Team New Zealand has found itself back in the headlines, with the announcement that one of the pre-America's Cup regattas will be held in the Saudi Arabian port city of Jeddah. With American Magic refusing to race there, The Detail takes a closer look at the issue of sportswashing and why Team New Zealand risks losing the hearts and minds of its loyal fan base.
Team New Zealand flight controller Blair Tuke lifts the America's Cup after the 2021 win. Photo: ACE | Studio Borlenghi
Team New Zealand's pre-America's Cup regatta in Saudi Arabia has started sinking with the refusal of the New York Yacht Club's entry, American Magic, to race in Jeddah.
The team says it's too dangerous for Americans to sail an open water regatta in a place marked by the US State Department as a terror risk.
It's applied to the America's Cup arbitration panel to be excused without penalty, under Article 71.6 of the Cup Protocol.
This blow comes on top of discontent within New Zealand's yachting fraternity after the regatta we won, on home waters in 2021, was moved to Spain.
On The Detail we ask, in chasing the money, is Team New Zealand losing the country?
Human rights groups - and Kiwi sailors - are angry one of the preliminary regattas has gone to a country known for sports-washing its way out of human rights abuses - using vast sums of money to lure sports events and stars with offers they can't ignore.
Team New Zealand boss Grant Dalton has said the event will be good for the sport, and that Saudi Arabia is making progress dealing with certain issues.
That hasn't gone down well with Middle East expert Leon Goldsmith, who is a senior lecturer in the subject at the University of Otago.
Team New Zealand boss Grant Dalton. Photo: Photosport Ltd
"I'm sorry Grant, but it's either highly naive or slightly arrogant to think that having a yachting race in the Red Sea, opposite the unfolding catastrophe in Sudan and Yemen famine, and shaking hands with this person [defacto ruler Muhammad bin Salman] who has very clear blood on his hands....who's using who in this situation?"
Goldsmith is not surprised American Magic has pulled out - and says the move shows Team New Zealand is taking significant risks in aligning itself with the regime of Muhammad bin Salman.
He says Team New Zealand wouldn't be accused of racism or discrimination if it pulled out now - and it would send a strong signal to the Saudis that they can't purchase their 'get out of jail free' card.
But he cautions we need to be careful about general criticism of a country run on very different cultural lines to ours, and should stick to bringing up specific incidents where the perpetrators should be brought before international courts, instead of being swept under the table.
In particular, the death of Washington Post reporter and US resident Jamal Khashoggi, killed by Saudi assassins inside the Saudi embassy in Turkey, for criticising the regime.
The Detail also speaks to Jim Farmer, who's long been involved with the America's Cup and was Team New Zealand's director from 2004 to 2013.
A vocal critic of Grant Dalton's decision to move away from hosting the Cup in Auckland, he's horrified by the Jeddah move.
He's told the Commodore of the cup holder, the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron (RNZYS), that the New York Yacht Club's decision not to compete in Jeddah is one that the club should adopt for its own members.
He wants the squadron to claw back some decision making from Team New Zealand, saying the RNZYS is shedding members because of its moves.
Farmer was at a meeting of the squadron when Dalton told them one of the pre-Cup regattas would be in Auckland - a promise that has been broken.
Team New Zealand is right now calling for applications from women to sail in America's Cup regattas leading up to the main event next year - a move Farmer says makes the whole Jeddah decision so bizarre.
"It's just an immoral decision for the team to have an America's Cup in Jeddah, and contrasts with the very good things Team NZ are otherwise doing," he says.
We contacted Team New Zealand for comment, but got no response before our deadline.
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