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.
sydboz
Guest
Eurovision 100 mill, world cup final 800 million+, there was a cumulative total of over 40 billion viewers during the football world cup in south africa, making it easily the most popular event on the planet.
Trinh
Guest
More people watch the Eurovision final than the WC final. Please stop talking about the world.
Panorama
Guest
Watch the Panorama doco out last week on the BBC in England and then come back and laugh it off as all a big conspiracy.
Jon
Guest
Two FIFA memebers are currently suspended and being investigated for allegations of corruption and bribery in regard to the very process that awarded Qatar (a nation know for high level corruption) the World Cup.
mahony
Guest
The truth is in the middle. The process is a very real problem, Australia were out played by a cadre of other bidders and we should welcome the World Cup going to West Asia and Eastern Europe. Nationlism aside, Is that so hard to understand?
macavity
Roar Pro
http://rugby-league.de/en/
Phil Osopher
Guest
I'd second that.
Not over
Guest
Does anyone seriously think this will happen? Sooner or later the corruption will be exposed, FIFA members will DEMAND a recasting of votes. Les Murray is on the ethics committee and they looked at it already. 2022 will NEVER, EVER go to Qatar. Even the UAE would be a stretch. It'll end up in USA at the end of the day.
MM Fike
Guest
Does it really matter where the World Cup is staged? The majority of us watch it on TV anyway.
sydboz
Guest
It's not just the team facilities, Qatar was atrocious in almost all areas, FIFA were being kind when giving out medium risks for even the rest. To further add to this Harold Nichols who wrote those technical reports was soon ousted from his post at FIFA, another show of how much Qatar's money had infested FIFA's top ranks. He was the first one to go over to Frank Lowy and apologise, what a sad day for football honestly.
dasilva
Guest
I just had a look at Sydboz link Overall operational risk - Qatar - High, Russia - Medium Obviously they considered the Team Facilities high risk criteria to be so important that the overall risk was considered high risk. Every other nations was considered low risk in the overall operational risk except for the nations that actually won the bid. The voting may or may not be corrupt but it's certainly unmeritocratic.
Ben
Guest
Really? Geez that's so clever dude!, No one has ever heard that one before, you must have an astronomical iq, for an average AFL supporter, astronomical would be around 75.
Brendon
Guest
If the USA had won I would have been disappointed but it would have been understandable. And just because a few lunatics make some extreme claims and racist insults on the internet does NOT invalidate questions and concerns by reasonable people over Qatar's bid or the Fifa voting process.
Phil Osopher
Guest
That's quite funny Lazza.
Hutr
Roar Rookie
Fair enough, I didn't hear his speech. What I can comment on though is that they didn't represent it very well through the video and what they did present can hardly be consider persuasive to panel of men that seemingly want to change the world.
sydboz
Guest
section 3.4 page 9, it's there trust me, http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/tournament/competition/01/33/59/45/bid_evaluation_report_1911.pdf
apaway
Guest
Hutr Frank Lowy said almost exactly that in his speech to the Ex-Co.
Betty B
Guest
This one takes the cake Mr Corran. Your journalism, no, that's far too praiseworthy, your diatribe is about as good as the articles you refer to in your poor attempt at sensational writing. Sorry - but I don't think this standard of writing and research deserves public scrutiny, let alone a place on The Roar.
dasilva
Guest
oh yeah, thanks for the correction
The Special One
Guest
2016 i think you mean !! Qatar are most likely doing this to promote themselves. They probably could care less about the football and just want people talking about Qatar for 12 years. Little do they realise, outside of the Arab world they will be forever known as the city that bought a world cup. Maybe they are sick and tired of being the ugly step sister to Dubai and Abu Dhabi? Who knows? Its the reason they went for the Olympics as well. Like you said though the IOC was smart enough to say No Thanks. So they turned to the World cup, only 24 members to convince rather than 100 olympic delegates makes it much easier for them.