In June, England captain Harry Kane had discussions with fellow international captains as to how the teams set to play at the upcoming World Cup in Qatar should best object to the human rights abuses currently being supported and enforced by the host nation.
Those conversations were well founded, with football about to enter a realm that is, frankly, an insult to what FIFA claims to have at the heart of its organisation: inclusivity and diversity.
Sadly, it will be the second FIFA World Cup in succession with such concerns, after Russia 2018 reminded the global community of the Neanderthal views held by the host nation.
Most alarming of all is the simple fact that the social and political concerns around the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi should have provided enough ammunition for football’s governing body to withdraw their offer to Russia to host the 2018 tournament.
Cowardice prevailed and Russia’s World Cup went ahead amidst raising and immense concerns around its views on LGBTQIA+ people, the fundamental human rights of citizens that are meant to be protected by the United Nations, and the overarching dark cloud of the systematic abuse of performance-enhancing drugs that has subsequently been proven to have taken place in Sochi.
While the clear dismissal of the notion of fair play exercised by the hosts in those 2014 Games should have been more than enough for FIFA to relocate the 2018 World Cup, especially considering the IOC had the fortitude to ban a formal Russian team from competing at the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang South Korea, FIFA went ahead with a World Cup that now looks, in retrospect, like an enormous mistake.
(Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)
After the handing down of wet lettuce-leaf punishments to Russian athletes and officials in the aftermath of Sochi, many were permitted to participate in the delayed Tokyo 2020 games under the guise of something distanced from the nation itself.
A similarly weak approach was taken by FIFA, with Russia permitted to host the greatest show on Earth, despite it sitting less than comfortably with most.
One wonders whether the gift of hindsight and Russia’s current invasion of Ukraine would have FIFA currently regretting its decision to permit its showpiece event to be held in a place of such tyranny and injustice.
Cynically, I feel that is unlikely, particularly if the finances added up and all invested parties were content with the outcome. Thus is FIFA.
And now, a nation that decrees homosexuality as an evil, demands visitors adhere to their somewhat backward and restrictive way of life without question, and insists that people resist the urge to express any form of love outside the most conservative and traditional sense, will host the World Cup.
It’s a situation in direction conflict with FIFA’s flying of the pride flag at its Zurich headquarters during the month of June.
Qatar has brought on the ire of millions, with not only its stance on issues around which the majority of the globe has moved far beyond in the last 40 years, but also the obvious abuses that have led to the deaths of thousands of workers involved in the construction and refurbishment of the stadiums that will host the matches come November.
Kane is right to seek out the advice and counsel of such men as France’s Hugo Lloris and Denmark’s Christian Eriksen, as well as any other international players with whom he has contact. Bar the odd individual, the football world has been united in the taking of a knee in response to continued racism against people based on nothing more than the colour of their skin.
Qatar presents a similar opportunity, with the wearing of rainbow-coloured captain’s armbands, players unveiling politically motivated messages on their under-clothes after scoring, and a consistent message of dissent being delivered by players and coaches in their interactions with the media as all possible methods by which the wider football world can express its dissatisfaction.
No doubt the local authorities will make every attempt to deter any such protests, yet the voice of the global football community will prevail if it is powerful and united. It is sad that the responsibility falls to the fans, players and countries motivated by justice, human dignity and equality.
If only FIFA had any idea what those three things actually are.
Garry
Roar Rookie
More bending over backwards by FIFA..moving the opening game with relatively short notice. This Qatar WC is a shambles and an embarassment.
Marcel
Guest
Criag....That number , which is often quoted in the media, is not entirely accurate. It identifies the total workplace deaths in the country, extrapolated over the 12 years since Qatar was awarded the tournament....ascribing the full sum to stadium construction alone is incorrect. Sadly this ratio of industrial fatalities is commonplace outside the industrialised West...the ILO estimates around 2.3 million workers are killed each year...but thats a different conversation unrelated to the WC. By comparision around 200 Australians die every year as a result of workplace injury or illnesses...so around 2400 have been killed in the same period. Surely 2400 deaths is too high a price for the Womens World Cup 23.....see how the media/stats game works.
criag
Roar Rookie
More than 6,000 people died building Qatar’s stadiums. That alone is unacceptable.
criag
Roar Rookie
And not to mention the expansion to 48 teams in 2026!
