Fellow LWOS contributor, Victor Small, penned an interesting opinion piece on the validity of Qatar’s bid for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. While he brought up some good points, I feel the need to defend the Qatar bid, to play the devil’s advocate, if you will, on the subject.
Victor brought up two key points when discussing the idea that Qatar will actually host a World Cup – unpaid workers and oppression. If those are the two key reasons why critics are boisterously against the Qatar bid, why did the same critics not seriously question the Brazil 2014 bid?
I mean, Brazil’s preparations for the 2014 tournament resulted in the deaths of (at least) eight construction workers; if anyone is under the illusion that the Brazilian construction workers were working under standardized safety conditions, they should reconsider their view.
I understand that western media and fans of the beautiful game will be appalled by the idea of one worker dying per day in the run-up to the Qatar tournament, but when reflecting upon the negative socio-economic impacts of the Brazil tournament, I think it’s clear that the 2014 tournament was very far from ‘up to snuff’ with western standards.
Yes, I understand the legitimate concerns about hosting a World Cup in Qatar: the ridiculous Qatari heat in the summer, the human rights violations which would almost certainly occur in the build-up to a potential World Cup in a rich Emirate, and – most importantly, of course – the lack of alcohol.
Anybody who thinks that oppression was absent in the run-up to the 2014 Brazil World Cup or 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Russia is, quite frankly, living in a Utopian dream of the sports world.
In Brazil, the UPP (Unidade de Policia Pacificadora, or Pacifying Police Unit, in English) openly oppressed favela gangs and drug lords leading up to the tournament last summer. While it may seem to have been a good idea in the short-term, the long-term effects of this one-time government intervention could be devastating to the already minimalist socio-economic structure which bound the favelas together loosely.
In Russia, Vladimir Putin was open about his high-risk security measures – constant surveillance, a massive police presence, and a complete absence of the expected opposition to the Winter Games were all very clear indicators of serious oppression and, technically, human rights violations.
Thinking that tournaments can go off in the developed world without a hitch while operating under western security standards is a Utopian dream – it just can’t happen.
As we all know, FIFA is run with money – like everything on this planet – so it should come as no surprise that a place voted the world’s richest for three years running has won with its bid to host the world’s best. With money coming out of their ears, Qatari billionaires are more than capable of building a football infrastructure from the ground up.
I’m not saying that there aren’t issues with the Qatari bid – there are clearly documented ones. What I am saying is that Qatar doesn’t deserve to be the target of the footballing world’s indignation because of perceived human rights violations and oppression. Many similar things took place in the preparation for 2014’s World Cup and Olympic Games.
If Brazil’s football pedigree allows it to host a tournament with mass violence and extreme poverty ravaging its country, then why should an entirely rich Emirate be stripped of its World Cup because of its lack of one?
Football is the world’s game, and it’s high time countries that aren’t necessarily accepted by western ones which dominate FIFA and global politics have their time in the limelight.
My bold prediction? World Cup 2022 goes through in Qatar, without a hitch. The footballing world will witness a glittering jewel of a tournament, the stars will be out, and maybe, just maybe, the west will sit back and enjoy the show.
Enjoy reading this piece? Be sure to follow LWOS’ soccer coverage on Twitter @LastWordSC. You can follow the author on Twitter @Carlos77Verde. Agree? Disagree? Leave a comment!
