International Politics, Morality and English Football
Consider the following: you’re a fanatical supporter of a sports club that has a storied past, with a history of fantastic success on the field, but your club has, as a result of poor management and other issues, struggled recently to field a competitive team. Moreover, your most hated–and cross-town–rival has seemingly won every championship in sight over the last two decades.
Suppose, further, that the answer to your club’s dreams, in the form of a new owner with very deep pockets, who is committed to competing dollar-for-dollar and pound-for-pound with your rival suddenly appears on the scene. Prayers answered? Maybe. What if the owner’s money, though, is tainted?
The club at the heart of this issue is Manchester City, and the new Mr. Moneybags is former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who has been accused of, among other things selling his family’s shares in
one of Thailand’s biggest telecom groups, Shin Corp. The sale, which netted family members and others $1.9bn, angered many urban Thais, who complained that the family avoided paying tax and passed control of an important national asset to Singaporean investors.
My friend and fellow U. of Richmond professor, Thad Williamson, is a fervent Man City supporter and has set up a blog dedicated to covering the travails of the English Premiership’s newest owner and the moral issues attendant to that ownership. If you’re interested in the nexus between politics, morality, and sport, then go and have a look at Professor Willamson’s blog.
Update: Here is the stand of the renowned human rights NGO, Human Rights Watch, on the whole Thaksin-Manchester City issue:
In the case of Mr. Thaksin, we have condemned the coup that ousted Mr. Thaksin from power last September and continue to be critical of the military-backed government. However, our research and that of other credible organizations shows that Mr. Thaksin’s time in office from 2001 to 2006 was characterized by numerous extrajudicial executions, “disappearances,” illegal abductions, arbitrary detentions, torture and other mistreatment of persons in detention, and attacks on media freedoms.
Sounds like a real sweetheart.
