Arsenal Football Club has faced great backlash after renewing their ongoing sponsorship deal with Visit Rwanda.
In the last few years the Gunners have enjoyed a strong financial partnership with Visit Rwanda, the company that now serves as their sleeve sponsor. The two parties have had an arrangement in place that sees Arsenal promote the company in exchange for an annual fee of £10 million.
Morally bankrupt?
However, a recent piece by Football.London has highlighted some of the glaring issues – from a morality point of view – that exists within their relationship.
The human rights abuses within the nation have been well documented with many noting just how poor Rwanda is as a country.
These problems have led to the Arsenal Supporters Trust issuing the following statement on the matter.
“The AST has questioned the morality of this commercial arrangement since it was first announced in 2018. Rwanda is one of the poorest countries in the world and is in receipt of foreign financial aid from many countries including the UK. On any grounds a deal such as this is hard to justify and claims of sportwashing by a regime that is coming under increasing scrutiny is difficult to refute.
“Disappointingly Arsenal appear to have lost its moral compass in its desire to maximise revenues and in the absence of any ESG [environmental, social and governance] framework at the club unpalatable deals such as this will remain unchecked.”
Alas, despite the outrage and the ongoing horrors of the current regime, it doesn’t look like anything will change anytime soon.
Featured image credit: Getty
