Sportswashing: Fifa, F1 and the Olympics
Sportswashing has come up a lot this year, especially related to the 2022 Qatar World Cup. It means the use of sports to help improve the political image of country, usually ones with bad human rights records and promote their administration.
The first example of this is the 1936 Berlin Olympics. It was awarded to Germany before the Nazi party came to power however, by the time it came to the event Hitler had established his authoritarian dictatorship.
The event was used to market the command of the Nazis and legitimise their power.
In recent years Sportswashing has become a popular way to clean up a countries public image. Examples include the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia investing in British football teams or Russia and China holding the winter Olympics or the swathe of Gulf stated hosting Formula One races.
Football
Football has become synonymous with sportswashing this year, due to Qatar hosting the World Cup. It is well documented that the country has an appalling record with migrant workers, freedom of speech and LGBTQ+ discrimination.
Prior to Qatar wining the bid to host the tournament, there were already concerns about its treatment of migrant workers. Despite this, the World Cup continued now having one of the highest death tolls with the Guardian reporting an estimate of 6,500. Many believe that the country won the bid because of bribery.
It’s not just the World Cup the leads to football’s sportswashing reputation. Over the years foreign ownership has grown in British football leagues, and it’s not always for the right reason.
Around 40% of Premiere League Clubs are owned by foreign companies and often the ownership is used as positive PR for some countries. Namely the Saudi Arabia takeover of Newcastle United, or Gazprom’s, a majority Russian sate-owned energy company, sponsorship deal with Chelsea and UEFA starting in 2012 and only ending this year due to the Ukrainian conflict.
The 2021 ownership takeover of Newcastle United F.C by a Saudi Arabian company, led to Amnesty International, a human rights group, urging the Premier league to install a human rights-compliant owners’ and directors’ test.
Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty International UK’s CEO, said: “As with Formula One, elite boxing, golf or tennis, an association with top-tier football is a very attractive means of rebranding a country or person with a tarnished reputation. The Premier League needs to better understand the dynamic of sportswashing and tighten its ownership rules.”
Aaron Singh, a commercial law student and Arsenal fan said that the game was becoming dominated by clubs with more funding, often those owned by countries “we can see the game becoming soulless and one sided.” And thinks that the German ownership model where fans maintain a 51% majority in their club, would benefit the game.
Formula One
There were a planned 24 races in the Formula One calendar for 2023, one of the longest seasons ever, this has now become 23 after confirmation that there will no longer be a race in China next year.
Out of these 23 races, five are being held in countries with reported human rights abuses, six if we included China.
Countries on the 2023 Formula One calendar with human rights abuses:
· Azerbaijan
· Qatar
· United Arab Emirates
· Bahrain
· Saudi Arabia
Because of Formula One’s ongoing relationship with these countries it has earnt its reputation as one of the most prolific, involved in sportswashing.
“I would argue Formula One has even more examples of sportswashing than football does.” Says Aaron Singh, adding: “Races are being held in countries with abhorrent human rights records whilst the classic European tracks are being neglected.
“Morally I don’t think that races should be held in these counties, but Money speaks.”
Anti Formula One graffiti. Picture Credit: Mohamed CJ
In February this year, Bahrain’s contract was extended till 2036; one of the longest in the sports history. A legal complaint was filed against Formula One, accusing it of breaching Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development guidelines by extending its contract with the country. The complaint argued that by continuing the contract in the country Formula One had neglected its commitment to respect human rights issues.
Saudi Arabia was first added to the Formula One schedule in 2021, not that far back, but ever since its arrival the sport has been criticised for enabling sportswashing.
On March 12th this year the country executed 81 people, the largest mass execution on its modern history. This was just 16 days before the race weekend. Added to this, was the missile strike six miles away from the Jeddah racing circuit during the Friday Formula One practice session.
In a letter to Formula One CEO Stefano Domenicali, the Executive Chairman Chase Carey and President Jean Todt of the FIA (Governing body for world motor sport), Human Rights Watch requested a meeting to discuss Saudi Arabia’s human rights abuses.
In the letter, Michael Page the deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch said: “The Saudi government is going all out to bury its egregious human rights abuses beneath public spectacles and sporting events.
“Unless they express concerns over Saudi Arabia’s serious abuses, Formula One risk bolstering the Saudi government’s well-funded efforts to whitewash its image.”
In a press conference during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Lewis Hamilton, driver for the Mercedes team said: “Ultimately, it's the responsibility of those in power to really make changes, and we're not really seeing any. So, we need to see more."
DR Saudi Arabia but expressed: "I think by coming here we also have a chance to create some change or have some positive influence as opposed to not coming here. I know Formula One's doing a lot. McLaren are also trying to inspire and create opportunities.
CovFeed spoke to an insider working at one of Formula One’s motorsports teams. He can’t be identified so we are calling him Rory. He told us: “We can’t shy away from countries with human rights abuses. There is good coming out of these places because of the projects and partnerships Formula One brings.
“There are markets around the world where Formula One can influence change and positive attitudes.”
Formula One has a statement of commitment to respect human rights, pledging to respect “internationally recognised human rights in its operations globally.” Including identifying and assessing, “actual or potential adverse human rights impacts with which we may be involved either through our own activities or as a result of our business relationships.”
The Olympics
The Olympics has a long history of being used for political protests, before the 1964 Tokyo games South Africa was barred for its racial segregation policy of Apartheid. The Olympics also has a well-established reputation for being used by to advertise the host countries. The 2012 London Olympics cost almost £15 Billion; it was dubbed the ‘legacy Olympics’ because of its promise to revive East London.
Protest of the Beijing Winter Olympics
Because of the legacy of the games, it’s one of the most attractive methods for a country to reinvent its image.
In 2014 Russia held the Winter Olympics in Sochi. The move was labelled as a clear attempt to sportswash the countries reputation. At the time several world leaders, including the then Prime Minister of the UK, David Cameron, boycotted the opening ceremony. This was in rebuke to Russia passing an anti ‘gay propaganda’ law the year before the games, which banned providing children access to information about LGBT people and restricted their human rights.
Beijing’s 2022 Winter Olympics had a similar reception, The US, UK, India, Australia, Canada, and multiple other countries declared a diplomatic boycott. Athletes still competed for these countries, but no government officials attended.
China had committed several human rights abuses prior to hosting the games. This includes its treatment of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang and the establishment of the National Security Law for Hong Kong which put in place restrictions on freedom of speech and the right to protest.
Organisers for the Beijing Winter Olympics dismissed any allegations of human rights abuses but several human rights organisations such as Amnesty declared that the event should be used to put pressure on China to change. Amnesty International’s China Researcher, Alkan Akad said: “The Games should not be used as a distraction from China’s appalling human rights record. On the contrary, they should be an opportunity to press China to address these issues.”
The International Olympic Committee says: “The IOC is committed to improving the promotion and respect of human rights within the scope of its responsibility across its three spheres of activity – as an organisation, as the owner of the Olympic Games and as the leader of the Olympic Movement.”
Sportswashing is not new, we’ve seen it before with the ‘Nazi Olympics’, or Russia hosting the 2018 World Cup and buyout of football teams across Europe. However, the practice has very much had its moment in 2022. We started the year with the Beijing Winter Olympics and ended it with Qatar’s World Cup. Time will tell whether the criticisms of these practices will affect change.
I’ll be online at my twitter @Sophiesposito on Monday 12th December, to answer all your questions.