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Disappointed football fans watch a live broadcast of the announcement of the host country. AAP Image/Sergio Dionisio
I’ve found the last few days since Qatar was awarded the 2022 World Cup ahead of a field of candidates including Australia to be some of the most emotionally draining since I started covering football a few years back.
On top of my disappointment for the Australian football community and fears for what effect this decision will have on my industry, I’ve also been embarrassed at the reactions of many, both within the mainstream and football media.
They’ve ranged from baseless conspiracy theories to outright racism.
The worst of which was this putrid article calling a bunch of morons on an internet forum “Islamic extremists” and considering it newsworthy.
My issue with the outcry over Qatar’s successful bid is that very few complained about the bidding system until after Australia had lost.
It stinks of bitterness and, in my opinion, makes Australia look like a bunch of sore losers.
Let me ask you this, if Australia had of won the World Cup would the decision have been corrupt and wrong?
So why is it so just because someone else won?
There is no doubt FIFA’s process for selecting World Cup hosts, like all forms of democracy, is flawed.
Could it be improved? Of course. Should changes be made? Absolutely.
FIFA moved from a one member, one vote approach to the current 24 member Executive Committee system with the intent, as I understand it, of ensuring the process was based more on technical capabilities and less on political popularity.
It’s clear that hasn’t worked.
I lost my faith in FIFA’s political machinations a long time ago but until there is direct evidence of corruption in this decision I won’t be crying foul.
For now the idea 14 members of the FIFA ExCo voted for Qatar based on lewd offers is founded on hearsay and a misunderstanding of how the process works.
For example, we should be careful when complaining about deals that were done to secure Qatar’s bid. I’ve heard about plenty of them and none have left me feeling like Australia and the other three 2022 bidders were cheated out of the hosting rights.
Certainly Qatar’s “deals” were no worse then Australia not bidding for the 2011 Women’s World Cup with the intention of getting Franz Beckenbauer’s vote or offering AU$60 million dollars to Jamaica.
Not to mention friendlies against Paraguay, Egypt and an Under 20 tournament in Cyprus last year with similar intentions.
So yes, Australia played the game as well. Qatar just did it better then Football Federation Australia and its highly paid consultants did. A lot better.
Furthermore I disagree with the much mooted assertion that FIFA went “against its own technical committee’s report that said Qatar was not a suitable place to host a World Cup”.
Can you tell me where in the report it was written that Qatar wasn’t a suitable place for a World Cup?
The answer is nowhere.
Qatar’s report is by no means glowing, and there are genuine concerns raised about areas of the bid, but having read through the report a number of times I don’t feel FIFA’s executive committee were in dereliction of their duty last week by voting for Qatar.
Reading some of the articles and comments being banded around over the last few days though, I’m left to wonder how many people have actually read the report themselves.
Meanwhile, if you’d like to make up your own mind, you can download a copy of the technical committee’s assessment of Qatar’s bid here.
Last Friday, Australia’s bid was voted out in the first round with only one vote leaving at least seven people who didn’t vote for either Qatar or Australia.
Rather then complaining about losing a competition we entered, well aware of the way it was going to be played, we should probably spend more time holding those in charge of our bid accountable for that failure.
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