A couple of months ago, I wrote effusively of my admiration for Jordan Henderson as a footballer, a captain and a man https://rorywrites.uk/2023/04/15/and-heres-to-you-jordan-henderson/ .I still admire him as a footballer and captain. But it’s impossible to see his decision to move to Saudi Arabian team Al-Ettifaq as anything other than a betrayal of the principles that made me and others so respect him as a human being.
Perhaps more than any other modern footballer, Henderson has been outspoken on human rights and in particular against homophobia. He was among the most vocal critics of the decision to stage the World Cup in Qatar and voluntarily contributed a heartfelt article to the Liverpool FC programme in support of the ‘rainbow laces’ campaign. He has stated unequivocally: “Football is a game for everyone. No matter what.” That last sentence maybe now requires an Animal Farm type addition: “unless someone offers me shedloads of cash.”
Henderson’s legacy as a great player and leader in a successful era for his club remains undiminished in spite of occasional oddball carping from some Twitter fans. But the sense of him as a man of principle – whatever his efforts to raise money during the pandemic, marshalling of fellow captains against the breakaway European Super League and indeed his previous support for the LGBTQ+ community – has been fatally wounded. His complete silence on the issue, as he has been roundly condemned by supporter and campaign groups, if anything makes it worse. It might actually be worse to speak out on an issue and then ditch your principles for money than to say nothing in the first place.
It is true we are holding ‘Hendo’ to higher standards than others. We might almost have expected Cristiano Ronaldo to take the Saudi money and while there may be some disappointment to see other Liverpool icons like Steven Gerrard Robbie Fowler, Bobby Firmino and Fabinho plotting footballing futures in Saudi Arabia, none of them have made the sort of public stands Henderson has on human rights. He was supposed to be different and we believed he was.
Seeing Henderson slip out the back door in disgrace is not how his illustrious Liverpool career was meant to end. The once passionate LGBT+ rights campaigner – already earning an eye-watering salary – has doubled it or more to go and play in a country where being gay is illegal and can lead to the death penalty. It’s not just unexpected or disappointing, it’s grubby and crass. The bizarre defence that he was coming to the end of his time at Liverpool and wanted a final big payday is anathema to all we thought he represented. There are lots of places he could have gone if he wanted more game time: it just so happened none of them were offering the crazy money the Saudis were.
This is all of course symptomatic of a bigger problem for football. Sports washing started with oppressive but very rich regimes taking over PSG and Manchester City and transforming them into superpowers; Newcastle United and the disgrace of a World Cup in Qatar soon followed. The sporting world had united against Apartheid in the past, but the football authorities are so blinded by cash that countries where football is really not for everyone appear to have been not so much tolerated as enthusiastically embraced.
The exodus of significant players in Europe this summer to the Saudi league – by no means all of them past their best – suggests a shift in power from the Premier League is well underway. Perhaps football’s descent into a hyper-capitalist mentality was always going to end this way. Sporting principle and fair competition are already eroded; the transfer of football’s centre of gravity to states that don’t believe sport – or life – is for everyone, is maybe a logical endgame.
Whether that happens or not, the transfer of one of football’s most consistent advocates of human rights to a country that doesn’t respect them is a landmark event. Liverpool’s anthem is You’ll Never Walk Alone – it’s a crying shame that their captain has decided that the people he has previously stood up for can do just that.
Rory writes 