Garry Doyle

A YEAR AGO, Jack Dunne, the former Ireland underage international, came out as bisexual.

It was a brave move, a young man going public with the most private of matters. Yet he did it with the genuine hope that it may assist vulnerable teenagers struggling with their own sexuality. “If it helps one person, well it’s worth it,” he said.

You couldn’t fail to have the fullest respect for his moral backbone, how a 23-year-old with something of a public profile, was prepared to open himself up to a potential backlash from homophobes in order to assist strangers.

Here is a value system you can identify easily with, in complete contrast to, say, the FIFA decision-makers who voted to send this year’s World Cup to Qatar.

“What kind of message are they (FIFA) sending by doing something like that?” Dunne responded when he was asked about the issue earlier this year. “I saw they tweeted in favour of pride month.

“When that happened, my thoughts were, ‘right, it is great to send a tweet and stuff, but if your actions are completely contrary to the tweet’s message then clearly you are following where the money is’.

“Unfortunately that is way the world seems to work. I’d be really disappointed if World Rugby ever decided to host a tournament in a country where there are really bad conditions for groups of people.”

Martin Anayi, the URC chief executive. Dan Sheridan / INPHO Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO

On Tuesday Dunne’s fears came closer to a grim realisation when the United Rugby Championship (URC), a competition he played five matches in for Leinster last season, announced a three-year sponsorship deal with Qatar Airways, a state owned airline.

Before we get to the point where the URC’s chief executive, Martin Anayi, mentioned about Qatar being interested in rugby’s ‘values’, let’s redirect you to the site of Amnesty International, and their section of human rights abuse.

It’s a grim read. Their headline statement alone on their 2021/22 report on Qatar is damning: “Despite government reforms, migrant workers continued to face labour abuses and struggled to change jobs freely. Curtailment of freedom of expression increased in the run-up to FIFA World Cup 2022. Women and LGBTI people continued to face discrimination in law and practice.”

Delve a little deeper and this is what Amnesty writes about Qatar’s attitude to women.

“Under the guardianship system, women remained tied to their male guardian, usually their father, brother, grandfather or uncle, or for married women, to their husband. Women continued to need their guardian’s permission for key life decisions to marry, study abroad on government scholarships, work in many government jobs, travel abroad until certain ages, and receive some forms of reproductive healthcare.”

And here is what Amnesty’s Report outlines about the Qatar state’s attitude to same-sex sexual conduct between men. “Under the Penal Code, it is punishable by up to seven years’ imprisonment.”

Let’s skip back now to Tuesday’s press conference when Anayi was asked about Qatar’s record on human rights abuse.

“The question around the workers in the stadiums, we’ve had conversations around it and it’s really important to us that sport is a way of communicating proper values,” he said.

“Rugby is new to Doha, to Qatar, they’re really interested in the values of rugby, in that team ethos and what they could potentially look at as communicating things that they are interested in doing, the community aspect.

“We’ve delved into it, it’s a good platform to be vocal and we want people to say their opinion. We want to use it in a positive way.”

Those words are as shallow as Graeme McDowell suggesting golf was a force for good as he justified his reasons for switching to the Saudi-backed, LIV tour. After a sustained public backlash, McDowell later confessed the deal was financially a great opportunity ‘for me and my family’.

McDowell at the LIV press conference. PA PA

What grates with sports fans is when they’re treated for fools, when it is clear that the reason commercial deals are struck comes down to finance. So, when words like ‘values’ are bandied around, it irks, as hardly anyone believes the presence of a rugby ball will influence government decisions in any country, least of all a state like Qatar.

Better come out and admit that they did the deal because the sport needs a cash injection.

Yet even if there was an urgent need for finance, you cannot compromise your principles to this degree because if ‘rugby values’ mean anything, it is that you hold yourself to a higher account.  

Since the announcement of the Qatar Airways deal, fans have reacted with disdain. Read the comments section of The42’s report on the story and see for yourself.

“If players and coaches and teams don’t want to go by Doha, they don’t have to,” said Anayi.

That was the best statement he made all day.

And it needs to be backed up. Not one player uncomfortable with the Qatari government’s policies should be forced to travel there; nor should a match be scheduled for the oil-rich state unless their government engages in meaningful reform.

You see that’s how a ‘community’ works. In fact, you could say, that’s what rugby’s values look like.