as it is in most of the rest of the Middle East. Whether engagement will work, as International Tennis Hall of Famer and rights advocate Billie Jean King argues (“I don’t think you really change unless you engage,” she said last week), or this whole phenomenon is an example of “sportswashing,” whereby Saudi Arabia and other countries — think of Russia or China hosting the Olympics, or Qatar hosting the men's soccer World Cup — use fields of play to change their public image, what seems quite clear is that tennis is, indeed, going to be next.

The ATP is working to conclude a multi-year deal to put its Next Gen Finals — the end-of-season event held each November for the tour’s leading young players — in Saudi Arabia. WTA Chairman Steve Simon’s visit to the kingdom with some tour players in February, and his acknowledgement last week that his organization will “continue to have conversations” with the Saudis, make it sound as if the women’s tour is preparing to head there, too.It probably is not a coincidence that, days before Simon’s comments, his tour announced plans to increase payouts at tournaments so that women will make the same as men at more events in the coming years.

The common denominator in all of this?

“Money talks in our world right now,” said 2022 French Open semifinalist Daria Kasatkina, who came out as gay last year.

In recent years, Saudi Arabia has enacted wide-ranging social reforms, including granting women the right to drive and largely dismantling male guardianship laws that had allowed husbands and male relatives to control many aspects of women’s lives. Men and women are still required to dress modestly, but the rules have been loosened and the once-feared religious police have been sidelined. Gender segregation in public places has also been eased, with men and women attending movie screenings, concerts and even raves — something unthinkable just a few years ago.

Still, same-sex relations are punishable by death or flogging, though prosecutions are rare. Authorities ban all forms of LGBTQ+ advocacy, even confiscating rainbow-colored toys and clothing.

Thanks at least in part to social media, women in Saudi Arabia, and elsewhere in the Arab world, are aware of the gap between their lives and those of women in less restrictive societies. But Saudi women who seek to carve out some freedom for themselves have been punished. Even as the government has enacted top-down reforms, it has severely cracked down on any form of political dissent, arresting women’s rights activists and other critics and sentencing them to long prison terms and travel bans, sometimes on the basis of a few tweets.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has worked to get himself out of international isolation since the 2018 killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. He also clearly wants to diversify Saudi Arabia’s economy and reduce its reliance on oil. What is not clear is how much any particular sports deal might influence the kingdom’s approaches to women’s and LGBTQ+ rights.

“It would be wrong to not entertain the conversation. You can look at it from negative and positive ways — and I just don’t think things are black and white,” said Victoria Azarenka, a two-time Australian Open champion and a former No. 1-ranked woman in tennis. “We do need financial help to make those (prize money) changes quicker, hopefully. But also look at it from a standpoint of: How can we be helpful? Where can we go to create change?”

No one truly believes that was a part of the equation when the PGA Tour, European Tour and the PIF-backed LIV Golf announced a collaboration last month. Or when Formula One placed a race in Saudi Arabia in 2021. Or when the kingdom bought English soccer club Newcastle United that year.

There will be plenty of interested eyes and ears in tennis paying attention next week when the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations holds a hearing about the proposed collaboration between the PGA Tour, European Tour and the PIF-funded LIV Golf.

Tennis and golf share some key similarities, most notably: The athletes are independent contractors. There aren’t annual salaries in tennis the way there are in team sports such as the NFL, NBA, NHL or Major League Baseball.

“Was just a question of time when (the Saudis) were (going) to start some kind of negotiations or conversations in tennis to try to enter tennis,” said Novak Djokovic, who won his men’s-record 23rd Grand Slam title at the French Open last month and now is aiming for No. 24 at Wimbledon.

“We, as an individual sport on a global level, are probably closest to golf,” Djokovic said. “From that example, we can probably learn a lot — some positives, some negatives — and try to structure a deal, if it’s going in that direction, in a proper way that is going to protect the integrity and tradition and history of this sport, but still be able to grow it in such way that it will be appropriate.”

Copyright AP - Associated Press

#Sportswashing #saudi arabia #Women’s rights #Tennis

[noirineverysense]

The arab states who use violence against migrants and gay people and do evil things like executions as well as interfere in wars and murder people in other countries, try and cover their insidious actions and protect their reputations by holding big sport events i.e. sportswashing...

...which is why sport events should take place in europe/us so we can stand up against this 🙂

#the bbc is such a joke #sportswashing #they just want money they dont care what a british analyst thinks

[orangebridgeskaterboy]

Boycott Qatar World Cup 2022

#world cup #wc 2022 #qatar #support migrant workers #solidarity #sportswashing #football

[redlightspellsdaanger]

Our Last Stand (chapter six *29/March*)

Title: Our Last Stand

Pairing: Sebastian Vettel x Jenson Button

Rating: +18

Word count: 3.6k (chapter 6)

Warnings/notes: M/M, Violence

"There are topics that are just bigger than the interests of a sport."

