Newcastle’s Soccer Strife
Yemenis in Newcastle struggle to square their love for their team with the club’s new #Saudi owners, with some hoping the investment will regenerate their city
https://newlinesmag.com/reportage/newcastles-soccer-strife/
The level of obsession with soccer in England is hard to exaggerate. Three-fourths of the population watched the final of Euro 2020. Before the pandemic, crowds at second division matches were larger than for the top tiers in Spain, France and Italy. But even by these standards, supporters of Newcastle are seen as uniquely passionate. Unlike Liverpool, Manchester and London, there is just one club in Newcastle, and it draws a devoted following wherever it plays, even during a long spell of spirit-crushing mediocrity under despised owner and sportswear tycoon Mike Ashley.
On Oct. 7, it was announced that Ashley’s 14-year reign was over. The club had been sold for the equivalent of about $400 million to Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), which the Premier League ruled to be distinct from the Saudi state, despite Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s role as chairperson.
Few Newcastle fans were reading the small print. Celebratory hordes massed around St. James’ Park, the iconic stadium that overlooks the city, some in Halloween-Arab costumes, others bearing Saudi flags. “We’ve got our club back,” supporters sang as joy and hope flooded back. Suddenly the richest club in the world, Newcastle would finally reclaim its place at the top of English soccer.
For the Yemenis of South Shields, a short metro ride along the River Tyne, the feelings are more complicated.
Sayyadi has attended and helped to organize demonstrations in London, the most recent demanding the reopening of Sana’a international airport, which he says is the only hope for visiting family he has not seen since before the war. A Newcastle supporter, he sees the takeover as a chance to educate.
“I think most of the fans don’t know anything about the war in Yemen, so this is a good opportunity for us,” he says. “We will go [to the stadium] with some banners to raise awareness of the forgotten war in Yemen and say the owner of this club is responsible. And we will be wearing Newcastle shirts.”
Sayyadi does not fault Newcastle fans for celebrating, but he does reserve scorn for the British government.
“Yemen is neglected by the politicians and we know why. Because they are selling arms to the Saudis. They want to make money, and they just sold us out,” he says.
A minority of fans are pursuing a path of militant opposition. For John Hird, the takeover is “a red line” and he has formed a small pressure group to lobby local politicians, persuade fellow supporters, and plan direct actions. One of his ideas is “a minute’s silence at St. James’ Park next time an LGBT+ person is beheaded in Saudi Arabia.”
Hird acknowledges the corruption of the wider sport but disagrees that fans are powerless, noting that supporters swiftly killed plans for a European Super league, and he believes fans of rival clubs can unify against dictatorships in soccer.
NEWCASTLE FAN VIEW: If Magpies fans deny the sportswashing reality of the Saudi-takeover, the club will become the Premier League pariah https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-10249805/Newcastle-fans-deny-reality-Saudi-takeover-club-pariah.html
- Critics of the takeover have reportedly been targeted by ‘Saudi bots’ on Twitter
- The Newcastle PR machine is working overtime to win hearts with pledges
- But the club have been accused of ‘sportswashing’ the country’s rights record
I wasn’t surprised to read that critics of the Newcastle United takeover are being targeted by a social media account which the CIA linked to a Saudi official involved in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the dissident journalist.
Investigators have established the extreme measures that Mohammed bin Salman’s regime and its army of Twitter trolls take to intimidate opponents online and I suspect that I have been a victim of their work myself.
Ever since I called out Newcastle fans for turning a blind eye to the potential repercussions of the club’s takeover by an investment fund linked to the crown prince, I have been subject to abuse online from accounts that look suspiciously like Saudi bots.
The longer Tyneside refuses to confront the reality of this deal, the more implicated in the Saudis’ dirty business it will become. Newcastle will turn into a pariah of the game. Every atrocity that the regime commits from now on will be associated with our club. Is their money worth it?
No amount of ‘What about the owners of Manchester City and Chelsea?’ will cut it. Newcastle fans say they are powerless but are we really? Fan power defeated the European Super League.
Bin Salman, chairman of the Saudi Public Investment Fund, has waged a war in Yemen and the resulting famine is the direct result of the Saudi-led intervention and blockade. Maybe fans’ groups can suggest that the new owners donate money to alleviate the famine and to rebuild the 1,500 schools in Yemen damaged or destroyed by the war?
The new owners’ commitment to the upcoming Rainbow Laces Day and the Newcastle Women’s team depends on no one mentioning the public flogging of LGBT+ activists and the jailing, sexual abuse and torture of women fighting for equal rights. So, what is to be done? Well, we should not be afraid to bring up the new owners’ human rights abuses.
Groups like Kick it Out and Show Racism the Red Card should condemn the racism and anti-semitism of the Saudi state. One club fanzine asked how can the Saudis be anti-semitic if they are in business with people of a Jewish background?
This is how sportswashing works. Outside Saudi Arabia the regime will get into bed with anyone if it helps their rebranding.
Political representatives should support the 51 per cent golden share model of fan-led club ownership. Instead we have had the excruciating sight of Nick Forbes, leader of Newcastle city council, begging the regime for an audience to discuss investment.
Most of us were born Toon fans. We have lived through the highs and lows of the 52 years since the club last won something. For our loyalty and passion we deserve success. We deserve the joy of seeing someone in a black-and-white shirt lifting a cup. But like this? No thanks. There is another way.
For the original version of this article, go to www.true-faith.co.uk. For details on how to join John’s campaign, go to @Txantxangorri.
