Jordan Henderson’s Saudi Arabia move condemned by Liverpool LGBT+ fans as star urged to ‘stand by your words’
Jordan Henderson was seen as an LGBT+ ally when speaking out on injustices and advocating inclusion as Liverpool captain wearing a rainbow armband.
“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,” the Premier League and Champions League winner wrote in Liverpool match day programme notes in 2021.
“You also have a responsibility to educate yourself better around the challenges they experience.
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“That’s where my own position on homophobia in football is rooted.”
It’s a stance that seems conflicted to Liverpool LGBT+ fans’ group Kop Outs as it urged him not to move to Saudi Arabia, saying they were appalled by the planned transfer.
“He was portraying himself as aligned with respect for women and LGBT+ rights,” said Kop Outs founder Paul Amann.
“That has been severely tarnished by looking to jump ship to a regime that has none of those values at its core.
“And it leaves us questioning the authenticity of any of his former commitments. That tarnishes him entirely as a person but not as a player.”
The England vice-captain had also expressed shock over Qatar’s human rights record before the World Cup.
Rights activists denounce Saudi Arabia as a repressive regime where freedoms are supressed and full equality is far from being guaranteed for women.
Saudi sports minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal told Sky News last year that gay fans would be welcome at sports events there and they are “working towards a better future”.
It is a future reshaping the image of the kingdom by investing heavily in sport, particularly football and golf, and a move to diversify the economy away from oil.
And hundreds of millions of pounds are being spent on footballers, an influx started by Cristiano Ronaldo at the start of the year.
Henderson is joining state-owned Al-Ettifaq, the club managed by his former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard.
The 33-year-old had initially rebuffed the approach but it seems it was too lucrative to turn down, with reports he will triple his current £200,000 a week salary.
Scotland international Jack Hendry has also joined this week.
But one player maybe not joining the lucrative exodus to Saudi is Kylian Mbappe.
The Frenchman was the target of a world record €300m (£257m) bid this week by Al Hilal.
But it’s reported he has rejected a move to Saudi with Paris Saint-Germain believing he has set his sights on joining Real Madrid for free next summer.
It is a rare rebuffing of the riches on offer with Saudi Arabia the major disruptor in sport, with Henderson the first English star to join their lavishly-funded state football project.