Jordan Henderson’s unveiling video had already caused controversy with the rainbow-colored armband blurred out, with fans further upset by the spelling errors that were visible.
The typos are as follows: “The hometown hero turned into a global star, a leader who isnpires his teammates,” “the midfielder who made long-awaited sucess happen,” and “someone who runs toward fresh challanges rather than shys away.”
One of the fans noted that the people associated with Al-Ettifaq were far too busy focusing on the rainbow-colored armband instead of proofreading the accompanying text.
With most believing that players are accepting transfers to Saudi Arabia only for the payday, this video would not have helped the efforts to get the Saudi Pro League taken seriously in the rest of the world.
If the addition of the English words and voice-over was an attempt to make the midfielder feel welcome, it is safe to say that has failed.
It is surprising, given the amount of money involved in the deal, that no one in the Saudi side’s PR department saw fit to spend on someone who would get the spellings right.
There is already a bucketload of controversy surrounding Saudi Arabia, given their questionable human rights record and now, a Saudi Pro League team acquired a player who was a vocal supporter of the LGBT community.
Henderson had written in his programme notes as Liverpool captain for a game against Southampton in November 2021, that he believed that seeing anything that excluded any human being requires a show of solidarity, as reported by The Athletic.
He added, in the same programme, that it was necessary to listen to, support, and make things better for those who are part of the LGBT community as they are forced to hide parts of their personality for the sake of acceptance.
Henderson is far from the only professional to tread the path to the Saudi Pro League but his chosen destination has earmarked him for the ire of those he supported.
