European Tour fans deserve more credit as Saudi return revealed

Remember when the European Tour got pelters from the sporting world for deciding to hold an event in Saudi Arabia?

Remember when a handful of the game’s biggest names, including winner Dustin Johnson, were annihilated on social media for accepting huge payouts to play in Saudi Arabia?

Remember when Carly Booth was criticised for accepting a sponsorship deal from the golf federation in Saudi Arabia?

So does Keith Pelley.

But the European Tour’s chief executive says he is “perplexed” by the criticism received for the inaugural Saudi International in January of this year before announcing the event will return in 2020.

Pelley told Reuters:

It was the right decision for our tour.

Which translates to:

We took the money.

He added:

We will be back in Saudi and we’ll continue to grow that event. We believe our role will help the evolution of the country.

Let’s reiterate that final point:

We believe our role will help the evolution of the country.

And one more time for those at the back:

We believe our role will help the evolution of the country.

Pelley must be a fan of [your rival football club here] because I am struggling to remember such flagrant delusion from anyone involved in sport.

But Pelley doesn’t really believe a country with a human rights record as atrocious as Saudi Arabia’s is going to suddenly change their ways because Ian Poulter shows up for four days every year to entertain everyone before shoving a humongous cheque in his back pocket.

Guys, can we postpone these brutal murders for a few days? Bryson DeChambeau has 125 yards in and the wind’s just picked up a bit. What will he do, what WILL he do?

Pelley’s disingenuous approach is only backed up by his examples of other sporting stars and celebrities that have visited Saudi Arabia since the killing of American-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the country’s Turkish embassy last October.

He said:

After the incident, many blue-chip businesses and many governments continued to do business in Saudi, the entertainment business is still flourishing.

“There was the Italian Super Cup with AC Milan and Juventus (in January) and Ronaldo scored the winning goal and celebrated, and we tried to find any kind of criticism for Ronaldo, yet our players were criticised.

“Why was golf singled out? I was perplexed why we were.

He added:

I went over there first and listened to his Excellency (Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman) at a sports conference, talk about how the country wanted to change, needed to change, wanted to use sports as a catalyst, was committed to golf.

Ignoring the whataboutery (clue: football clubs and singers like money too), it is desperately frustrating to hear Pelley talk like this about an obvious PR stunt from a country’s regime clearly bidding to cover up its horrendous crimes.

In this instance, the European Tour has chosen its bank account over its fans – and Pelley must understand that he has to accept criticism coming his way when he makes these decisions. If you chase the cash, you face the consequences.

The fans deserve more credit than they are getting.