Calacus Weekly Hit & Miss – Awer Mabil & LIV Golf
Every week we look at the best and worst communicators in the sports world from the previous week.
HIT - AWER MABIL
Sport is an escape for billions of people around the world, inspiring and exciting in equal measure.
For some, it is more than an escape; a lifeline and an opportunity at securing a better life for a community in the poorest, most desperate parts of the world.
Awer Mabil fits into this category. Born in a refugee camp in Kenya after his family fled conflict in their native South Sudan, Mabil and his family survived on one meal a day and to deal with the boredom, he would kick a football around with fellow refugee children.
Out of adversity comes opportunity and a humanitarian programme helped around 70,000 refugees including Mabil’s family to resettle in Australia in 2006.
He arrived just in time to see the Socceroo’s’ golden generation of talent playing at the FIFA World Cup that year, with players such as Tim Cahill and Harry Kewell donning the famous yellow and green shirt.
He then developed his footballing talent enough to join Adelaide United as a teenager, before moving to Denmark's FC Midtjylland before currently going on loan to Turkish club Kasimpasa.
His first call-up to the national senior side came in 2018 but tragedy struck months later his 19-year-old sister, Bor, was killed in a car crash as Mabil was preparing to take to the field against the United Arab Emirates.
The driver had alcohol and MDMA in his system when he lost control at excessive speed, and was later jailed.
The pain that Mabil and his family have suffered is unimaginable but instead of tragedy breaking him, he has established himself as a mainstay in the national team squad, starring in Australia’s win over Peru in the Intercontinental play-offs which ensured their qualification for the FIFA World Cup in Qatar this winter.
He scored the decisive penalty in the 5-4 shootout win that booked the Socceroos’ place in the finals,
In the aftermath of the celebrations, Mabil was quick to remember his roots and how he ended up sending his country to their fifth consecutive World Cup finals. He facetimed his family immediately after getting back to the dressing room, who were all in tears of joy.
Mabil was interviewed after the game, emotional and proud of his journey, his penalty conversion a repayment for Australia taking him and his family out of the refugee camp.
He said: “I knew I was going to score. I was born in a hut, a little hut. Now I think I might have an impact on Australian football.
"We're going to the World Cup. I scored (the penalty), a lot of my team mates scored, we all played a part.
“My hotel room here is definitely bigger than the hut, the room we had as a family in that refugee camp.
"For Australia to take us in and resettle us, it gave me and my siblings and my whole family a chance at life, , that chance of opportunity they allowed my family."
"And yeah, maybe that refugee kid played a big part. So that's on behalf of my family just to say thank you to the whole of Australia.”.
Mabil has been a regular for the Socceroos under coach Graham Arnold and said he hoped what he had achieved would inspire other refugees.
Mabil's brother Awer Bul told the Adelaide Advertiser newspaper his family was overwhelmed with excitement and said: "To be a boy who was born in a refugee camp, it was quite a moving moment for our community. Just to see him walk out there for the Australian team gives us a good feeling."
Mabil has never forgotten his journey from the little boy in the refugee camp kicking rolled-up socks with other children, to going to his first World Cup. Indeed, he has his own foundation, Barefoot to Boots, which was set up in 2015.
He explained: “My aim is to make refugees’ lives easier, to make them realise more that their dreams can come true
“They [refugees] just want an opportunity to be seen and not be isolated.”
Opportunity for everyone in football regardless of background, gender or social status is vital for the growth of the beautiful game. Mabil was given his opportunity by Adelaide United to showcase his elite talent and has never looked back.
Off the pitch, he has worked to improve the lives of refugees has been relentless, and in 2018 he was honoured with the FIFPro Merit award and was handed a US$25,000 cheque from the World Footballers’ Association to continue his charity work.
He regularly visits Kakuma, the refugee camp where he was born, and in an interview with FIFA in 2020 said: “I take boots, football equipment and hospital equipment and donate them to the refugees there. If I have two weeks' holiday, I'll spend one week there and a week with my family."
