It was 1ºC in Toronto when I woke up on Monday. Buried deep in my covers in the coldest room in the house. White patches still on the ground from the snowfall we had the past week. It was the 70th minute of England vs. Iran in Group B. I slept in because a recent neck injury required me to rest more than usual. Any other international football tournament, and I would’ve been up early with a fresh French press of dark roast to catch all the games—but this November feels different. I can push through the flashes of pain. The quandary of experiencing the Qatar World Cup, however, won’t leave my mind for the next four weeks.
Many around the world, especially casual tournament football fans are boycotting the World Cup this year. It’s not wrong for them to do so. It’s also not wrong as a football fan to choose to watch. You just can’t, however, turn a blind eye to the controversies surrounding this year’s edition.
A circling expression used to describe the Qatar World Cup is “merely a collection of games”. The celebration, excitement, and prideful narratives are largely missing in this tournament. Instead, what’s left are 64 games in the span of four weeks that will simply fill the gap most domestic leagues around the world have been forced to leave. For regular football fans, especially those of the top five European leagues, it will be four weeks of watching the same players they watch every weekend, but playing with different teammates and in different shirts. The same 90 minutes sans the usual quadrennial international fanfare a World Cup should come with.
Even as I proudly get to see the Canada men’s national team play in the World Cup for the first time in 36 years and for the first time in my lifetime, the excitement is blunted.
Personally, I’ll be watching as much of the World Cup as I can. I have to as part of my journey as a football journalist (may be a surprise to some of you, but I write about more than just music!) I also want to, as a lifelong football fan. However you decide on experiencing the World Cup, or if not at all, we shouldn’t let human rights violating governments and certainly not corrupt, greedy, capitalist football governing bodies tear this sport we love from us.
The tarnish on this World Cup is blatantly visible, so why not confront it head on? Between—and even during—the goals, dribbles, and saves, the dialogue around Qatar’s treatment of migrant workers, track record of policing LGBTQ+ people, and oppression of women should continue. In fact, this World Cup should be a platform to expand the dialogue so it doesn’t vanish once the final whistle is blown on December 18th.
There should be condemnation of the tone deaf and daft speech Gianni Infantino gave to try and shine himself as a humble main character. The spearhead of FIFA’s corruption has somehow allowed a wealthy gulf state to allegedly use immoral ways to win hosting rights to the 2022 World Cup, but at the same time to not be adequately prepared to host with issues still present in Doha’s rail system, fan accommodation, and even basic necessity in some areas.
It’s uncharted territory for the FIFA World Cup. Never have off-field matters dominated discussions around the storied tournament to this degree. Controversy is no stranger to the World Cup, but the level to which controversy is being openly covered and the level to which said coverage is accessible to the world is unprecedented.
Four years ago in Russia, similar issues seen in Qatar today like the treatment of LGBTQ+ people were brought up, but ultimately muffled due to the tight restrictions on media coverage. The 1978 World Cup in Argentina was set against the backdrop of Argentine dictator Jorge Rafael Videla’s human rights violations, but without the internet, international exposure was limited.
Zooming out to sports on a greater scale, the Winter Olympics only this year were allowed to be hosted in China despite grave concerns around human rights violations, but like Russia, media coverage was filtered. The 1936 Summer Olympics were allowed to go ahead in Berlin despite the Nazi Party’s evil ideologies. This was three years after the Nazi Party came into power. Yet, without the globalization of information, large parts of the world were unaware of the dangers of this allowance.
The response from FIFA has been disgustingly poor and they’ve even doubled down on their stance. If FIFA can so easily turn their back on the decision to allow alcohol in stadium concourses, how easily can they change their minds on assurances of safety for LGBTQ+ visitors of Doha?
In the first week of the World Cup, we’ve seen the controversy surrounding this year’s tournament evidently can’t be ignored. No matter how hard you may try to tune it out, you will still hear about certain European football governing bodies caving at the first bit of pressure from FIFA and U-turning on their decision to take a visible stand against Qatar’s treatment of LGBTQ+ people. You will still see images of the Germany team covering their mouths as a backup gesture of alliance. You will still hear stories of LGBTQ+ fans and journalists feeling uneasy being at the tournament.
The onus shouldn’t be on fans to make the moral choice on football. The condemnation should be directed at those in power—footballing federations, politicians, decision makers. They are the ones that have significant ability to make changes in football, and to be honest, the changes made in recent times have seen the lovers of the game and the ambassadors of the sport suffer.
Football is inherently soaked in politics. The modernization of the game has come with infrastructures being implemented to help the game thrive, but that also invites politics and at times wickedness. You can’t separate politics from the sport because they come hand in hand. To be merely the most casual of fans, you must realize football is a vehicle for hidden agendas and power grabbing. The Qatar World Cup isn’t the first instance of shadines in football, and it certainly won’t be the last.
This is not to encourage the descent into whataboutery—rather the contrary. To ignore the controversy in Qatar in favour of other human rights issues around the world is destructive. If those in power are going to use football for their own gain, the fans and players should use football for good causes they believe in. It was powerful to see the Iran national team stand in defiant silence when they chose not to sing the national anthem. Many of them play their club football in Europe, but there is still a danger posed to them and especially their families if they were to return to Iran. Football has been manipulated for evil, but it can be and has been used for protest.
It’ll be 26ºC in Doha by the time England vs. USA kicks off for their second games in Group C. It’ll be a slightly chilly 7ºC in Toronto when the game starts at 2pm on the East Coast. Wherever you’re watching the World Cup in the world, the stark comparison between the experience and those of past World Cups will be as conspicuous as the temperature difference. It’s sad to think 20 years in the future, we’ll look back on this tournament and think of the off-field matters before the actual football. It’s disappointing we’ll think of the controversies before thinking of the run the eventual winners will have had.
In hopes of brighter days for the sport, I hope you fight to not let them take o jogo bonito away from us.
The Utility Spot 