This time around, World Cup joy will be tinged with regret and despair
THE outstanding memory of the 2002 World Cup wasn’t Mattie Holland’s daisy-cutter against Cameroon or Robbie Keane’s equaliser in Ibaraki, as wonderful as they were, but it was being present in Seoul on the night that South Korea shocked Giovanni Trapattoni’s Italy.
As more than a million delirious people flooded the streets, celebrating a seismic result, it was easy to believe in the power of sport to unite the masses. That has been the message FIFA has preached for years. Their current president Gianni Infantino was at it again this past week, insisting that the forthcoming tournament in Qatar will bring people together for one month and help dispel misconceptions that still exist about the Middle East.
Infantino’s words might have meant a little more if they didn’t come in a week when LGBT rights campaigner Peter Tatchell was stopped from protesting in Doha and UK foreign secretary James Cleverly suggested that fans attending the tournament show ‘a little bit of flex and compromise’ in order ‘to be respectful of the host nation’.
It’s not too often that we’re in the position to be praising Australian sporting teams but the Socceroos set themselves apart this past week with the video statement from their players criticising Qatar’s record on human rights. The players, including former Brighton goalkeeper Mat Ryan (right), called for the decriminalisation of all same-sex relationships as well as ‘effective remedy’ for the suffering of migrant workers.
The three-minute clip is worth a watch and certainly packs more of a punch than the ‘One Love’ anti-discrimination armband that nine European countries will wear at the tournament. Australia have led the way. Let’s hope others will follow.
It remains to be seen if FIFA respond to Amnesty International’s call to match the prize money with a $440million fund to recompense abused migrant workers. The answer to that may be obvious. Those privileged to have guardianship of the world’s game have failed it miserably, but the World Cup is going to happen now, and the world is going to watch. So, we should try to make the best of a terrible situation.
Which is what Australia have tried to do with their video. Which is why Amnesty International are calling for a fund to recompense migrant workers. Which is why even the armband might have some sort of soft power in changing a mind or two.
The greatest show on earth was about a group of Senegalese supporters doing a conga-line in the Tokyo subway after beating defending champions France, their former colonial power, in the opening World Cup game.
But this tournament won’t be like those that went before. Supporters will have to respect the norms of gas-rich Qatar.
Of course, we will be watching, because we always do. Many of us measure our lives out in World Cups. But there will be a voice that will be hard to silence, telling us that maybe we shouldn’t be watching.