Groups of Newcastle United and Manchester United fans have joined forces before the teams meet on Sunday to call for a ban on the sale of clubs to states who could use their ownership for sportswashing human rights abuses.
NUFC Fans Against Sportswashing and United Against Sportwashing issued a joint statement in the buildup to the game at St James’ Park. Newcastle are majority-owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), while the Qatari banker Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani is trying to buy Manchester United.
The Premier League approved the Newcastle takeover after saying it received “legally binding assurances” the Saudi state would not have control of the club. Its chief executive, Richard Masters, said this week he could not comment on whether Newcastle’s links with Saudi Arabia were being reinvestigated in light of a recent US court case. A brief filed on its behalf in a case involving the PGA Tour and LIV Golf describes the PIF as “a sovereign instrumentality of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia” and Newcastle’s chairman, Yasir al-Rumayyan, as “a sitting minister of the Saudi government”.
Sheikh Jassim has said he has bid for Manchester United as an independently wealthy individual via his Nine Two Foundation and that his offer is not connected to Qatar’s ruler, Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.
The joint statement said: “While NUFC play MUFC on Sunday, groups of fans from both clubs will be united in a common cause, regardless of the result on the pitch. We are Newcastle United and Manchester United fans standing together to call for an end to the sale of our historic clubs to states which use them to sportswash their human rights abuses.”
The statement called for “full transparency” from Masters regarding Newcastle, including publishing “what the ‘legal and binding assurances’ given to the Premier League were”. In relation to Sheikh Jassim’s interest in Manchester United, the fans said: “This follows the exposure of Qatari human rights abuses during the World Cup. We know that Qatar has a law No. (25) of 2002 which makes any significant investment subject to direct supervision of the state.”
On Thursday the Premier League approved tougher measures for its owners’ and directors’ test that would bar anyone found to have committed human rights abuses from owning a club, based on the Global Human Rights Sanctions Regulations.
“This is welcome,” the fans said. “However, we remain concerned that an individual from a repressive regime can still become an owner if it is not made clear that the approval of a significant investment is dictated by the ruling family in these Gulf states … As football fans, regardless of our club colours we believe dictatorships such as Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia and Qatar should be disqualified from owning clubs because of their appalling human rights records. Further, pumping money disproportionately into a small number of clubs distorts the fairness of the game.”
