{"id":633215,"date":"2026-09-23T06:32:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T06:32:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/633215\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T06:32:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T06:32:16","slug":"have-some-humanity-diogo-jota-chants-at-ruben-neves-a-wake-up-call-for-saudi-arabia-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/633215\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Have some humanity\u2019: Diogo Jota chants at R\u00faben Neves a wake-up call for Saudi Arabia \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The good thing about Cristiano Ronaldo<\/a> playing in your league is that he is one of the most famous footballers ever, and when he scores a great goal, or reaches the 1,000-goal mark (just 21 to go), many people watch.<\/p>\n

The bad thing about Cristiano Ronaldo playing in your league is that when something negative happens and he is involved, just as many people will watch and listen. Global attention is something that the big European leagues have had for years, but it is something the Saudi Pro League, which has spent billions in search of achieving a similar stature, needs to get used to.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, September 13th, Ronaldo wrote to his 680 million Instagram followers to discuss the events of the night before, when Al-Taawoun supporters were coming to terms with a 6-0 home thrashing by Al-Hilal, whose \u00a3150-million-plus forward line, Ollie Watkins and Gabriel Martinelli, got five between them. Fair to say that some handled it better than others, as what followed was in the worst possible taste.<\/p>\n

After the game, what seemed to be a small number of fans saw Al-Hilal\u2019s R\u00faben Neves in the centre circle and started chanting the name of his former Portugal and Wolves team-mate Diogo Jota<\/a>, who died in a car crash in July 2025. Neves, who has a tattoo in tribute to the Liverpool star, was visibly upset and gestured to the sky, as if to say \u201cGod is watching you\u201d. He later told reporters: \u201cI hope they don\u2019t go to pray afterwards.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CristianoCristiano Ronaldo wears a jersey in tribute to former team-mate Diogo Jota after Portugal’s win over Croatia at the 2026 World Cup. Photograph: Buda Mendes\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

Ronaldo then weighed in. \u201cThe league must take action and punish this kind of fan behaviour,\u201d he wrote. \u201cThis is no longer football, and there have to be limits. People who behave \u200clike this should never be allowed to enter a stadium again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Al-Hilal made an official complaint. This was a big story.<\/p>\n

\u201cI found the chants hard to believe, but those responsible were few in number and very young,\u201d says Ayman al-Hotami, a content creator who supports Al-Hilal.<\/p>\n

\u201cAl-Hilal\u2019s fan base completely condemn the chants and demanded an apology regarding the actions of individuals in their stands. We appreciate the club\u2019s response in condemning this isolated incident, which represents neither the club nor our society.\u201d<\/p>\n

Away from home, in small stadiums with low attendances, as is often the case when the big teams play outside Jeddah and Riyadh, the chants of a few can carry far. More than once, Ronaldo has heard the name of a certain Argentinian star fired his way. The Jota chants, though, were on a completely different level.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo shout \u2018Messi\u2019 at Ronaldo is acceptable within the context of the rivalry between them,\u201d says Saudi broadcaster Waleed al-Farraj, \u201cbut to chant the name of his deceased team-mate, Jota, at Neves is an inappropriate act. How can you play on people\u2019s grief like this? You should have some humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saudi legend Sami al-Jaber, who played at four World Cups and had a short spell with Wolves, sent a message to Neves: \u201cR\u00faben, your presence in Saudi football means a great deal to us. As Saudis, we take pride in our values of respect and hospitality … they transcend any sporting rivalry. This behaviour does not reflect those values. I hope you know how warmly you are regarded here, and how much you belong.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LiverpoolLiverpool fans pay tribute to Diogo Jota ahead of a pre-season game at Anfield in August last year. Photograph: Carl Recine\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

Ronaldo\u2019s call for action was met four days later. \u201cThe Saudi Arabian Football Federation (Saff) and the Saudi Pro League (SPL) condemn the unacceptable conduct by some supporters in attendance,\u201d a statement said, adding that the chants were inconsistent with the values of Saudi football and sportsmanship in general.<\/p>\n

Al-Taawoun have been handed a fine of around \u00a320,000 and ordered to play two matches behind closed doors. An earlier statement said \u201cexploiting personal tragedies for the purpose of abuse or provocation is unacceptable behaviour that has no place in Saudi football\u201d.<\/p>\n

Some feel more could have been done to use it as an opportunity to send a message to the rest of the league, one of zero tolerance and harsh punishments for those responsible. Nobody would have complained. Al-Taawoun condemned what happened and said it was \u201cnot representative of their supporters\u201d. Here was as clearcut a case of fans behaving badly as you are going to get.<\/p>\n

European football has worked hard to try and stamp out offensive chants. \u201cStadiums in places such as Portugal and England are nowadays heavily controlled spaces,\u201d says Simon Chadwick, professor of Afro-Eurasian Sport at Emlyon Business School in Paris. \u201cHence, when someone like Ronaldo encounters [verbal abuse] he will inevitably respond, thereby attracting attention from the media and others. Saudi Arabian fans need to get used to such a reaction fast.\u201d<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s is not just the international media that get involved. \u201cOrganisations such as the AFC and Fifa may even implement codes of conduct and penalties for situations like the Jota episode,\u201d Chadwick adds. \u201cIn other words, if Saudi fans and\/or the Pro League can\u2019t regulate or control the situation, then someone else will.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the Asian Cup coming to the country for the first time in January, followed by the World Cup in 2034, Saudi Arabia will be hoping that such action will not be necessary. \u2013 Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The good thing about Cristiano Ronaldo playing in your league is that he is one of the most…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":633216,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[15561,38998,61,60,112],"class_list":["post-633215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-cristiano-ronaldo","tag-diogo-jota","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=633215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/633216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=633215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=633215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=633215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}