Summary:

2022. Sebastian Vettel, one of the most successful drivers in the history of the sport, has also become one of the loudest voices in the paddock campaigning for sustainability and human rights.

Not everyone is pleased. Enemies are made.

And in Formula 1, where Cash is King, pushing against the status quo can come with a hefty price.

Link to chapter 6 here.

#sebastian vettel #sebastianvettel #jenson button #f1 fanfic #sebson #Our Last Stand #friends to lovers #cash is king #thriller #action #drama #sportswashing #sebastian vettel fanfic #sebastian vettel imagine

[mylfcjournal]

Okay, so I've read *that* Henderson's interview in The Athletic.

My conclusion is that he, as well as most footballers, is just dumb.

In Henderson's case, it turns out his "football speak" and PR stunts are not the same as intelligence and empathy.

.

Some examples

(1)

Adam: Asking multiple tough questions to try to hold him to account

Henderson: (Literally speaking to Adam) "The negative reactions are just social media things. I've never encountered it in real life"

(2)

Henderson: "My employers never prohibit me from saying anything"

Also Henderson: So scared of offending the "culture", literally being a propaganda puppet on Twitter

(3)

The fact that he's believing a very obvious propaganda is so eye opening to me.

Also Hendo, if you read this (he 100% won't but I need to rant), please stop using my religion as an excuse.

Every time you mention "respecting the culture" or "offending the religion", I can't help but cringe.

Being a religious person doesn't mean you have a free pass to be a bigot.

.

Sorry for the rant everyone, I'm so tired and disappointed.

#jordan henderson #sportswashing #lfc #liverpool fc

[opiatemasses]

Qatar 2022: A Fairy-Tale Ending and The Success of Sportswashing

December 18th saw one of the greatest World Cup finals: Argentina will be going home as Campeones del mundo. Lionel Messi got his fairy-tale ending, a trophy that had eluded him was now his. Any doubts of being one of, if not the greatest player to ever play the beautiful game are now muted. However, Messi and Argentina aren’t the only winners from the World Cup.

Qatar will view the tournament as a success: dramatic exits from the group and knockout stages; underdogs beating tournament favourites; the first African team reaching a semi-finals and a final for the archives. There have been an abundance of positive headlines from this tournament which is exactly what the host nation wanted. 

Since their questionable awarding in 2010 to host the tournament, the country has been hounded by the media, human rights and LGBTQ groups over their eligibility to host the event. With bribes being taken for votes, homosexuality being illegal and women’s rights being restricted, to 6500 migrant workers dying to build the stadiums. This tournament was always destined to be overshadowed by immorality. 

Attaining the World Cup can be seen as a form of sportswashing, this being the use of sport to divert attention away from any moral violations to improve their image. With the 2018 iteration being viewed by over 3.5 billion people, this was Qatar’s stage to appeal to the globe as a nation of great wealth and infrastructure. Utilising the tournament to divert consumers attention away from media outlets who brought their human, women’s and LGBTQ rights violations to their attention. The tournament will divert attention away from media outlets who brought the attention of the human, women’s and LGBTQ rights violations forwards. 

With the final being the spectacle it was, there is no doubt the majority of viewers will claim it to be one of the great World Cups, despite the off pitch political issues. This is how Qatar can be seen as winners from this tournament, remembered by many for hosting ‘Messi’s World Cup’.

Despite the success, there were many who objected to the country hosting the tournament, vowing to boycott the tournament, not watching a single minute. Boycotts when collaboratively arranged can be effective and achieve desired results. With the size of FIFA it could take a sizeable number of participants, major nation(s), star player(s) plus a firm stance vowing not to take part to make an impact.

The World Cup has heritage and prestige and is one of the largest competitions, therefore demand is always there. If fans choose not to watch, there will be other fans to make up for them, likewise tickets to matches. If nations decide to boycott the tournament there are other nations there to take place. Not every nation qualifies and taking part in one of the biggest tournaments in the world could be a first for them. 

When boycotting against large organisations it’s unlikely you’ll impact the revenues, instead the focus needs to be on impacting reputations, generating negative media coverage. For a boycott to work in this situation it needs a sizeable following, the viewing numbers and attention partnered sponsors receives would need to be reduced significantly. Substantial planning and time is required for them to be successful. If the movement generates momentum early the chances of it being successful will increase, and the likelihood FIFA takes any action may increase as they have more time to consider their options. 

Unfortunately, it would be unlikely FIFA and any sponsors would have revenues impacted by these boycotts. With the status the World Cup has and the number of spectators it brings in, it’s hard to see any boycotts being successful in reducing the revenue they bring in. They can however impact their reputation which can affect them now and in the future. In spite of the initial backlash, individuals boycotting and nations speaking out, the tournament still went ahead and was a success for the host nation, FIFA and those who watched along.

N0879313

#Qatar World Cup #lionel messi #sportswashing #boycott #qatar