Kewell
Roar Rookie
Daddy people forget this it's used in medicines, clothing and lots of other stuff. On renewable energy I heard the other day that Germany is dependant on gas to run their heavy industry because renewables don't deliver enough grunt smelt steel production.
Kewell
Roar Rookie
You cant sanction Quatar but do nothing about China. That is the height of hypocrisy. They bully the west, abuse human rights, deny their people free speech, detain and jail without due process. Personally I think they should kicked out of FIFA.
Garry
Roar Rookie
good point BUT in Australia it would hurt our soccer more..
Buddy
Roar Rookie
I was thinking more along the lines of advertising. If nobody is watching on television, advertisers would be very unhappy and there would be a flow on effect for the future - agreed it wouldn’t affect Qatar as such but would affect FIFA in the long run.
Joshua Makepeace
Roar Rookie
I will accept you make a good point there Brainstrust.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Pro/Rel and Gallop why is that mentioned. Greg Norman is introducing Pro/Rel to golf, does that mean he is kosher for you to kiss up to him.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Thats actually completely incorrect. The safe thing would have been to keep world cups in established countries in Europe particularly England ,France and Germany. The first USA world cup was a massive gamble by FIFA, the time zone wasn't as good as Europe,there was no one bankrolling it. Japan Korea the time zone then was bad for FIFA. The gambles paid off in the long term with both regions being richer for FIFA. South Africa was an even bigger gamble and no financial reason to go there. South Africa Brazil those two world cups FIFA actually had to pump money into them to get them to go ahead. Despite increasing revenue they made more money off Germany. Russia at the time was a great world cup financially for FIFA, though if the war happened before it would have been a disaster. Qatar the decision was obviously to do with the financial benefit of the executive commitee members not FIFA. On the good side they dont have to pump money into them, on the bad side they lose out in terms of corporate packages with smaller stadiums.
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
Whatever makes you feel all warm and fuzzy.
At work
Roar Rookie
Arzani is a huge signing. A former young superstar (Aus standards) in the making, who excited everybody when he was back in the league 4 years ago, even if he couldn't play out 90 minutes. I hope he comes back strong and is injury free, although the downside is he's playing for the Bulls and I can't stand watching games on TV at Campbelltown with the Cowbells and no crowds.
chris
Guest
Yes exactly. The fallout that occurred after this shameful allocation tore FIFA apart (and rightly so). And as far as human rights etc in Qatar are concerned, there are so many countries that abuse their people with or without a World Cup. If you are going to boycott a country you need to do it root and branch. Ie cease doing any form of business with them. Not just sporting events.
Roberto Bettega
Roar Rookie
Yeh, but the US initially bid for 2022. I'm just saying if the decision was truly about profit, the US would have been chosen hands down. The truth is that the Qatar decision was about individuals lining their own pockets, it was NOT about profit for FIFA.
Garry
Roar Rookie
1.. extremely easy to do.. 2. extremely unnecessary, how would that affect Qatar or FIFA. The expression ‘cutting nose off to spite the face’ seems appropriate.
Garry
Roar Rookie
you mean like plastic? another thing we're gettng rid of..
Garry
Roar Rookie
I wil watch of course..not doing so is silly & pointless… in fact I’d be happy to do a few days tourism in transit at Qatar. But I’d do no more than that. It all boils down to a question of scale.
Joshua Makepeace
Roar Rookie
Every decision FIFA make is based on money, just look at their talk (and my article) about a bi-ennial World Cup. As for a USA World Cup, that comes in 2026 with a side helping of Mexico and Canada.
Roberto Bettega
Roar Rookie
Yes, that's likely to be how it pans out.