The English Premier League has agreed to Amnesty International’s request to discuss revising the owners’ and directors’ test, after the Saudi takeover of Newcastle United. The Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund acquired the majority stake in the club based in the county of Tyne and Wear in northeastern England.
Premier League’s Chief Executive Richard Masters agreed to meet with Amnesty, a fortnight after the human rights organisation asked for a meeting over its proposals. Its proposal urges the league to make the test human-rights compliant.
The current owners’ test applies to every individual named as having a direct role in controlling a Premier League club. However, it does not make any mention of human rights. Last weekend Crystal Palace fans raised a banner condemning the test and the decision to approve the Saudi deal.
The CEO of Amnesty International UK Sacha Deshmukh said, “We’re obviously pleased that the Premier League is willing to talk about these proposals as a starting point for what we hope will be a process that leads to considerable strengthening of the rules on football governance.”
Deshmukh said, “The current rules concerning who owns and runs English football clubs are woefully inadequate, with no bar on ownership for those complicit in acts of torture, slavery, human trafficking or even war crimes. The Saudi buyout of Newcastle United always looked like an attempt to sports-wash Saudi Arabia’s appalling human rights record with the glamour and prestige of the Premier League and top-flight football.”
He said, “We’re keen to discuss with Richard Masters our ideas for a human rights-compliant owners’ and directors’ test which can help weed out unsuitable owners complicit in human rights violations, as well as reducing sports-washing and generally improving governance within the game.”
New test “would not make EPL some sort of outlier”
The owners’ and directors’ test covers a limited scope of criteria, primarily possible conflicts of interest and criminal convictions. Earlier last year, Amnesty commissioned David Chivers QC of Erskine Chambers to devise a revised test, which would broaden its scope to make it consistent with FIFA’s statutes. The rulings commit the game’s governing body to “respecting all internationally recognised human rights and … to promote the protection of these rights”.
Chivers wrote, “A change to the Owners’ and Directors’ Test to incorporate a reference to human rights would not make the Premier League some sort of outlier. Rather, it would see the Premier League brought into line with modern expectations of corporate governance and responsibility.”
