Close, But No. Qatar

Does this scream Newcastle or what?  The proposed sale of the club to a coalition that includes the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund, UK financier Amanda Staveley and a UK company Reuben Brothers is undergoing the mandatory owners' and directors' test by the Premier League.  Now Qatar's BeIN Sports is raising questions about the deal (trying to block it?), citing Saudi Arabia's involvement with with beoutQ, a pirate TV station that provides Saudi viewers with essentially a mirror of BeIN Sports feed.  That network exists because several Arab states cut off all links to Qatar because of it's alleged support for terrorist activities.  What, so now following Newcastle requires a course in geopolitics?  Apparently yes.  If you want to take the crash course, try the following links:

Countries cut ties to Qatar

BeIN seeks to block the sale

Geopolitics involved in Newcastle sale (and football more generally)

What’s black and white and fed up?
 A Newcastle fan.Lindsey Parnaby/EPA, via Shutterstock

Rory Smith at the NY Times has a great post today about the politics of ownership and where it puts the fans.  I thought I had the link but do not so I will excerpt a few key paragraphs:

It has, of course, attracted no shortage of controversy: Amnesty International, which has labeled Saudi Arabia the “kingdom of cruelty,” has written to the Premier League warning that allowing the takeover to proceed risked making the league a “patsy of those who want to use the glamour and prestige of Premier League football to cover up actions that are deeply immoral.”

The Premier League responded, moderately brusquely, to that assertion. It will be far harder to shake off a complaint from BeIN, the broadcaster based in Qatar that serves as the Premier League’s partner in the Gulf, that Saudi Arabia should not be permitted to invest in a league that it has spent a considerable amount of time undermining through a pirate broadcasting network.

That, you would have thought, would be enough if not to give the Premier League pause, then certainly to dampen the desire of Newcastle’s fans to see the deal get through. When you are a child, you dream of your team scoring goals and winning trophies and achieving greatness. You do not dream of it being drawn against its will and for unidentified purposes into a simmering geopolitical conflict between sovereign states.

It is hard to gauge proportions precisely, but it is fair to say at least a portion of Newcastle’s fan base has few, if any, qualms whatsoever. There are myriad reasons for that, before we get to the futile whataboutery that tends to clog social media on subjects like this.

Prime among them is an overwhelming, long held and understandable desire to get rid of Newcastle’s current owner, the tracksuit tycoon Mike Ashley, who has shown precious little regard for the history of the club and the hopes of its fans.

Then there is — again, understandable — the belief that it is not for fans to stand up and protest at Saudi investment in soccer when the British government does deals with the country, when Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia’s ally in the war in Yemen, owns Manchester City. If the Premier League is happy enough for Mohammed bin Salman to come and join the party, why should there be a higher moral burden on Newcastle fans than there is on these institutions?

Fair questions throughout.  As if we don't have enough issues to think about.


FIFA Doing Its Part to Fight COVID-19 in US

In case you missed it, Trump gave a nice shout out to FIFA at a recent press briefing for its support in getting vital supplies to health care providers.  Heckuva job guys.


What's In Your Netflix?

Or Amazon Prime as the case may be.  BFS Fitness Correspondent Jeff H sends a positive review of "The English Game," a six-episode series on the invention of the game and its rise to popularity.  BFS Scandinavian Correspondent Philip S alerts us to the Amazon Prime series "Heimebane" (Home Ground to those not fluent in Norwegian), a fictional story about the first woman promoted to manage a Norwegian premier league side.  That show has 18 episodes over two seasons.  Apparently she implements a 5-3-1-1 formation (talk about parking the bus) and gets significant resistance.  Sorry for the spoiler there Michael B. 


Unfinished Business

Forgot to give a proper hat tip to Don P for last week's story about Kyle Walker.  This does give me the chance to briefly cite the obscure history that Don was the goalkeeper on the first Dickinson NCAA soccer team.  It's so obscure you may not be able to find it in the records. 


Status Quo

Didn't see anything to add to last week's post about the re-opening of the various leagues.  There does seem to be the growing possibility that any continuation of the seasons will be without spectators.  As Jeff H noted last week, that will really suck, until it doesn't.


Stay safe and don't drink the Lysol...