Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia have different visions of future in football with aims and models not interchangeableIt’s an exhilarating time to be a Manchester City fan, though I am muting my optimism with a selection of the most miserabilist chants ever heard in a football stadium. “We’re not really here”; “Empty seats at home”; and “Spent all my money on drugs and City”. City’s rise has been so rapid that the fans are still very Mancunian, and perhaps less familiar than followers of other big teams. Yet they resemble other fans in their obsessive scrutiny of every aspect of the team, from the pitch, to the training field, to the corporate decisions. The idea that City fans ignore...
This weaponised World Cup is not about Qatar becoming liked by western Europe, it is a vast geopolitical security operationWe need a new word for this thing. Psychologists have sometimes used the phrase “semantic satiation” to describe the process where saying the word “woodpecker” 20 times in a row, or sitting in a circle reciting the phrase “straight-leg easy-fit chinos” will eventually strip those sounds of any meaning, as though the entire concept of straight-leg easy-fit chinos has suddenly ceased to exist.Something like this has happened to the word “sportswashing”. This was always a hopeful coinage, adopted on the hoof to describe governments or other entities that use elite sport as a propaganda tool. Years of heavy use, first by...
Despite the jingoism, Gareth Southgate’s side do not have an easy group at a tournament tainted by Qatari sportswashingSome lessons, it seems, are never learned. Gareth Southgate was characteristically measured in his response to Friday’s World Cup draw but most seemed to follow Kyle Walker’s line that “you’ve got to be happy with the teams we’ve drawn”.The triumphalism was not quite as strident as before the 2010 World Cup, but if other teams really are inspired by the misunderstood ironies of Three Lions, England’s group-stage opponents are going to be raging at some of Saturday morning’s headlines. Continue reading...
For all the talk of social change in Saudi Arabia, the beneficiaries of a grand prix would be F1’s coffers and the country’s rulerWas it really only last year that Formula One’s owner, Liberty Media, was making its pious announcement that “grid girls” would no longer be a part of its stewardship of this most woke of all sports? “We feel this custom does not resonate with our brand values,” intoned F1’s managing director of commercial operations back then, “and clearly is at odds with modern day societal norms.”But which society? Formula One takes gazillions to race in so many different types of society. It feels difficult to apply any standard across the board. For instance, things that might be...
In 2017 I criticised the Bahrain Grand Prix on Facebook. Since then I have been imprisoned, beaten and sexually assaultedI am a civil servant from Bahrain. I write from Isa Town prison, 22km away from the Bahrain International Circuit, which hosts Formula One’s annual grand prix. This weekend, fans of Formula One will flood into Bahrain, brimming with anticipation for this year’s race. The grand prix is an international sporting spectacle and a symbol of wealth and glamour, particularly for Bahrain’s ruling family.However, for me and my fellow Bahraini citizens, it is nothing but an annual reminder of our suffering in our fight against tyranny and repression. Related: F1 finally admits concern over woman jailed for Bahrain Grand Prix protests...