NEWCASTLE FANS ORGANISE AGAINST SAUDI TAKEOVER https://www.socialistalternative.net/2021/12/17/newcastle-fans-organise-against-saudi-takeover/
Newcastle fans are starting to organise against the takeover of their club by the theocratic Saudi dictatorship. A campaign called ‘Sack the Saudi dictators! RECLAIM the Game and NUFC!’ has been set up in the face of an extremely well-financed PR machine which has tried to silence opposition to the dirty deal. Mohammed Bin Salman aka the ‘the butcher of Yemen’ has his cyber henchmen using thousands of bots on social media to close down criticism of their appalling human rights record.
Unfortunately, Tyneside media have fallen into line with this blatant sports-washing. Unbelievably Labour council leaders and MPs in the region have not condemned the deal. In this situation, a majority of fans are on the fence, but others are now linking up to discuss a campaign programme and how to fight back.
As fans we call on the Premier League to implement a transparent and open ‘Fit and Proper’ review of ALL clubs involving fans. Fans groups and fanzines can play an important role in discussing alternative ownership of NUFC and all Premier League clubs. As a minimum and a start we support the 51% golden share model of fan-led club ownership.
Football has come a long way regarding racism, sexism and LGBT+ rights, although with clear problems remaining. However, the Saudi takeover of NUFC puts that progress in danger. There can be no double standards. We support human rights at our club and in Saudi Arabia. Solidarity with all people who are oppressed by the new (hopefully temporary) owners of NUFC is vital. Groups like Kick it Out and Show Racism the Red Card should condemn the racism and antisemitism of the new owners.
We call on all NUFC fans to reject the Saudi regime’s takeover. The longer the dictators stay, the more they will stain our club’s reputation. Join us in the fight to reclaim NUFC and football in general.
The Saudi takeover has implications for all of football, which go far beyond our club, so we need to link up with fans of other teams. We will be organising meetings and protests in the coming months and call on NUFC fans and others to join our campaign to sack the Saudi dictators!
A Mag calls for action to resist the Saudi Takeover of Newcastle United! https://true-faith.co.uk/a-mag-calls-for-action-to-resist-the-saudi-takeover/
NUFC fans standing against ‘public opinion’ over the takeover of our club by the theocratic, murderous Saudi dictatorship, have been called, ‘virtue signallers’ and ‘snowflakes’ on social media. I will, by the way, be referring to the atrocities of the club’s new owners by their actual names and not reducing them to the status of ‘issues’, which seems to be the way fans bury the contradiction of a region, rich in working class traditions like solidarity and human rights, embracing a billionaire Wahhabi sect which bombs children and crushes democracy. There is a mass cognitive dissonance fog on Tyneside which many fans, although a minority at the moment can see through.
Unfortunately, too many NUFC fans are turning inwards and playing the victim. Why pick on us?
NUFC fans say they are powerless but are we really? During this year fan power has defeated the Euro Super League. Unfortunately one result of the Saudi deal will be to encourage the richest clubs to try again.
16 years ago a minority of Manchester United fans decided the takeover MUFC by the Glazers was the final straw and formed a fan owned club. F.C. United is the largest fan-owned football club in the United Kingdom.
No-one with a leading role in a dictatorship is clean. Yasir al-Rumayyan, the new non-executive chairman of Newcastle United, was ordered to seize 20 companies by Mohammed Bin Salman, one of which was a charter flight company which was used to fly the murderers of political opponent Jamal Khashoggi.
Like all fans we are ecstatic that Ashley has gone, but rolling out the red carpet for the Saudis is distasteful. The well-oiled NUFC PR machine is working overtime to win hearts and minds and you have to recognise their bare-faced cheek. The pledge to match the food bank donations of fans was a masterstroke, but in the circumstances of the regime deliberately causing a famine in a neighbouring country, is a sick joke.
The Saudi regime is a dictatorship which maintains its rule and influence in the region through a vicious state apparatus. The cuddly image of the benevolent new NUFC owners put out by the Evening Chronicle – Riyadh Daily, is for external consumption only.
The recent Tweet by the club in support of Josh Cavallo’s statement has been seized upon by people who believe ‘engagement’ with the homophobic regime can change them.
“A powerful and inspirational message. Football is for everyone. Newcastle United is right with you, Josh.”
The football writer Barry Glendenning summed up many fan’s feelings on the hypocritical statement: “#freesuhail Three years in the Saudi jug and 800 lashes for being gay. Imagine one lash of a whip … now imagine 799 more.”
In case anyone does not know, Suhail al-Jameel is a young gay Saudi who faces years in jail and 800 lashes for posting a topless selfie of himself on Twitter. We respectfully ask UNITED WITH PRIDE to reconsider their ambiguous response to the #NUFCTakeover by one of the most homophobic regimes in the world. Who do we stand with, people like Suhail al-Jameel or the Saudi dictators?
The club statement on Josh Cavallo was a hypocritical publicity stunt. This is how sport-washing works. It was a meaningless gesture to those who need our solidarity in KSA.
NUFC fans should remember this is a club of the working class people of Tyneside and not a PR arm of a dictatorship.
Most of us were born Toon fans. We have collectively lived through the highs and lows of the last 52 years, since we last won something. Knowing in our heart of hearts, we are the greatest football supporters the world has ever known…..
For our loyalty and passion we deserve success. We deserve the ecstasy of seeing someone in a black and white shirt lifting a cup. Of course we do. But like this? No thanks. There is another way…
Fans who are interested in KICKING THE SAUDI DICTATORS OUT OF OUR CLUB AND RECLAIMING NUFC – Join us
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