Mesut Ozil disrupted the silence with his views on China and Arsenal fans should follow

The German No 10 spoke out about the persecution of the Uighur Muslims - but the Gunners failed to back their player

Arsenal have failed to back the views of Mesut Ozil (EPA)

By the time the Arsenal game started, many of the key stakeholders were as silent on the Mesut Ozil controversy as Chinese TV were on the match. There was just… black-out.

The Premier League hadn’t yet issued a comment, even though one of their best-paying partners – CCTV – pulled broadcasting of a scheduled game because of a player’s tweets.

Arsenal hadn’t yet issued a comment, even though they were effectively being airbrushed out of a country they have worked hard to build a commercial relationship with, most recently going on tour there in 2017.

Interim manager Freddie Ljungberg, meanwhile, would just point to that all being a “political discussion” – so one for the club.

That’s fair, but what still feels unfair was Arsenal’s statement so pointedly distancing themselves from Mesut Ozil’s own social media posts on the persecution of the Uighur Muslims, especially since they did not feel they had to do the same for Hecter Bellerin’s “Fuck Boris!” tweet.

This is the world that Ozil has detonated, breaking such silences in a hugely uncomfortable manner.

This is also why this story could well rumble on, and get much, much bigger.

At the core of it are questions about where the game is going, and the way it does business.

It should first of all be stated that Ozil’s own friendship with an authoritarian like Recep Erdogan does undermine a lot of his political statements. You can’t pick and choose with morality, something that has of course been put to Pep Guardiola before, regarding his speaking out against Spain and his refusal to do so with Abu Dhabi.

There were many around Arsenal also wondering exactly at whose behest Ozil had decided to post this. It’s of course entirely plausible that someone as politically active as the German – his charity work deserves huge praise – did so entirely of his own volition, and he was entirely in the right here. His contribution certainly had an impact.

There were many at Arsenal on Sunday now fully familiar with the persecution of the Uighurs, in a way they just hadn’t been before.

Articles with headlines about “brainwashing” and “detention camps” were now coming up on google searches around the stadium.

This is pretty much why Beijing responded with such blunt force, and this is why Arsenal initially distanced themselves from Ozil’s posts.

The Premier League’s broadcasting deal with CCTV is already their most lucrative, at $700m over three years, but even more relevant is that it is seen as the major growth market in sport – and a market of immense scale at that. Most major competitions are effectively attempting land-grabs in the country, each attempting to carve out their own portion of China.

Arsenal have distanced themselves from the views of Ozil (IKIMAGES/AFP via Getty) (IKIMAGES/AFP via Getty Images)

There are none so relevant here as the NBA, given they faced an almost identical controversy in October, when Daryl Morey – general manager of the Houston Rockets – tweeted support for anti-government protesters in Hong Kong. Rockets’ games are still blacked out in China. So, in the words of the Wall Street Journal, this marks the second time in two months that Beijing has put itself “in conflict” with a major sports league.

This is why so few people want to be associated with criticism of China. And this raises those questions about how these major leagues and clubs do business – and exactly what they’ll sacrifice to do business.

The common argument is that this is just precisely that: the price of doing business in an international market, and the nature of the global network. That doesn’t really cut it.

Clubs and football competitions often fall over themselves to try and proclaim their football “values”. Well what about their moral values?

What about values of integrity and freedom in a football world that is increasingly co-opted by human rights-suppressing countries; countries that are cynically using the positives of the games for their own ends. You only have to look at the fate of Sunday’s opposition. Manchester City, one of the game’s great clubs, have become a great tool in Abu Dhabi foreign policy.

Fans have agency here too, it must be stressed. Although Ozil was widely and loudly supported for the majority of the evening, the most notable response was when he came off – albeit a little too slowly. That was when applause turned to a smattering of boos, because he strolled off.

Any fans sympathetic to his views should maybe have a think about it for the next game. It isn’t a stretch to say supporters in other countries would have come with a lot of pro-Uighur banners.

Bayern fans protested about the club pursuing eSports (REUTERS)

Similar happened at Lyon in September, when their fans created a giant tifo of the Tibetan flag, in protest at a game being moved for the Chinese market. Many Bundesliga fans have meanwhile protested about their clubs’ business interests. Bayern Munich supporters did it over Qatar, and only this week protested about something as comparatively as innocuous as the introduction of an e-sports, for how it changes the principles of what the club is.

There’s none of this yet in England. This isn’t to blame fans, but it is precisely silence that allows these issues to spread, that allows these interests to take over our game without questioning; without obstacle; until it’s too late.

Ozil has disrupted that silence. He’s created a noise, and a problem. If Arsenal games continue to be blacked out on Chinese TV, it will warrant a lot more interest, both from the club and the Premier League.

There will be panicked phone calls. There should really be calls to look at how exactly the game is doing business, and what it’s supposed to stand for. It’s our game. Not theirs.