The Roar
The Roar

Advertisement

Qatar 2022 won't be boycotted, but change is possible

3rd March, 2015
Advertisement
Sepp Blatter has been banned from all soccer related activities for eight years.
Expert
3rd March, 2015
54
1199 Reads

It’s hard to imagine there being many more dramatic turns on the road to Qatar 2022 than the one we’ve just manoeuvred. The inevitable was realised and a World Cup final in December beckons.

The move was expected, and completely fathomable considering FIFA’s track record, but the resistance has been stern.

It’s an unprecedented decision, one that has gained the ire of almost all who have an investment in football and no obligation to mirror the world governing body’s views.

The European leagues – and the A-League – will be most adversely affected, needing to restructure their seasons around the significant speedhump.

However, timing is not the greatest cause of dissent. With just shy of eight years remaining until the World Cup rolls into the Middle East, there is ample time to formulate a plan that suits all parties. In fact, a winter World Cup was the only option for the safety of players and spectators.

How ironic, then, that FIFA’s health and safety concerns don’t apply to the thousands of labourers ultimately putting their lives on the line to get the tournament up and running.

The scheduling is just a mere subplot amongst a dizzying list of Qatar’s flaws. The treatment of workers is the most pressing concern, tailed by allegations of bribery.

As inconvenient as a World Cup in the northern hemisphere winter is, it’s a reality we must learn to accept. Calls for a boycott are wonderfully hopeful, but little more than that. While there may be valiant attempts to throw it off balance, there is a ghost of a chance of amassing enough support to reject the globe’s biggest sporting event.

Advertisement

It would be a much more productive approach to accept its occurrence as fact and set about prompting change in other ways. That means an acceptance of the event happening, not of the values and methods behind it.

FIFA wouldn’t have made such a drastic decision if they believed there to be such damaging consequences. So it’s time to put more effort into what we can change.

When reports emerged of the treatment migrant workers receive across Qatar, the world’s media took notice. Although FIFA seem to distance themselves from the issue as much as possible for obvious reasons, it is believed the external pressures prompted them to prod the Qatari government asking for conditions to be improved.

As the BBC reported last month, there have been visible improvements in many of the major construction sites across the country. But the problem remains in a number of camps, where migrants are forced to live in abhorrent conditions – a disturbing truth for the richest country in the world.

The improvement is a positive sign that change is well within reach. It beggars belief that it takes so much lifting to enact this, but it’s a work in progress.

This is a case where one death is too many and Qatar 2022 can only be reluctantly accepted when the one million-plus labourers can live like humans and enjoy the most basic of rights that no person should be stripped of.

Another blight on the livelihood of migrant workers is Qatar’s sponsorship system, known as Kafala. In essence, it gives employers total control over the movement of their employees, who can’t leave the country without permission, meaning many have been forced to stay in the country against their will. Motions are in place to eradicate this but it requires constant political pressure.

Advertisement

A shining light in the fight to bring Qatar 2022 in line with 21st century values has been the vast array of influential people lending their name and knowledge to making a difference. I caught up with ex-Morocco and Fulham defender Abdeslam Ouaddou last year, one of a few footballers affected by the kafala brave enough to speak out.

What is now needed is action from football’s highest profile players of the present. Many of them may have long retired before 2022, and it is probably naive to call for a widespread boycott, but resistance is certainly not out of the question.

The FIFA presidential election in May could also be a decisive factor. Qatar may be capable of holding a successful World Cup, but they must be held responsible for the path they’re taking to get there. That requires a leader willing to set minimum conditions for the country to be eligible to maintain hosting rights.

Perhaps we need to take a step back from our emotionally charged desire to see Qatar 2022 fold and instead effect change on a more realistic level.

close