As we said last week, representation has never been more important and seeing truly is believing.
For Mabil to shine a light on refugees and the problems they face, and leading his country to a World Cup, gives those other small children in refugee camps and in Australia hope. It is inspirational and Mabil is a role model and luckily not the only one.
Refugees making it to the professional game is becoming more common, with Bayern Munich’s Canadian defender Alphonso Davies and Real Madrid’s Eduardo Camavinga being the notable examples to draw out. Along with Mabil, these two high profile players are glowing examples of how out of adversity comes opportunity, and the power of football knows no bounds.
In April this year, as part of Football Welcomes Month, club foundations from the English game, from Premier League to grassroots clubs across the UK, put on events to welcome refugees and people seeking asylum. It was also to highlight the role that football can play in creating more welcoming communities. This is again another shining example of what sport can do to improve people’s lives, and to raise awareness for the disadvantaged in society.
Last week, FC Barcelona and the UN Refugee Agency partnered with the launch of a new football jersey and a pledge to support sports initiatives for refugee children on four continents. A football club the size of Barcelona, who also have had a partnership with UNICEF, is another positive step in using the power of sport to better society.
The story of Awer Mabil is a touching one, and his journey to the World Cup has been far from easy. But he is a walking reminder that never forgetting your roots, and being a role model for children in a similar situation goes a long way in securing a legacy.
MISS – LIV GOLF
It’s not that long ago that the entire football ecosystem felt under threat after proposals from some of the continent’s biggest football clubs to form a European Super League.
The uproar from fans was comprehensive and while there are still a trio who refuse to abandon the idea completely, the passionate response from stakeholders, who had not been consulted adequately in advance, killed the concept.
So it was with some irony that some of the biggest names in golf were mooted to be joining a so-called ‘World Tour’ with details initially sketchy about the format, participants or engagement with golf’s authorities.
When the proposals gained momentum, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monagan warned participants that they would face an instant suspension and a possible lifetime ban.
European Tour chief executive, Keith Pelley, also issued a statement condemning the proposals.
He said: “We are aligned with the PGA Tour in opposing, in the strongest possible terms, any proposal for an alternative golf league.
"Since the launch of our strategic alliance last November, our two organisations have been working together to make global golf less fractured and not create further division, with the interests of all players and fans at the forefront of our thinking."
But the stakes were upped when Greg Norman was announced as the event’s CEO and talk of a focus on the Asian Tour and “supporting emerging markets.”
Everything went quiet until just a few days before the inaugural event, held at the Centurion Club in Hertfordshire in early June, a venue notably unconnected to the DP World Tour (formerly the European Tour) featuring esteemed golfers such as Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Sergio García, Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Martin Kaymer.
Backed by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) which recently bought Newcastle United, cynics have suggested that the events, named LIV Golf, were another case of sports washing by a state keen to improve its image, particularly with its questionable human rights record and the high profile murder of journalist and critic Jamal Khashoggi.
Why would players risk damage to their reputations and their broader golf careers for the sake of a somewhat meaningless competition whose only attraction was the appearance or prize money on offer?
Less than two weeks ago, Bryson DeChambeau dismissed claims that he was set to join, saying it was a "risk" to leave the PGA Tour and one he wasn't prepared to make but he has now changed his mind.
He said: "It was a business decision first and foremost and that's all there was to it. It’s given me a lot more opportunity outside of the game of golf and given me more time with my family and my future family. So for me, that was the decision.”
At least he was honest that money talks.
But as the event got underway, so many mis-steps underlined – once again – the need for robust communications planning to ensure that, even in the world of cynical and somewhat conservative media, the event got off to as positive a start as possible.
That Alan Shipnuck, who wrote an unauthorised biography of Mickelson which quoted the American of calling Saudi Arabia “scary mother------s,” was heavy-handedly ejected from a press conference was not a good look.
Especially when he then contacted Norman, who claimed to know nothing about it. This is despite photos later emerging of him watching from nearby, as Shipnuck later tweeted.
