Thesis - All of it
Book 1A - Dohrmann, G. (2022). Switching fields: Inside the fight to remake men’s soccer in the United States. Ballantine Books. Book 2A - Miller, R., & Crolley, L. (2007). Football in the Americas: Fútbol, Futebol, soccer. Institute for the Study of the Americas. Book 3A - Korr, C. P., & Close, M. (2009). More than just a game: Football v apartheid. Collins.
Book 2A - Mentan, T. (2018). Africa in the colonial ages of empire: Slavery, capitalism, racism, colonialism, decolonization, independence as recolonization, and beyond. Langaa Research & Publishing CIG. Book 2B - Mountfield, D. (1976). A history of African exploration. Domess Books. Book 2C - Blake, J. W. (1937). European beginnings in West Africa. Royal Empire Society.
Sportswashing is a form of propaganda used by nations, individuals, groups, corporations or government to improve negative reputations by using sports. Through hosting sporting events, acquiring sporting teams, sponsoring sporting teams or active participation in sporting events. The intention of my thesis is to better understand how sportswashing comes about. Is it easy to sportswash? Why has this become a buzzword in recent years? what sports has this issue been raised? What are the current laws concerning funding for sporting events? Is it regulated? What role do fans have in this? These are just few of the questions that I seek to answer as I research the components of this growing problem. In recent memory there have been three (3) sporting events – The 2022 World Cup, the 2022 Olympics and the new LIV Golf tournament – that have been accused as sportswashing. Using these events as a premise of my research, I hope to understand the investment by alleged parties, the validity of the outrage that was lashed out at these entities, how culpable were the governing bodies in allowing these entities to be involved in these tournaments. I will also use this to look into what these countries and corporations have been after these tournaments. Has there been a positive effect and evident change or are the concerns of fans and other entities justified? By intense research, I hope to answer or at least get more clarity on all these pieces. Combining those answers will provide a clearer perspective on the matter.
Who should have access to host sporting events? What criteria is used to select the host and sponsors involved in a sport event? Should fans be involved in the process that brings about these events? If yes, to what degree? These are few of the questions we need to be able to answer to understand the recently popular human right buzzword, Sportswashing. Sportswashing is the use of an athletic event by an individual or a government, a corporation, or another group to promote or burnish the individual’s or group’s reputation, especially amid controversy or scandal (Britannica). The etymology of the word stems from whitewashing, which according to Oxford dictionary is “a deliberate attempt to conceal unpleasant or incriminating facts about something”. Although Sportswashing is a recently coined term, the earliest example of it dates back to as far back as the 1934 Olympics hosted in Berlin, Germany. Over time there have been more events that can be seen as sportswashing events. I first became aware of sportswashing while watching the Netflix documentary, Icarus. The documentary focuses on the doping scandal that was uncovered during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. At the time, the term wasn’t the main premise of the documentary but there were a few references to it. A while later I was reading about the FBI investigation into FIFA’s 2018 and 2022 world cup host locations which were Russia and Qatar respectively, there were more accusations of those events been an opportunity for those nations to sportswash. My curiosity was finally picked when I read about the PGA – LIV golf court case which involved the Saudi Arabia sovereign wealth found. The alarming thing about this particular case was not only the duration of the lawsuits, the multiple lawsuits by golf athletes and major golf organizers but it ended up in a merger between the PGA, who claimed to be protecting the sport, and the LIV, who were claimed to be destroying the game. In the months prior to the 2022 Men’s FIFA world cup hosted in Qatar, there were several news reports and blogs from various media corporations concerning the dangers of hosting the tournament over there. Qatar is an Arabic nation that governs under sharia law. Some of their laws have been a concern for human right activists, agencies and other major nations in the western hemisphere for a while now. In addition to this, there were concerns about the health and safety of the players. The FIFA world cup usually takes place in the summer, but due to the extreme hot temperature in the summer, the tournament was rescheduled to the winter months, thus affecting the global football calendar. As a fan looking at the tournament on a macro level, the FIFA 2022 world cup was a great opportunity for football to expand into previously overlooked regions of the world. Once the public gained access to information on the working and living conditions in the country in addition to the other aforementioned issues, fans started to question how much of this tournament was for the globalization of the sport? while also questioning the integrity of FIFA in ensuring the tournament is hosted by the best candidate. The inspiration for this paper is born out of curiosity as a sport lover and fan to understand the subject in its full context; its history, the roles and responsibility of all involved parties, the effort required to sportswash in relation to financial and social investments. And present my research in a format that can provide the average sports fan the opportunity to understand the subject and also be able to decide their role in ensuring the integrity of the sporting world is not tarnished by sponsors, players and governing bodies. Who is doing the washing? What are they washing? Using aforementioned events as an example, is there a positive change or approach towards concerns that were reported as reasons why they weren’t the ideal host? By studying investment trends over time by sponsors and nations alike, is deliberate attempts of sportswashing? Is there evidence of culpability by governing bodies in the selection process, that assists in the success of this act? By answering these questions, I will have provided interested parties ranging from the average fan to a research student ample evidence of the mechanism of the wheels of sportswashing.
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