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Reaction of the English Football Association after a journalist was excluded from the Saudi boxing match at Wembley

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The Football Association has announced that it will take action to prevent further violations of “press freedom” after Daily Telegraph Journalist was banned from covering the heavyweight title fight between Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois last weekend at Wembley.

Oliver Brown was denied entry to the Joshua-Dubois fight after he called the fight, which was funded by Saudi Arabia despite taking place in London, a “shameless exercise in sportswashing” in an article on September 20. Dubois later won the fight with a devastating performance, knocking Joshua out in the fifth round.

But the English Football Association (FA), which owns Wembley Stadium, was reportedly “in no way involved in the running” of the Saudi-backed event and had “no knowledge that Brown was denied entry,” the report said.telegraph reported.

They also said sources had confirmed that any party using Wembley in the future “will now be required to communicate any issues relating to media accreditation to the FA so that a resolution can be found”.

Although the fight took place in London, it was billed as the “Riyadh Season: Wembley Edition.” The Saudi national anthem was played before the fight and Saudi King Turki Alalshikh sat ringside the entire time.

Former FA chairman David Bernstein said Brown's ban was “a blatant violation of freedom of the press and freedom of expression”.

“The FA and Wembley Stadium must review future agreements with stadium users to ensure that press independence is maintained,” he added.

Saudi King Turki Alalshikh stood ringside at Wembley Stadium
Saudi King Turki Alalshikh stood ringside at Wembley Stadium (Getty Images)

Bernstein went on to say that the whole situation was only going to get worse and expressed his concern about Saudi Arabia's growing influence in British sport, pointing to the need for an independent football regulator.

“The enormous influence of nation states on British sport, particularly football, is one of the reasons why a truly independent regulator of English football is needed,” he said.

Dame Caroline Dinenage, MP and chair of Parliament's Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, described the situation as “a sensitive issue when venues refuse entry to journalists based on their writing”.

“I'm surprised by Wembley. I expected there to be stricter rules there,” she added.

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