Opinion
Why signing this footballer may be an own goal for mega-spending Saudis
Darren Kane
Sports ColumnistRightly so, the eyes of the soccer universe are focused on events in the Antipodes. But that’s not to say nothing is happening elsewhere, warranting examination.
In the context of being a soccer player, turning 33 years old isn’t quite the portent of death of a professional career as it once was. But it’s probably when they are looking at a final contract.
Liverpool’s captain Jordan Henderson has won Premier League and Champions League trophies during his 12 years with the club.
Now Henderson has been offered a deal worth $35 million a year (tax-free) to play not for Liverpool but for Al-Ettifaq in Saudi Arabia’s Pro League.
Henderson has served as an advocate for the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community. He was a vocal supporter, and one of the first who openly spoke in favour of Australia’s Josh Cavallo in 2021, when he announced his sexuality publicly.
In the program for a Liverpool home match in November 2021, Henderson was quoted as saying “when you see something that is clearly wrong and makes another human being feel excluded you should stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them”.
Jordan Henderson wearing the rainbow armband as Liverpool captain last season.Credit: Reuters
As Liverpool’s captain, Henderson would often be seen wearing an armband designating his leadership status, replete in rainbow livery. That sort of conduct might well get you locked up in Saudi Arabia.
Al-Ettifaq’s social media publicity, to promote Henderson’s signing, featured a doctored photo of him in his Liverpool captain’s get-up, but sucked dry of all colours.
Saudi Arabia is governed solely by Sharia, or Islamic law. Saudi Arabia remains the only jurisdiction in the world governed only by Islamic law. That legal system, and the resultant way of life, is fundamentally inconsistent with Western values of inclusion and freedom.
Under Sharia law and without limitation but instead by way of example, it constitutes a crime in Saudi Arabia to drink alcohol, smoke and fraternise with unrelated members of the opposite gender. Homosexuality is outlawed and punishable by imprisonment, corporal punishment and even the death penalty in some instances.
Cristiano Ronaldo playing for Al Nassr in the Saudi Pro League.Credit: Reuters
The Sharia legal system enforced in Saudi Arabia is fundamentally incompatible with what any fair-minded person would consider acceptable. Those who Henderson sought to support, by donning a rainbow-emblazoned captain’s armband and otherwise advocating in respect of, wouldn’t stand any chance in Saudi Arabia; it is, and remains an unsafe place for any openly LGBTQIA+ person to live in, or travel to.
That said, Saudi Arabia is certainly no outlier. Capital punishment for same-sex activity is the law in places including Brunei, Yemen and the United Arab Emirates.
The Kingdom of Saud, through its apparently at arm’s length sovereign wealth fund, has come for worldwide professional golf, and soccer clubs like Newcastle United. It’s difficult to comprehend how the interests, principles and actions of the Saudi state align with the espoused ideals of inclusivity and diversity, embraced in modern times by the English Premier League.
And yet, the Saudi Public Investment Fund has a foothold in the EPL which it will likely never release. The House of Saud has a seat at the table in the world’s biggest soccer league; another step in the quest to acquire legitimacy and influence.
The activity of the Saudi Pro League teams in the worldwide player market hasn’t just changed the market, it has upended it.
According to reports, French superstar Kylian Mbappe this week rejected a 10-figure offer to leave Paris Saint-Germain and relocate to the Gulf state. Cristiano Ronaldo and 2022 Ballon d’Or winner Karim Benzema have already made the corresponding move, and definitely not for the quality of the soccer.
Henderson has been battered with a torrent of opprobrium for leaving Merseyside for warmer climes. Is it legitimate to direct vituperative in Henderson’s direction because he’s decided to pursue the next stage of his career in a place governed by rigidly-enforced ideals, entirely opposed to those which he himself has stated unmitigated support for?
Or in the alternative, is it simplistic to conclude that Henderson has done a pirouette on his own values just by signing for Al-Ettifaq?
The short point is that Benzema, Henderson and every single professional golfer who’s ever signed for the LIV tour makes that career decision on anything but the quality of the competition with which they’ll be involved.
Instead, the athletes go for the money. That’s the only tool the House of Saud has.
But anyone who seeks to portray Henderson as an opportunistic hypocrite must presumably also deem the EPL as being some kind of utopian Rainbow Happyland.
Can it seriously be contended that an athlete eschews all of their previously declared values just because of the country in which they elect to work in consideration for the payment of almost-incalculable wealth? Hardly.
That Henderson has signed to play in the Saudi Pro League surely does not play out in a way where he would elect to stay quiet on matters which he’s previously advocated for, for the duration of his tenure.
Might it end up being the reality that Henderson becomes an advocate for marginalised and persecuted LGBTQIA+ people from within one of the most repressive nations on earth? Surely, it would be the epitome of dim-wittedness for the Saudi regime to squash reasoned free speech espoused by all of these professional athletes that they presently seek to cosy up to.
What might happen exactly if Henderson elected to remain true to his values playing in an Al-Ettifaq shirt? Therein lies the opportunity.
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