The SFA should not allow itself to be associated with Qatar
I WAS appalled, but not surprised, to read of the Scottish Football Association’s agreed partnership with World Cup 2022 hosts Qatar (“SFA chiefs’ backing for Qatar after visit”, Herald Sport, February 23).
It appears that the so-called chiefs of our national game have signed up to “close links” with the Qatari Football Association and have now discovered they have many “areas of common interest”.
I wonder if these areas of common interest”include the thousands of men forced to work under the scorching desert sun, denied food, drinking water, and barred from escaping home. These men are modern-day slaves.
Last year, one person died every other day building the billion dollar mega-project for Qatar’s 2022 World Cup.
Qatar’s “guest worker” programme is at the root of the problem.
It lures people from Nepal and Sri Lanka with promises of good jobs, but when they arrive their employers confiscate their passports and force them to work long hours in 50 degree heat with no chance of escape.
Did the SFA have no knowledge of this ? Brian Lawson, SNP councillor for Paisley East and Ralston, Renfrewshire Council, Cotton Street, Paisley. MICHAEL Grant (“Sectarianism? It’s long since sounded like a track on repeat ...”, Herald Sport, February 23) provides an in-depth comment on the continuing scourge of sectarian chanting within Scottish football stadia. He suggests that whilst a strict liability and zero tolerance approach might be the answer neither the SFA nor the SPFL has seriously addressed the problem, unlike their English counterparts who have been pressurised by Westminster politicians.
Such action by our MSPs would be more welcome than entering into debate on the issue of allowing alcohol being available for purchase inside football grounds. Mr Grant is in favour of the 35-year-old ban to be lifted and suggests the ban dates “from an era which bears no relation to football as it is today”. Perhaps this acclaimed improvement, offensive chanting excluded, has resulted from there being no alcohol sold within grounds.
Accepting that many supporters enjoy a pre-match drink surely a two-hour abstinence is not an undue burden? Continuation of this match period ban at football grounds will, I suspect, be welcomed by many fellow spectators, local residents and police alike. Allan C Steele, 22 Forres Avenue, Giffnock.