“Qatar – Why?” A Gooner’s honest take on FIFA’s controversial World Cup

Qatar? Why??

Let me introduce myself. My name is Peter Le Beau, I have been an Arsenal supporter since 1958 and a season ticket holder for over thirty years. Five generations of my family have supported Arsenal stretching back to my paternal grandfather who watched them play in Woolwich. I’ve written for the Gooner virtually since its inception and am now the Rewind correspondent because I’m so old I can remember games that no-one else can because they weren’t born!  Since his death in 2019, I’m one of a number of people trying to extend the legacy of that wonderful Gooner, Dave Faber on a website, Goonerholics Forever.

I’m writing at Paul’s request because we have decided to put up a banner on our blog questioning the choice of Qatar to host the World Cup. You may be starting to get sick of the debate about Qatar, and are anxiously waiting for the fun and football to begin but I wanted to tell you why most of the Goonerholic fraternity are so opposed to what we believe to be a terribly flawed choice.

Can you imagine if the tournament had been awarded to Cyprus which is of a comparable size? What would be your first reaction? I suspect it would be that it was a very dubious choice because Cyprus is a relatively small island. Cyprus is of course divided into two different regions controlled by different countries but it has a strong football culture, a thriving domestic league and is improving as a force in international football. I suspect the size of the island would militate against it being chosen to host a global event where thirty-two nations were gathering. Could they be accommodated comfortably at reasonable prices? Well Cyprus has superb accommodation and a great tourist infrastructure.

Imagine that Cyprus had a very dubious human rights record. Imagine it banned people of an LGBTQ+ persuasion. Imagine if it had a very restrictive view of the rights of women. Add to that the fact that migrant workers were found to have died in huge numbers (human rights organisations suggesting that the total runs into thousands) and their families were subsequently treated with scant regard with very little compensation and who during their ill-fated period in Cyprus were housed in appalling conditions.

I imagine the likelihood of Cyprus being chosen would be fading now. It might reduce still further if Cyprus was considered to be too hot to play the games in during the height of summer and virtually the whole global football programme would need to be disrupted with the consequent risk of burnout and serious injury for international players. I suspect their bid would be off the table now.

What could possibly persuade FIFA who have as their remit the stewardship of the biggest sport in the world to choose a country that is about 100 miles long, fifty miles wide with no ready prepared stadia and a country where human rights abuses persist on a significant scale according to Amnesty International’s latest report? Cyprus would never be considered to host the World Cup so in the words of our slogan:

Qatar? Why??

A lot of information about the circumstances of Qatar’s  bid have emerged quite recently and were not available when the tournament was awarded to Qatar. Netflix’s excellent ‘FIFA Uncovered’ and the investigative journalist David Conn have demonstrated clear evidence of bribery by Qatari officials to obtain the rights to stage the tournament. It was an award that was made at the same time as Russia were awarded the 2018 competition. The acknowledged best bid for 2018 was England’s (it got two votes and one was ours!) and the USA bid was considered by most objective observers to be immeasurably superior to Qatar’s. Both successful bids appear to have been successful because the hosts bribed corrupt FIFA officials.

Expenditure on stadia in Qatar that will almost certainly not be used again is estimated to be £200 billion. Remember the large number of immigrant workers who have been brought in, in very primitive conditions for peppercorn wages to build the stadia which are unlikely to leave any meaningful legacy for the Qatari people who don’t have a domestic league which can utilise thesestadia.

The World Cup was conceived as a global football festival showcasing the best aspects of the game. There is no doubt that a Middle Eastern nation should be considered as a potential host but surely this should be one with an existing football infrastructure. The construction of these stadia which have to be air conditioned to make playing football in them remotely possible, is extraordinarily unsustainable in environmental terms, as is the need for spectators to fly continually from other states to watch the matches because Qatar does not have the facilities to house them. How can world leaders gather to consider anxiously the future of the planet at COP27 when a few weeks later the Qatar World Cup is allowed to proceed?

Ordinary football fans from all over the world have been priced out of attending because of the cost of travel and accommodation. The topic of sportwashing is a controversial one but the strong inference is that FIFA have awarded the World Cup to Qatar simply because they were bribed to do so and turned down much better and more suitable bids which meet the criteria that FIFA set for hosts of the tournament.

We also feel the pressures on women and members of the LGBTQ+ community who might try to attend is an infringement of basic human rights that cannot be ignored and is again at odds with the ethos of a global football celebration.

Qatar, far from being a suitable host nation are about as unsuitable as a host nation could be and we feel it is important to draw attention to this now when there is maximum focus on the event. Football has too often turned a blind eye to circumstances which should have made fans think seriously about the moral background to the game. Qatar 2022 may well produce wonderful matches with brilliant players performing superbly but that still wouldn’t make it a viable or appropriate tournament. It is more likely that top stars possibly Bukayo Saka, William Saliba or Thomas Partey might suffer burnout come March or succumb to serious injury because of muscle fatigue. Multiply that situation across the world game and one really has to ask moral considerations aside, if it makes any sense at all to transport the world to Qatar in November and December so Qatar can buy a showcase for its dubious merits as a place to visit.

But let’s return to that phrase ‘moral considerations aside’. The world of football can’t put moral considerations on the back burner while we watch a few football matches. Of course, one can object to all sorts of examples of sportwashing and there are other situations which must be highlighted, some of which exist in our own league. But the case against Qatar 2022 is so overwhelmingly strong that it may go down in history as one of the worst moments in the history of football.

Guest Writer