{"id":331969,"date":"2023-09-18T04:03:28","date_gmt":"2023-09-18T04:03:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=331969"},"modified":"2023-09-18T07:01:37","modified_gmt":"2023-09-18T07:01:37","slug":"money-vs-morality-saudi-stars-in-awkward-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=331969","title":{"rendered":"'Money vs morality': Saudi stars in awkward debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Saudi Arabian Pro League was second only to the English Premier League<\/a> when it came to player fees during the summer transfer window.<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia spent close to $1 billion dollars to bring some of football's most recognisable names to a league which has continued to echo the ambition of becoming one of the best in the world.<\/p>\n

Players who were lured by the Saudi Arabian riches included Neymar<\/a>, Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Karim Benzema, who swapped the cold of Europe for the sweltering heat of the desert nation.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong>Eddie 'found out' as Wallabies crash to 69-year low<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong>'Rude' F1 great blasted for 'cringe' Piastri moment<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong>'Real headache' for Bellamy as star races injury clock<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Former Liverpool<\/a> captain Jordan Henderson also joined the player exodus from Europe as he linked up with Al-Ettifaq FC, coached by another former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard.<\/p>\n

Henderson's move, though, more than most has attracted the ire of both human rights and LGBTQ+ groups in England, especially after his less-than warmly received interview with The Athletic<\/em> wherein he tried to justify the move.<\/p>\n

Henderson before his transfer was seen as an ally of the LGBTQ+ community which he expressed to the official Liverpool website in 2021.<\/p>\n

\"Jordan<\/p>\n

"I do believe when you see something that is clearly wrong and makes another human being feel excluded you should stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them," he said.<\/p>\n

"You also have a responsibility to educate yourself better around the challenges they experience."<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly Henderson has been criticised for his move to Saudi Arabia considering the very public stand he has taken alongside the LGBTQ+ community. Henderson justified his move was not money motivated and instead he was excited by the challenge that lay ahead in growing the league in Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

"People can believe me or not, but in my life and my career, money has never been a motivation. Ever. Don't get me wrong, when you move, the business deal has to be right," Henderson told The Athletic<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The question of whether we should hold our sporting idols to a higher standard when it comes to broader societal issues has been highlighted once again with the sudden movement of players to Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

\"Comedian<\/p>\n

England manager Gareth Southgate did not want to be drawn into the uncomfortable debate when quizzed on Henderson's inclusion in the recent England squad.<\/p>\n

"When Jordan phoned me about the likelihood he might be going there, we had an honest conversation. I said, 'We're going to have to map you against players playing in a different league and in a different level of competition and we're just going to have to see how that goes'," said Southgate when explaining his rationale.<\/p>\n

The contradictory nature of both Southgate and Henderson's actions will be rightly judged and analysed by critics, wherein the words that have been spoken by both individuals in support of the LGBTQ+ community have seemingly been overshadowed by monetary gains and an unwithering loyalty.<\/p>\n

The growing shadow of the Saudi Arabian Pro League will continue to challenge individual players and managers when it comes to the money vs morality debate.<\/p>\n

Individuals, though, that do publicly position themselves on issues such as LGBTQ+ rights must accept the criticism and realise what they say will be compared to their actions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Saudi Arabian Pro League was second only to the English Premier League when it came to player fees during the summer transfer window. Saudi […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":331971,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331969"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=331969"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331969\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":331974,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331969\/revisions\/331974"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/331971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=331969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=331969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=331969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}