Much more to sport than POTS OF GOLD
IF at first you don’t succeed, just spend more and more money. We got a proper glimpse into global sport’s brave new world last week. Granted, some things will remain the same. Such as Ronnie O’Sullivan winning snooker tournaments.
The seven-time world champion swept Luca Brecel aside to claim the inaugural World Masters of Snooker on Wednesday night. Both O’Sullivan and Brecel said all the right things about their Saudi hosts, speaking in glowing terms. They are even planning a Ronnie O’Sullivan snooker academy in Riyadh, and perhaps moving the game’s World Championship from the Crucible in Sheffield to the desert might be part of its longer-term plans.
The tournament had made the headlines last month when the organisers hit upon the gimmick of a ‘golden ball’. A ball, hopefully not of pure gold, that was worth 20 points and a players would get the chance to pot if they had produced a normal maximum. Nobody got the chance to pot it this time out. Maximums are extremely rare in snooker — at the best of times.
So, Turki Al-Sheikh — the chair of the country’s General Entertainment Authority — announced that the prize for the golden ball would be doubled for next year’s tournament and would now be worth €1million. O’Sullivan, playing the shill, proclaimed ‘wow!’ because money is what sport is about ultimately — or at least, that is what Saudi is banking on.
It’s not accurate to say that the eyes of the entire sporting world were fixed on Saudi Arabia last week — there were the small matters of Klopp against Pep at Anfield yesterday and Saturday’s drama in Twickenham — but they will have garnered enough attention to be pretty pleased with themselves.
TURKI Al-Sheikh had a busy few days. In the early hours of Saturday morning in Riyadh, he was ringside as Anthony Joshua knocked out MMA fighter Francis Ngannou, who was in only his second professional boxing bout. The second-round KO of Ngannou led Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn declare that his fighter is the best heavyweight in the world, an absurd assertion given Oleksandr Usyk has out-boxed him twice.
But in the flashy, sterile sporting landscape that Saudi riches are constructing in the desert, surface is all that matters. Don’t dig too deep, that’s just for oilwells, it is all about how good something looks. And that was the same for the Formula 1 Grand Prix that they hosted hours after Joshua’s win — which was won, of course, by Max Verstappen.
Over a few days last week, if you were paying attention, you might have seen the future of global sport. And a lot of it will be based out in the Passion: Shels versus Bohs last Friday night desert Kingdom, it seems. But the thing that the Saudis are discovering is that you can’t manufacture genuine fan culture and passion.
Sure, Ronnie O’Sullivan can say all the right things in Turki AlSheikh’s company and suggest that the atmosphere was blinding for a snooker tournament but the evidence of our eyes contradicts that — the handful of spectators in the auditorium for the opening match. Even the star power of Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema has done little to bring the crowds to Saudi Premier League games. Those in attendance for Friday’s fight card complained that the atmosphere was flat and dull.
And all of this does matter if the Saudis are going to continue their takeover of sport, which will likely culminate in the 2034 World Cup. As much as the country claims to be modernising and becoming more progressive, it is still a repressive state that beheaded 81 people in one day last year, where homosexuality remains a crime and punishable
by chemical castration and where women — who have been allowed to drive since 2018 — are still second-class citizens. I didn’t notice too many women in the crowd for the snooker last week, for example, and one wondered what many of those in attendance did think of a female referee for the final.
To remind myself of what sport is supposed to be about, I ambled over to Dalymount Park on Friday night. Bohemians’ home games are becoming quite the social event in Phibsboro. There was around 4,500 in the old stadium and even though Bohs were playing poorly, the atmosphere was cracking — until Shelbourne got two late goals.
It was a worrying performance from Bohemians, who played as if they were 11 strangers in the first-half — it was no great surprise the club parted ways with manager Declan Devine yesterday. Bohs were in stark contrast to Shels, who look so wellcoached under Damien Duff. The small travelling support who made the short trip owned this particular night on the northside. In the domes- tic game’s upsurge in popularity over the past few years, Bohemians have been the poster-club. Their social initiatives and climate justice work show that a football club can be used for the greater good — the friendly they have organised between their women’s team and Palestine on May 15 is a prime example of that. It has given the club the biggest profile in the league and they recently featured in The New York Times.
Of course, no matter how well things are going off the field, football remains a results-driven business. And there’s no getting away from the fact that Bohs are struggling this season, the only bright spot being a win in Inchicore. And now they are facing the real prospect of being mired in a relegation battle at a time when the club are at the peak of their popularity.
And this is what was concerning locals as they digested Friday night’s game in The Hut and other ale houses around Phibsboro. But that the fortunes of Bohemians are a major topic of conversation in these places is down to the work that the club has done. They have rubbed people up the wrong way, but they have also shown how sport can be used for the greater good.
And that sort of culture is hard to replicate. It has to be an organic thing. Can’t be manufactured. Can’t be bought, which is what Turki Al-Sheikh and the Saudi General Entertainment Authority has started to find out. Not that it’s likely to stop them throwing more of their millions at it.