That was the second fractious moment for the media after esteemed Associated Press journalist Rob Harris was temporarily ejected for trying to ask the difficult questions about ethics and sports washing, which LIV’s team clearly did not want to address.
Curiously, Norman refused to do interviews himself, reinforcing the ‘PR disaster’ narrative the event has attracted.
Later on, some of the top golfers who were put up for media interviews seemed unprepared and uncomfortable with questions about the morality of taking part in a Saudi-backed event, which was compared to appearing in an event for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Norman later proclaimed that: "The evolution of the game has arrived. Golf was always going to be a force of good out of all this." How that manifests itself is anyone’s guess.
Having hired a former George W Bush communications adviser, why had LIV Golf not briefed the players, rather than letting them face the ire of the media in much the same way as Eddie Howe, the Newcastle manager, has to tackle questions about human rights and geo politics while the PIF executives hide from media scrutiny.
No wonder the PGA Tour started suspending Saudi-signed players within minutes of the first tee shot – which LIV Golf instantly claimed was “vindictive.”
But the fact that the DP World Tour has yet to confirm its own position since the event also raises questions about whether there will be a collaborative response that puts other top golfers off leaving the tours for LIV’s riches.
The PGA Tour has not clarified how long its ban will last, nor is it clear what impact it will have on future US Opens, although the USGA’s chief executive, Mike Whan, said during the US Open, where LIV Golf was as much a topic of conversation as the competition at the Brookline Country Club, that says LIV golfers could face ban from future tournaments.
The event was also lacking a wide audience, with reports of tickets being given away and with no television deal in place, relied on a live stream on YouTube, which barely got over 100,000 views – which is small given the names taking part and the purse being paid.
Mickelson had to defend his decision to play after advocacy group 9/11 Families United sent an open letter condemning their participation: “Do not insult our loved one’s memories and take the pathetic position, as one of your foreign colleagues did last week, claiming you are ‘just golfers playing a game’ or blandly treating the evils of the Saudi regime as ‘human rights’ concerns.
“You are all Americans, keenly aware of the death and destruction of September 11. Whether it was the appeal of millions of dollars of hard cash, or just the opportunity to prosecute your professional grievances with the PGA [Tour], you have sold us out. This is a betrayal not only of us, but of all your countrymen.”
It has been left to Rory McIlroy, who denounced the event last year over ethical concerns about the origin of its funding, to lead the criticism at Brookline.
McIlroy summed it all up when he said: "It's the cloud that's hanging over golf at the minute. We're at a major and it's what everyone wants to talk about. It's on everyone's mind
“This is one of the biggest tournaments and the conversation is filled with something out of leftfield.
"These [majors] will always be the biggest tournaments in the world and no amount of money will change that and that's a great thing."
"Those crowds on Sunday in Canada, LIV's never going to have that. Last week meant something. What they're doing over there doesn't mean anything apart from collecting a ton of money so I'm proud of the show we put on. It's the competitive integrity - you're up against the best."
And a penny for Matt Fitzpatrick-s thoughts - the Englishman won his first major at the US Open last weekend and the honour and prestige that goes with such a victory undoubtedly meant much more than the cash on offer to golfers through LIV Sport.
One of golf’s greatest rivalries, the Ryder Cup, could also be at risk, further underlines the problems LIV Golf’s emergence has created.
Spanish golfer Jon Rahm said: “The Ryder Cup is the biggest attraction the game has to bring new people in. I hope we don't lose the essence and the aspect that the Ryder Cup is. That's one of my biggest concerns.”
LIV Golf could have taken a collaborative approach, engaged in positive conversations with the DP World Tour and PGA Tour - and at least have done more to communicate the positive vision it has never really articulated.
Rather than the misdirected trope they came out with about “growing the game”, LIV Golf was nothing more than a trolley dash for cash. It leaves the great game of golf embroiled in avoidable controversy and facing an existential crisis like never before.