*FAN SUBMISSION by Leon Elliot of Dorset, United Kingdom. Follow him on Twitter @leon_elliot.*
Courtesy: Sports Illustrated/CNN
After 1200 deaths, 500 injuries, and prior even to the construction of its first stadium, Sepp Blatter today confessed that awarding Qatar the 2022 World Cup was a ‘mistake’. After four years of speculation and skepticism, however, this acceptance has come too late in a scandal that should leave a stain on FIFA ; and will hopefully be a wake-up call for those prepared to put money before morals.
When Qatar were given the World Cup in 2010, it did not take long for the heat to rise. There was never any doubt that FIFA’s attempt to branch out to the previously untrodden Middle East would have its difficulties, but still many anticipated the opportunity. However, when allegations of bribery surfaced in May 2011, it became clear that Qatar’s success was less the result of a progressive campaign for opportunity, and was instead possibly the target of financial shepherding. Despite being played down by FIFA at the time, this small act of treachery perhaps foreshadowed what has since swelled into a farcical affair.
Questions over the practicality of holding the World Cup in Qatar have loomed on a number of levels, but this time they have stretched further than the states’ infrastructure. But whilst the South Africa 2010 World Cup – the first ever in the continent – saw the host nation overcome both political and structural barricades, the location of the 2018 World Cup has brought about new challenges over discrimination, alcohol and slave labour. With the current illegality of homosexuality causing obvious indignation from LGBT groups, and with commercial complications regarding the state’s banning of alcohol, its clear that the ongoing problems of Qatar stretch much further than the headline-dominating weather issues.
This obsessive focus on the climate is as a result masquerading much deeper, underlining problems that FIFA have turned a blind eye to, the most prevalent of which being allegations of slave labour. Gifted such a major tournament, the state – with a population of just under 4.5 million people -was obviously going to have a task trying to find the necessary workforce, but being the richest country in the world they should have been able to get this covered. However, in a nation where 85% of the population are migrant workers, it soon became clear that the area’s rapid development and progress had not come as a result of team work and fair co-operation.
Qatar’s explosion since the 1940s has ridden on the back of the exploitation of oil, and in the last few years this capital mindset has had fatal repercussions on the migrant Indian, Bangladeshi and Nepalese workforce. The numbers are staggering. Since work began in 2010, construction has seen the deaths of 1200 workers, with hundreds more injured. Rumours of mass overworking, harsh conditions and even slavery have scraped the daily papers, yet still these stories have – until very recently – failed to reach the same public exposure of the climate debate. In a media where extortionate transfer fees and incessant gossip blather make frequent back-page headlines, it is almost beyond belief that such monumental savagery hasn’t provoked a worldwide scandal; or left FIFA in any sense of trepidation. If FIFA can be held responsibly for giving Qatar the World Cup corruptly, then surely -one would think – they shouldn’t be absolved from the corruptness that has followed.
FIFA are well in titled to claim that the globalization of the brand was always going to coincide with some problems, but to simply shrug of 1200 deaths as a ‘Mistake’ shows sheer imprudence from Blatter. Qatar 2022 should celebrate the arrival of the most prestigious sporting event in the world to an Arabic nation for the first time in history, yet instead the dawn of a new era of football will be over-shadowed by the workings of its Federal Association. The host nation cannot be held blameless – they of course are responsible for the atrocities – but FIFA’s contribution to the operation makes them the principal wrongdoers. Global expansion and equality is needed in football, but with all the corruption and fraud Qatar evidently was not the time for it. Had the officials not accepted the bribery, then we would not have to discuss the issues on alcohol, sexuality or the weather – let alone the infinite devastation caused.
This event should thus stand as a message for the future:
A warning that the wealth of the game, should never come above the welfare of the game.
