In recent editions of North East Bylines Peter Sagar has documented the history of sportswashing while Andrew Page’s article on Sam Fender ended by noting that “a connection to Newcastle United does not need to lead to silence on human rights abuses committed in Saudi Arabia.”
It is interesting to reflect on the situations in which football supporters have protested on human rights issues and whether there is likely to be much change in the case of Newcastle United, where the desperation for success has until now largely blunted any major outburst of protest on Saudi Arabia, whether from fans, local politicians or the local council.
As we go into the pre-season friendlies there is one thing that certainly has changed. Newcastle United actually won a trophy. Not only that, they have qualified for the Champions League. It is possible to envisage that, with continuing improvement, they start to win more and bigger trophies. If this happens, could it mean that attitudes on what happens in Saudi Arabia change too?
Sportswashing
There is no doubt that the accusation of sportswashing is valid. As well as generally enhancing its political and economic profile, Saudi Arabia succeeds in deflecting the attention away from its human rights abuses. However, the danger with sportswashing and the debate around it in the case of Newcastle United is that it has forced fans into a corner. Starved of much-craved success for decades, many have arguably felt that they have a choice between either supporting the human rights issues or supporting the team. For many of the keenest supporters this choice has been a ‘no brainer.’
What would happen though if Newcastle United did start winning a series of major domestic and European trophies, thereby acquiring a worldwide reputation as one of the top clubs? Could it be that people will then start to look more at the reputations of those interests associated with it?
Developments in other clubs
The vast majority of professional football clubs are on a financial treadmill, constantly seeking new resources and not keen to bite any hand that feeds them. There are, however, different developments in some of the most successful European clubs. So, for example Bayern Munich fans succeeded through a protest campaign in persuading the club to drop its sponsorship by Qatar Airways on idealistic grounds. Although with less success, fans of Paris St Germain have protested against their ownership by Qatar Sports Investments and various other rights issues, most recently the atrocities in Gaza.
In Spain key clubs Barcelona and Real Madrid offer massive support to human rights through their foundations including cooperation with UN programmes that considerably dwarf that of the Newcastle United Foundation. Similarly, the two Milan clubs in Italy have extensive programmes, although sometimes struggle to control the activities of some of their own fans.
However, the model breaks down somewhat. At England’s most successful club, Manchester City, protests against Sheikh Mansour have been overshadowed by expressions of support and ticketing issues. In Germany, Mainz ‘09 and 1860 Munich, neither of them prominent at the European level, refused to play friendlies with Newcastle United because of the Saudi connection and many clubs of all sizes refused to stage live broadcasts of the Qatar World Cup in 2022.
Control
While there is some correlation between success on the pitch and concern about inhumanity away from it, a greater factor is probably the extent to which clubs are actually controlled by the fans. It has often been commented that the German 50+1 system, while not without its imperfections, does much to stem the pervasive influence of big money within the management of football. In this context it is worth noting that both Barcelona and Real Madrid are controlled by fans’ organisations while chairmen of even quite small clubs in Germany, including Schalke ‘04 in Newcastle’s twin town Gelsenkirchen, have learned that it does not pay to go against the will of an overall consensus of fans.
This is where the Newcastle United Supporters’ Trust comes in …
Newcastle United Supporters’ Trust
Set up in more troubled times to enable fans’ views to be relayed to the club, it costs virtually nothing to join. It functions on a democratic basis and is the one key independent organisation that has a hearing within the club’s management and will relay the concerns of members. It is not necessary to be a Newcastle United season ticket holder (many members aren’t) to join, merely to have an interest in local football which, directly or indirectly, huge numbers of people in the region do.
Like similar organisations it is for the time being principally concerned with match – and spectator-related issues such as ticketing, stadium capacity and the match day experience. It does also support various charitable causes however, and could develop into something much more extensive, if its members choose that it should go that way.
The Trust’s 2025 survey showed that 16% of members had some concern about the ownership of the club by the Saudi Public Investment Fund – not a massive figure, but one that demonstrates to those who are not comfortable with the resulting human rights issues that the Trust is monitoring the situation and makes it the key forum in which such issues could be raised to good effect. In a broader sense it is the obvious candidate to take on the 50+ model of increased fan influence at our major football club.
The problem of football club ownership in the UK goes much deeper than who ‘owns’ one particular football club. It is surely true that having an interest in Newcastle United does not need to lead to silence on human rights in Saudi Arabia. It could also be true that a massively successful Newcastle United leads many more to break that silence by making their voices heard through the Newcastle United Supporters’ Trust.
