Dealing with sportswashing – an exercise in honour and popular culture

Katarzyna Herd
Department of Arts and Cultural Sciences, Lund University

Qatar 2022 has become a symbol of sportswashing, a flagpost for discussions about accountability, responsibility, and morality within different sport disciplines, football being a prime example. “Moral violation” has been listed as the crime surrounding sportswashing (Fruh, Archer & Wojtowicz 2023, 103). After frenzied use of the word in connection to the last football world cup 2022,  there came a flood of articles, together with plentiful publications to be found in the popular press. This text does not have a heavy research claim, but it is a reaction to something that is curious, yet not clearly defined, hence difficult to study. It is also a reaction to a massive interest of the subject among Swedish high school students. Most of my research has been in the cultural context of football, and I have been contacted by quite many students to be interviewed about the subject. I am not an expert on sportswashing, but I know my way around stadiums. I became curious as most of the young people who wanted to talk about this phenomenon were ready with critical views and moral judgements. They were mostly concerned how to and who could stop it. Iy’s as if sportswashing exists without properly materializing.

Sportswashing became a popular word during the last stages of FIFA World Cup preparations in Qatar in 2022. The world, especially in Western media, commented on a range of problematic areas when dealing with the incredibly rich Gulf state: attitudes towards sexual minorities, gender equality, workers’ rights, sustainability – to name a few. Such discussions emerged earlier too, most notably when China hosted summer and then winter Olympic Games (in 2008 and 2022 respectively), or when Russia organized Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014, followed immediately by the invasion and annexation of the Crimean Peninsula. Football events also had critics, most notably when World Cup was played in South Africa (sex trafficking and unsustainable tourism) and also in Brazil (environmental costs, indigenous rights). However, both of these countries could be seen as football/sporting nations, especially Brazil where football is closely associated with the image of the South American nation, if not the idealized picture of a football-crazed nation. Qatar, on the other hand, entered the stage of world football aggressively, with huge investments, and without a clearly visible, widespread national interest in the game. It seemed to be about money and prestige.

The study of this phenomenon has not been systematic enough or scientific enough, with careful examination of carefully collected data, to be deemed as proper research. How would that data look like? Interviews with sheiks?

In a publication entitled The Geopolitical Economy of Sport, political historian Kristian Coates Ulrichsen writes:

The general tone of the reporting of the event served as a reminder that states’ investment in branding can only go so far in shaping public narratives and media discourse. This became manifest during the World Cup as well as allegations of “sport-washing” – a poorly defined term which has gained wide currency in recent years – dominated much of the European reportage (2023, 130).

Yes, it is the so-called Global North (Europe, especially Nordic countries, the US, Canada) that produced many texts critical of Qatar and reported, for example, workers’ abuse during the building of arenas, or concerns about the environmental impact. The same academic volume cited above includes Simon Chadwick and Paul Widdop writing about sportswashing in the Gulf Region, stating that:

Some activist groups, members of the media and commentators often label such activities [heavy investments in prestigious sport events] as being sport washing; that is, the deployment of sport by a state entity for the purposes of laundering a country’s image and reputation. Instead of seeing human rights abuses, the suppression of minority groups, or aggressive military campaigns, it is said that by investing in sport countries like Qatar and Saudi Arabia make attempts to distract people’s attention away from their crimes, political ideology, and misdemeanours by staging a global sport megaevent, buying a high-profile sport team, or engaging in a high-profile sponsorship deal (2023, 148).

However, write the researchers in the following paragraph, “the concept of sportswashing is elusive, in that, it hasn’t really been empirically identified or validated, and even less is known about the micro mechanisms that underpin it” (2023, 148). The study of this phenomenon has not been systematic enough or scientific enough, with careful examination of carefully collected data, to be deemed as proper research. How would that data look like? Interviews with sheiks? Graphs of sportswashing indexes? Official documents ordering sportswashing procedures? We do know, after all, that the Gulf states have outlined plans, visions, that officially guide their investments and wishes to gain position and power regionally and globally, with Qatar and Saudi Arabia in open competition, and sometimes in open conflict. Do we remember the blockade of Qatar imposed by Saudis, Egypt and Bahrain and UAE in 2017, based on the accusations of supporting terrorism (Amara & Al Naimi 2023, 138)?

