sportswashing

English

Etymology 1

sports +‎ -wash +‎ -ing

Noun

sportswashing

1. The use of sporting events to improve a polity's reputation, especially to distract from human rights abuses.
   • 2015, Caroline Christie, “Human Rights Abuses and the European Games in Azerbaijan”, in Vice:

     From the 2016 European Formula 1 Grand Prix, matches at football's 2020 European Championship, and now the European Games, Azerbaijan is practicing sportswashing – using major sporting events as a way of diverting attention from human rights violations.

   • 2018, César Jiménez-Martínez, Michael Skey, “How repressive states and governments use 'sportswashing' to remove stains on their reputation”, in The Conversation:

     By taking this line are we as sports fans not also complicit in this sportswashing?

   • 2019 Felix Jakens, quoted in Sean Ingle, "'They want the money': the real reason boxing is going to Saudi Arabia", The Guardian

     The fight is pure sportswashing and that's why it’s so important to challenge the Saudi propaganda machine and its increased use of sport to gloss over its abysmal human rights record.

   • 2020 Hatice Cengiz, quoted in Stephanie Kirchgaessner, "Khashoggi fiancee: stop Saudi takeover of Newcastle United or be complicit", The Guardian

     I trust the Premier League and British authorities value their own principles and reputation above this transparent attempt at sports-washing

   • 2023 July 12, Adrian Chiles, “Is anyone convinced by Saudi sportswashing? Only the crooks who sell fake football strips”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:

     There is this assumption that sportswashing works, especially with football fans. I suspect there is a bit of a class thing going on here – as in, we are all thought gullible enough to have our awareness of the Saudis’ human rights record washed clean out of our simple minds.

Coordinate terms

• greenwashing
• pinkwashing
• purplewashing

 

Related terms

• sportswashed (adj)
• sportswash (n. , v.)

 

Etymology 2

sportswash +‎ -ing

Verb

sportswashing

1. present participle and gerund of sportswash