Sportswashing

Sportswashing is the practice of an individual, group, corporation, or nation-state using sport to improve its reputation, through hosting a sporting event, the purchase or sponsorship of sporting teams, or by participation in the sport itself. At nation-state level, sportswashing has been used to direct attention away from a poor human rights record. While at the individual or Corporate level sportswashing is used to cover up and direct away attention from said person's or company's vices, crimes, or scandals. Sportswashing has been called a form of whitewashing.

Overview[]

At the nation-state level, sportswashing has been described as part of a nation's soft power.^[1][2][3][4] Russia's hosting of the 2018 FIFA World Cup has been cited as an example, as the country's global reputation was low due to its foreign policy and the event led to the stoppage of discussions related to it, and were instead focused on how successful the World Cup was and how friendly the Russian people were.^[5]

People from nations accused of sportswashing often argue that they simply want to enjoy sporting events in their home nations and that sporting boycotts and event re-location are both unfair on sporting fans and ineffective in changing government policy.^[6]

Companies that have been accused of sportswashing include Ineos, who became the main sponsor of the cycling's Team Sky in 2019, which lead to it being renamed Team Ineos and later the Ineos Grenadiers,^[7] and Arabtec, a company from the UAE who sponsored Manchester City F.C..^[8]

Sportswashing is considered a potentially costly form of propaganda. For example, In March 2021 human rights organization Grant Liberty said that Saudi Arabia alone has spent at least $1.5 billion on alleged sportswashing activities.^[9][10]

Examples[]

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Corporate sponsorship sportwashing[]

• Russian State-owned oil company Gazprom's sponsorship of soccer teams Zenit St Petersburg, events UEFA Champions League and kits.^[11][12]

Hosting[]

Boxing[]

• The 1974 undisputed world heavyweight title boxing match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, known as The Rumble in the Jungle, held in Kinshasa, Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo)^[13]
• The 1975 world heavyweight title boxing trilogy match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, known as Thrilla in Manila, held in Quezon City, Philippines^[13]
• The 2019 world heavyweight title boxing rematch, Andy Ruiz Jr. vs. Anthony Joshua II, held in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia.^[14]

Football/soccer tournaments[]

• The 1934 World Cup held during the rule of Mussolini in Italy.
• The 1974 FIFA World Cup’s UEFA-CONMEBOL Interconfederational Playoff between the Soviet Union and Chile, especially the second leg to be held in a Junta Governed Santiago de Chile, led by General Augusto Pinochet
• The FIFA World Cup 1978 held in Military-led Argentina.
• The UEFA Under-21 Championship 2013 held in Israel.
• The 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.
• The 2021 Trophee des Champions in Tel-Aviv, Israel.
• The 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.^[15]

Esports[]

• The 2019 BLAST Pro Series Finals held in the Kingdom of Bahrain.^[16]
• The 2019 Nexus Arabia tournament organized by Riot Games held in the MENA Region.^[17]
• Danish esports organization, RFRSH Entertainment and Riot Games both signing a deal to developed Saudi Arabia's NEOM project and boost esports in the region.^[18] Riot ended up scrapping the partnership after facing intense backlash from fans and their employees.^[19][20]
• The , held in Saudi Arabia.^[21]

Motorsport[]

Formula One[]

• Malaysian Grand Prix held in 1999–2017
• Bahrain Grand Prix held since 2004
• Chinese Grand Prix held since 2004
• Turkish Grand Prix held in 2005–2011 and in 2020
• Abu Dhabi Grand Prix held since 2009
• Russian Grand Prix held since 2014
• Mexican Grand Prix held since 2015
• Azerbaijan Grand Prix held since 2016
• Saudi Arabian Grand Prix (planned)^{[22][23][24][25]}

MotoGP[]

• Malaysian motorcycle Grand Prix held since 1991.
• Qatar motorcycle Grand Prix held since 2004.^[26]

Rally[]

• The Rally of Turkey held in 2003-2006,2008,2010 and again since 2018.
• The 2020 Dakar Rally held in Saudi Arabia.^[27]

Olympic Games[]

• The 1936 Summer Olympics in Nazi Germany.
• The 1968 Summer Olympics held in Mexico.
• The 1980 Summer Olympics in the Soviet Union (see the 1980 Summer Olympics boycott).
• The 1984 Summer Olympics held in the United States (see the 1984 Summer Olympics boycott).
• The 1988 Summer Olympics held in Seoul, South Korea (then still under Roh Tae-woo's military dictatorship).
• The 2008 Summer Olympics held in China.^[28]
• The 2014 Winter Olympics held in Russia.^[29][30]
• The 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan, due to the concerns about the impart of COVID-19 pandemic on sports events.^[31]
• The 2022 Winter Olympics scheduled to be held in China.^[28][32]

Wrestling[]

• WCW Collision in Korea held in 1995 in North Kore
• WWE in Saudi Arabia

Other events[]

• The 1935 European Rowing Championships in Nazi Germany.
• The 1958 Basque Pelota World Championships in France.
• The 1998 Commonwealth Games in Malaysia.
• The 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia.

Individual sportwashing[]

• Daniel Kinahan's involvement in boxing as a promoter.^[33]
• The Al Maktoum family's ownership of Godolphin and Essential Quality.^[34]

Teams[]

• Roman Abramovich's ownership of Chelsea F.C. since 2003, which some have reported was done at the request of Russian President Vladimir Putin.^[35][36]
• Abu Dhabi majority ownership of City Football Group, an entity which in turn owns:
  • Manchester City F.C. (since 2008)
  • Melbourne City FC
  • Montevideo City Torque
  • New York City FC,
  • Yokohama F. Marinos,
  • Girona FC,
  • Sichuan Jiuniu F.C. partially.
  • Mumbai City FC partially.
• Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, ruler of Qatar, purchasing french football club Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) in 2011.^[37]
• The attempted purchase of Newcastle United F.C. by Saudi Arabia.^[38]
• Washington Spirit's 2020 cultural exchange with Qatar.^[39]

See also[]

• Greenwashing
• Maplewashing
• Soft power
• Spin (propaganda)

References[]