This “lack of data” does not prevent other researches in being more critical in their tone. Philosophers Fruh, Archer & Wojtowicz (2023) list complicity and corruption used by regimes that engage in sportswashing to infiltrate already existing communities (fans) to spread disinformation and to minimize the criticism of the organizers. Qatar and Saudi Arabia are the main targets of criticism. They call for resistance, and state that “[s]portswashing uses a precious piece of heritage for immoral purposes and thus debases it. It can also render participants in sports—such as fans and athletes—complicit” (2023, 113). This is strong phrasing, but it demands an acceptance of morality parameters that are set within a philosophical system of thought.

Obviously, one can list previous, historic instances of what could be catalogued as sportswashing. Chadwich and Widdop write about British colonial rule in South Africa and sport-related activities as such an example. Olympic Games in 1936, hosted by Germany, is already a book example of sportswashing attempts done by the Nazis. FIFA World Cup in Argentina in 1978 was controversial because of the military junta that took hold of the country after a coup in 1976. China could be an example too, with two Olympic Games organized, followed by criticism of environmental activists and human rights activists. Russia, famously now, attacked and annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula direct after Winter Olympic Games in Sochi. Those that we would accuse of sportswashing tend to be associated with “blemished brands” (Ganji 2023, 63), which stems from reports of corruption, violating human rights, etc.

The criticism before, during or after a tournament would then mean that there appeared to be elements of sportswashing. Yet we criticize some and omit others, we focus on some issues while forgetting others, and the list of those with visible wrongdoings is long (Ganji 2023, 63-65). In the end, anyone and anything could be accused of sportswashing, which would mean that any sport event could be treated as an attempt to distract or cover up, to have a brighter picture of the reality than it really is. A carnival, plainly speaking. This then turns into the millennia-old strategy of keeping the citizens happy. The famous Roman phrase “panem et circenses” – bread and circuses – was used already in AD 100 to criticize practices to gain cheap approval of crowds. That is the very function of a carnival, to introduce a moment of happiness into the worrisome everyday life. What then makes it so wrong when non-Western actors arrange a football tournament?

It seems to me, an ethnographer, almost impossible to actually have data on the matter that would be regarded as scientific, yet – curiously enough – there is an overflow of it regarding the actions of nations or institutions that would be accused of sportswashing. It is all down to the actual classification of sportswashing. If regarded as a conscious process or agency, then certainly, it is difficult to pinpoint or provide proof of it. But as a moral assessment it is clearly visible. What makes it visible, I would claim, is the connection of sport, in particular football, to popular culture, and our (i.e., Western) use of popular culture. In short, we have a powerful actor, a nation-state, that we regard as not exactly sport (football) interested but pretending to be (in our eyes), while wiping some dirty deeds with it.

Cultural scholar John Storey (2015) writes that culture is used to signify, to produce and be an occasion to produce a meaning. The Western popular culture (if I may use such a broad term) often produces meanings. Without any proper analysis, and just judging from my unofficial observations and, certainly, consumption of popular culture, I dare say that we tend to have strong moral judgements in our books, TV series, music and movies. Rather more often than not, the popular culture that we have easiest access to presents idealistic struggles that we can find relatable. The narratives are about protagonists that fight not to sell out, not to lose their integrity, but to follow their judgement, to be good people. This is, too, what we wish to teach our children; that one should not just do anything for money, that one should have a moral compass, that one should not sell one’s soul to the devil – if one wishes to connect with the old metaphor.

Football is extremely good at facilitating emotional investments, and these investments can be turned into hard cash when weeping or cheering crowds are shown on screens around the world.

