Sometimes actions speak louder than words.
BBC SPORT
It is not yet two years since Jordan Henderson wrote some 900 words in the Liverpool matchday programme, professing his support of Stonewall’s Rainbow Laces campaign.
“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 Reds captain wrote.
They were words that solidified Henderson’s status as an ally for the LGBTQ+ community. Today, they seem empty to some, leaving that same community wondering if there was ever any truth in what he wrote, after the England international joined the exodus to Saudi Arabia in signing a three-year deal at Al-Ettifaq.
To his critics, his actions seem empty too, accepting a deal that will bring him an astonishing payday – a reported £700,000 per week – in a nation where the very people he claims to support are persecuted just for being who they are.
Same-sex sexual activity is illegal in Saudi Arabia, with the death penalty a possible punishment. There have also been “consistent reports of discrimination and violence” against LGBTQ+ people in the country, according to Human Rights Watch.
That Henderson would actively choose to move to Saudi Arabia has left some fans, such as Reds supporter Keith Spooner, feeling “gutted”.
“On a personal level, I can understand there’s financial reasons, there’s personal reasons, there’s game time, but I think as an advocate or an ally of people who are LGBT, whether it’s in sport or life, there are knock-ons, repercussions of your actions, and his decision to go to Saudi Arabia and play there has definitely tarnished his reputation,” he told BBC Sport.
In December 2020, Spooner – who came out as gay at the age of 17 – was “completely caught off-guard” when Henderson replied to a tweet in which the Reds fan told his club’s captain how his wearing of a rainbow armband – often done to support LGBTQ+ causes – had “meant the world”.
Henderson told Spooner he would never walk alone – in a nod to Liverpool’s anthem – in a tweet that has been liked by almost 30,000 people.
It is that same rainbow armband that is desaturated from colour to black and white for much of the promotional video Al-Ettifaq released announcing their new signing’s arrival.
“Was that message an actual value that Jordan actually believed? Was it something that Liverpool Football Club believed? Or is it just a tick-box exercise?” said Spooner, 27.
“It’s getting to the stage where it’s getting harder and harder to see whether or not these campaigns actually have value, or whether it is the case that these people are being told to make this comment or put out this tweet.”
He added: “The fact that he has now decided to move to Saudi, [given] their attitude to people like me, it does feel like part of what he would have said or previously spoken about in the past wasn’t of true value, it wasn’t the case that he truly believed it, so that’s the big disappointment for me.”
