Editorial: Sportswashing is sadly heading into its dry cycle

Lusail Stadium, host venue of the men's football World Cup final in 2022. Photo / Qatar2022

EDITORIAL

Rugby is arriving a bit late to the ruck formed by other sports that have already accepted money from Middle East backers and while public disgust over the issue of sportswashing appears to have waned, it still doesn’t mean a sharp focus should be placed on any possible deal.

According to the Daily Mail, Qatar’s Sovereign Wealth fund has offered World Rugby £800 million ($1.62 billion) to host the Nations Championship four times over a period of eight years from 2026. It’s a surprise it has taken rugby this long to look at joining the growing list of sports to take Middle East money.

On the face of it, playing any form of rugby - let alone a test match - in Qatar makes little sense. Qatar only played their first rugby international in 2011, a 26-8 win over Jordan. Since then, they have amassed a winning record of 88.24 per cent, greater than the All Blacks, playing the majority of their games in Division II of the Asia Rugby Championship. The nation is ranked 94th in the world - so you could argue there are 93 better options. But do any of those 93 nations have a spare $1.6b lying around?

The “growing the game” argument doesn’t wash. But wash is the operative word around the likes of Qatar and Saudi Arabia’s big-money investments in sport.

Sportswashing, simply put, is when nations, governments or corporations use the funding and hosting of a sports event to help improve a tarnished reputation. Both Qatar and Saudi Arabia have shocking women’s rights records but “hey, look over here at this shiny new stadium featuring some of the greatest names in sport”.

First there was Fifa, who in 2010 tiptoed around a moral line on which VAR would have made a speedy offside call, by awarding Qatar hosting rights for the men’s 2022 World Cup. That opened the door.

The Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF) then tore apart the fabric of professional golf by offering obscene amounts of money to multi-millionaire golfers to join the LIV Golf League. Talking of rich sportspeople, Lionel Messi is a brand ambassador for the Saudi Tourism Authority while the Qatar World Cup secured the services of David Beckham for a mere £150m ($290m).

The PIF also sponsors the Saudi Ladies International, won by Kiwi Lydia Ko in 2023, along with tennis’ Next Gen ATP Finals. Both Qatar and Saudi Arabia have hosted a Formula One Grand Prix since 2021, while Bahrain got the jump with its maiden Grand Prix coming in 2004. Boxing and UFC have also held major cards in Saudi Arabia in recent years. In December, Jeddah hosted an America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta.

It was only a matter of time before rugby dived on the ball.

At first, it was shocking to see a sport work alongside such nations, along with the stories of migrant stadium worker deaths for the 2022 World Cup, but as it’s become more regular, the shock has sadly worn off. It appears sportswashing has gone through its wash cycle and is now in the dryer - becoming the norm. More than 35,000 fans turned up each day to the LIV Golf event in Adelaide last week; not many seemed bothered by the idea of sportswashing. They just enjoyed the fact that multiple major winners were in Australia to show off their skills with a five-iron.

Get used to it, outside of annual sporting events, Qatar has already locked in hosting the 2027 Fiba Basketball World Cup while Saudi Arabia was the only bidder for the 2034 Fifa World Cup. That means plenty more years for critics to keep putting sports organisations under the microscope and pushing the reminder that money shouldn’t always talk. Even if it no doubt will.