I shall use my favourite example, albeit already quite old. Consider Pirates of the Caribbean, a series of movies featuring Johnny Depp, created by Disney and actually based on a ride in a Walt Disney World Resort theme park (I think in the end it sounds rather depressing). However, there is a message to consider. The adversary, the evil character in the three first movies is not a king, or a state, or some military power. It is a capitalist, the head of The East India Trading Company called Cutler Beckett. Beckett just wants to make profit. In one of the movies he tells the pirate captain Jack Sparrow, that it is “just business”. I am yet to find a person who would root for Beckett. We all are on the side of the pirates. Admittedly, it is connected to the popular cultural image of pirates that we have, and this is exactly the point. We like the pirates because they fight for freedom, for what they believe in, for not selling out, for their (a bit dubious) integrity. It is a message repeated all over media, though one cannot deny a plethora of programmes, especially reality TV, where moral judgement is set aside in favour of a monetary incentive. But our reactions as audiences can still be moralistic and judgemental (Skeggs & Wood, 2012).

There are not many philosophers that we listen to these days, not on a massive scale anyway, perhaps Slavoj Zizek being the rare known name. Still, the moral discussions are present in popular culture, and thus in football as well. Since the revival of Olympic Games there is a double message regarding sports. It is about the best contender winning and it is about economic investments and power. Yet, it is also about fair play, about unity, about peace and inclusion. It is similarly about David winning against Goliath, about team effort, about not giving up. Even though football is and always has been about money, it carries elements of resistance and rebellion, just like popular culture can be seen as struggle against hegemonic culture (Storey 2015). Football is extremely good at facilitating emotional investments, and these investments can be turned into hard cash when weeping or cheering crowds are shown on screens around the world. It is also prone to producing heroes, even though the relationship between fans and footballers is a complex one. Through football one can watch players become heroes, following narrative paths known and appreciated (Hourihan 1997). The football heroes express endurance, persistence, devotion, and loyalty to their clubs and fans, even though the transfer system and modern football are plainly about money (Herd 2023). Yet, it is possible to nourish emotional connections between players and supporters. Fruh, Archer & Wojtowicz state:

The sportswasher makes the fan into a vehicle for immoral ends, a vehicle who will often lose their moral bearings in becoming complicit. Sportswashing is so insidious because it can corrupt a club by making fans and athletes complicit in wrongdoing. Thus they become complicit not just in wrongdoing, but in the misuse and disrespect of the thing that they love. (2023, 111)

Here, then, comes the crux of the matter. Football as we know it is loaded with emotional and moral engagement. And as we have seen in the past few years, it is a good platform to discuss racism, violence, gender equality and attitudes towards sexual minorities. I doubt that Qatar had foreseen discussions about rainbow captain bands when winning the bid for World Cup in 2012. This social change, or promise of social change in the Gulf region has been raised recently (January 2023) in Swedish media in a range of articles about sportswashing. Football helps to open up societies in the best of scenarios, it not only legitimizes existing power structures. The question remains if it can be controlled or who is there to control it. One can point out how the Soviet bloc used censorship of Western culture (movies, books, music) to prevent spreading of dangerous ideas. Gulf states or China regularly block some cinema blockbusters because of ideological issues, but sport is usually considered less problematic. There is no singing of dangerously loaded lyrics. At least it is not in the script. I would suggest that if there is a grain of change or a wish for a different world then football can help, but only then. As such, football does not bring change, it works itself into a society that it is surrounded by, mirrors it and shows us what a given society consists of. Hence, we can have liberal sentiments in Sweden and far-right expressions in Poland, all within the same game.

Cultural scholar Tara Brabazon wrote about the connection between sport and popular culture, summarizing some of her points in a quote that I have already overused in various publications:

Sport is not an isolated social and political phenomenon: it is part of popular culture. While popular culture is too often dismissed as trash, study reveals the relativity of aesthetic values, the implications of technological change, the political conflicts of daily life and the role of economics in the production of culture (…). Popular culture tenders a vision of how life could be. While the racism, sexism and homophobia of sport are excessive and harmful, they also hold a teaching function, delivering lessons in how and why symbols gain power and applicability through time (Brabazon 2006, 2).

