The Roar
The Roar

Advertisement

It’s time to force FIFA’s hand

Roar Guru
2nd June, 2014
Advertisement
Sepp Blatter will have nothing to do with football for eight years.
Roar Guru
2nd June, 2014
73
1205 Reads

Qatar should be stripped of the right to host the World Cup. This is a statement that, unless you are on the senior payroll of FIFA or a Qatari official, not too many people would disagree with.

There are three key reasons why Qatar should be stripped of the World Cup.

I’ll list them, but won’t go into too much detail because frankly, we knew why before, we know why now, and we will continue to know in the future.

Firstly, human rights violations. This is a World Cup that will be built by slaves. It’s as simple as that. A staggering 1100 poor souls have already died, and they aren’t even at the serious stage of construction yet. How can someone honestly block this from their mind for the next eight years?

Secondly, the competition is likely to be held in Europe’s winter. The very platform on which each hosting nominee applied for will be declared irrelevant. Australia, USA, England and Japan-Korea put in a bid on the pretence it will be held in June. Pretence indeed. It’s inevitable that this will need to be changed to December.

Thirdly, Qatar cheated its way to securing votes. Hey, a little of bit of pocket greasing and phoney promises are par for the course in World Cup bids, but Qatar went too far. There’s breaking the rules and then breaking the rules.

But of course, FIFA aren’t going to strip Qatar. FIFA are never going to admit they were wrong, and they could possibly argue that Qatar has been planning and constructing for four years now so its too late. And, there is some truth to that final sentence. How will FIFA recoup Qatar from the losses incurred in half built and useless stadia?

So, if FIFA won’t do it. We must. Its time for football associations around the world to grow a backbone, take a stand and force FIFA to re-award the World Cup hosting rights to someone else.

Advertisement

The easiest and most obvious way to do this is the threat of boycotts. And it should start with England. The FA preside over the biggest football competitions in the world. There is no competition in football that comes close to generating the same ratings, revenue and global appeal as the EPL. Ultimately, football would be weaker without the English. Even their second tier is the sixth biggest football league in the world.

The FA, with all their knowledge and open opposition to Qatar hosting the cup, should now start matching their words with action. Boycott the games for the three reasons listed above. Encourage others to do the same.

Should the call for a boycott be large enough, countries that have signed on wouldn’t need to worry about lost revenue by not participating in a World Cup. By that stage, should a World Cup in Qatar continue, it would be under entirely farcical conditions. No doubt Nicaragua versus Kyrgyzstan in the final is as appealing as Spain versus Brazil.

Would FIFA risk millions in revenue, not to mention having the very structure of the global game torn at the seams, simply to stubbornly continue to hold true with Qatar and ignore boycotts? Of course not. Is Qatar simply that vital to the survival of FIFA? Of course not.

No, the countries that built FIFA and keep FIFA and the World Cup important are the European and South American powerhouses, plus the USA and a handful of Asian countries. Its time for them to take a stand on this and encourage the little countries like us to come on board too.

FIFA won’t be blind and deaf to reality.

But time is running out. Practically 2015 is the latest you can safely award someone the World Cup. Personally, I think it should go to England. It is comfortably the cheapest option, with three stadiums in England already able to hold 60,000 or more, with existing infrastructure, a football culture and only minor upgrades required for smaller stadia.

Advertisement

Come on England. Come on Germany. Come on USA. Take a stand. Now. Bring dignity and common sense back to the global game.

Let FIFA and the Qatar know that it is simply unacceptable and unforgivable that thousands of people should die, or millions of dollars can be transferred to some buffoon in an office, simply to play a game of football.

close