Sportswashing Clubs

Away End - General Chat
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Not sure where to include this piece, but it’s probably safest in away end. People will have different views on the issues at hand, but I’m personally appalled by it and ashamed of the club’s culpability (although we aren’t the only ones).

Champions of sportwashing.
by Simon Childs
19 May 2026

Reuters/SPP
Liverpool FC is top of the table, but not of a league to be proud of.
A 4-2 pasting at the hands of Aston Villa on Friday night affirmed the Reds’ mediocre season on the pitch. But, according to campaigners, Liverpool is number one in complicity in the Gaza genocide.
War on Want have published a league table of Premier League clubs’ ties to Israeli actions in Palestine.
Liverpool are ahead of north London rivals Arsenal and Spurs in joint second place.
Man United and Man City are tied in third place while the fourth spot is shared by Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Everton and Fulham.
The league table is part of a report entitled Red Card: English Premier League Complicity in Israel’s Atrocities Against the Palestinians. The report says at least 15 Premier League sponsors have connections to the military assault on Gaza, the construction of illegal settlements and the wider system of apartheid.
Liverpool’s shirt sponsor, Standard Chartered, provided $15.4bn (£11.5bn) to 24 complicit businesses between January and August 2025.
The Premier League itself is sponsored by Barclays bank, which the report says has provided billions to 49 complicit companies.
Neil Sammonds, senior campaigner on Palestine at War on Want, said: “These clubs speak proudly about equality, inclusion and community. Yet behind the branding, some are using ‘sportswashing’ to sanitise corporations connected to some of the gravest crimes and humanitarian catastrophes of our time.
“Palestinian footballers are being killed. Stadiums are turned into detention camps. Child players are buried beneath rubble.
“The Premier League has shown before that it can act when sponsorship becomes morally toxic. The question is why Palestinian lives appear to count for less.”

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Well said, not great at all.

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Not to minimize the specific issues, but this is what you face when you’re sponsored by a financial institution. You wouldn’t be facing this if your sponsor sold washing machines. Or paint.

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This isn’t the only time Standard Chartered has been involved in something shady as it has been accused and heavily fined in the fairly recent past for AML, breaching sanctions in regard to Iran, terrorist funding and unethical banking practises. Providing funding to businesses aiding, abetting and profiting from Israel operations against the Palestinians is par for the course.

The club should have cut ties years ago; it’s shameful and inexcusable that this affiliation has been allowed to go on for more than 15 years. I wouldn’t hold my breath though.

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They seem like a lovely bunch. I wonder whether Spirit of Shankly have any campaigns on this

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Cutting jobs to replace with AI is just business 101, unfortunately. I think our shirt sponsorship has 1 year left to run; hopefully we can find a better sponsor then.

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I don’t entirely buy that. I work with AI and it’s useless without human input on a range of things.

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I think the idea is less human input, not none. Its clearly about to begin impacting significantly across large swathes of the workforce. So many jobs are about to go through a massive reorganisation over the next few years - could be a very tough job market for those newly qualified and entering the workforce in the next few yaers

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Yeah, let’s hope that. They are toxic, and going forward it will have a negative influence on the club. It’s better to lose ties with them asap.

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New Sponsor - Kalshi