We can see “our” football as an idealized picture of a fight between good and evil, investing emotionally in some actors, clubs and national teams, and letting them represent what it should have been about – honour, commitment, the same emotional attachment that we – the fans – ascribe to. There is a chant made by fans of AIK, a Stockholm club, with words addressed to the players: “We want to see you sacrifice blood, sweat and tears”. We want to believe in it, although we know that politics and money are there, present, always. But the picture gets distorted and impossible to believe in if it seems to be only about politics and money.

 Philosopher Roland Barthes wrote in his book What is sport?: “What is then that men put into sport? Themselves, their human universe. Sport is made in order to speak the human contract” (2007, 65). This is what motivates the students that I talked to – the profound notion that this is wrong, followed by questions how it should be stopped and how those responsible should be made responsible. There is a hint of moral superiority and a right to judge, of course, and this discussion provides an easy, short-cut evaluation of the matter, lacking in reflexivity and, well, facts.

Yet, like with the pirates, it reminds us of the human contract that Barthes mentioned. The contract, as parts of the Western world would see it, through the lense of popular culture, is about an emotional investment that should not be about money, that should not be for sale. It is then no surprise that there is a strong reaction when suddenly it is openly about money, and about making an economic impact, and being for sale. It is as if Batman would start working together with Joker to make more cash. That is just absurd for many. We have no empirical proof of sportswashing, though. Not entirely. These countries might feel strongly about football too, just executing it in their own way. But if sportswashing is about a moral judgement and an assessment of popular culture, then one can rightfully say that it is happening and that it is, from our Western perspective, a problem.

Copyright © Katarzyna Herd 2024

References

Amara, Mahfiud & Sara Mehanna Al-Naimi. 2023. Geopolitics of Sport in the MENA Region. In The Geopolitical Economy of Sport. Power, Politics, Money, and the State, eds. Simon Chadwick, Paul Widdop & Michael M. Goldman, pp. 135-140. Routledge: London & New York.

Chadwick, Simon & Paul Widdop. 2023. Sport Washing and the Gulf Region. In The Geopolitical Economy of Sport. Power, Politics, Money, and the State, eds. Simon Chadwick, Paul Widdop & Michael M. Goldman, pp. 148-154. Routledge: London & New York.

Barthes, Roland. 2007. What is sport? Yale University Press: New Haven & London.

Brabazon, Tara. 2006. Playing on the Periphery. Sport, Identity and Memory.  Routledge: London and New York.

Coates Ulrichsen, Kristian. 2023. Qatar and the 2022 FIFA World Cup: Soft Power, State Branding, or Nation Building. In The Geopolitical Economy of Sport. Power, Politics, Money, and the State, eds. Simon Chadwick, Paul Widdop & Michael M. Goldman, pp. 127-133. Routledge: London & New York.

Fruh, Kyle, Alfred Archer & Jake Wojtowicz. 2023. Sportswashing: Complicity and Corruption. Sport, Ethics and Philosophy, 17 (1), pp.101-118, DOI: 10.1080/17511321.2022.2107697.

Ganji, Sarath K. 2023. The Rise of Sportswashing. Journal of Democracy, 34 (2), pp. 62-76. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/jod.2023.0016.

Herd, Katarzyna. 2023. Transfer patterns in the Swedish football clubs – a gift economy of loyalties and emotions. Soccer & Society, doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/14660970.2023.2247350.

Hourihan, Margery. 1997. Deconstructing the Hero: Literary Theory and Children’s Literature. London & New York: Routledge.

Skeggs, Beverley & Helen Wood. 2012. Reacting to Reality Television Performance, Audience and Value. London & New York: Routledge.

Storey, John. 2015. Cultural Theory and Popular Culture An Introduction. London & New York: Routledge.