Phil Hay: Financial gains outweighed by yet more negative PR from Leeds United

Football clubs profess to have no politics but political support can be given by proxy.
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And even if Leeds United’s friendlies in Burma do nothing for the profile of the ruling government, there is still the question of motive.

Like it or not, they are travelling to a country accused of ethnic cleansing with the intention of making money and supporters from it. It is not the best look.

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Leeds United's Burma tour provokes question of ethics
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It was never going to be the best look but Leeds and Andrea Radrizzani, for the past five months, have been walking into these scrapes. There is no support at Elland Road for the regime accused of murdering and displacing thousands of Rohingya Muslims but a tour of Burma is an association with Burma. Leeds would be the first English club to play there in 80 years.

There is a reason why.

The motivation is financial and no-one should think otherwise. Were a warm-weather training camp an actual necessity, Leeds would not be flying 13 hours to a Far Eastern state with limited facilities and political tensions. Were this solely about the Leeds United brand, some thought would surely have been given to the headlines provoked by a decision to tour there.

Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizzani.
 (Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe)Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizzani.
 (Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe)
Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizzani. (Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe)

Leeds are late to the game when it comes to tapping into the Asian market but they have strayed to the hinterlands immediately by taking 
their very first stab at it in Burma.

Even the immediate pay-off for the club is hard to gauge. Tickets for their friendlies are selling at a top price of £1.50.

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There is much intertwined here: Radrizzani with links to U Zaw Zaw, the billionaire sponsoring the games and who seems to control Burma’s football structure; Radrizzani with his TV rights firm, Eleven Sports, which already makes money in that part of the world; Aser, his investment company, organising the trip as part of its “on-going commitment to partnerships in the region.” Whose tour is it anyway and after a season which has dropped off a cliff, was this the right use of time and attention? There were enough challenges at Leeds without adding Burma to the list.