Why Liverpool Football Club should reconsider its Sponsorship Deal with Standard Charter – which has publicly endorsed Hong Kong’s repressive and brutal National Security Law

Jul 30, 2022 | News

For Liverpool John Moore’s University’s Citizenship Foundation I once hosted a brilliant Roscoe Lecture at Liverpool Cathedral by LFC Manager the late Gerard Houllier on the role that a great football team can play in developing a sense of citizenship, ethics and civic pride.

I’ve also seen what LFC’s success means to the city of Liverpool (even the blue half!) and I’m proud that the club and the city share important values such as solidarity, community and strength in adversity.

But I fear that these values are now under threat.

Hong Kong’s National Security Law has allowed the Chinese Communist Party’s Hong Kong authorities to brutally crackdown on all forms of protest and to further destroy the ‘two systems, one country’ agreement that was so valued by Hongkongers who believed in freedom and democracy.

The NSL has been used to imprison most of Hong Kong’s political opposition, including 53 of the city’s most prominent pro-democracy politicians and activists. I personally know some of these courageous men and women who have been jailed or arrested. They include young people, barristers and lawyers, journalists and Hong Kong’s Cardinal.

In June 2020, Standard Chartered issued a public statement of support for the NSL, stating its belief that the law “can help maintain the long term economic and social stability of Hong Kong,”. This statement lent a veneer of legitimacy to the NSL and the subsequent brutal crackdown.

Those at Liverpool FC, who continue to truly believes in its core values, must end its sponsorship arrangement with Standard Chartered or risk being the latest depressing example of sports washing.