Government should steer clear of this shabby event

IT’S ABOUT as unbelievable as Elvis at the local village hall. Yet a similar event is happening next month in Qatar when the World Cup is being hosted by a country about half the size of Wales, with no football heritage, acknowledged deficiencies in human rights, and by a Fifa process plagued by widespread allegations of corruption.

The story moves from the unbelievable to the absurd when we learn that the Welsh Government has put in place a budget of £2.5m to deliver an “enhanced marketing programme” with £1.8 million funding a range of projects and initiatives to promote and celebrate Wales with “marketing and sports diplomacy” opportunities.

It gets worse. In a recent inflated Senedd verbal statement from Vaughan Gething, liberally saturated with words such as marketing, brand, business and tourism, the Economy Minister makes a morally indefensible attempt to justify its involvement in what is regarded by most people as a tainted competition and spectacular sports-washing event. Predictably it will be attended by the First Minister, the Deputy Minister for Arts and Sport, and Vaughan Gething himself.

Of course we want to celebrate the remarkable achievement of the Wales football team, but everyone knows this shabby World Cup is taking place in a country which has very poor human rights.

For example, Amnesty claims migrant workers (who built the seven new stadiums and infrastructure) face exploitation and abusive practices; women and LGBTQ+ people face discrimination in law and practice; freedom of expression is curtailed and critical voices are stifled.

Hefin David MS was the brave lone opposing voice in suggesting that the location of the tournament was an appalling reflection of the values of Fifa and asking whether the event should be boycotted.

But the thinking of the Senedd is straight out of Alice in Wonderland: “We will use our platform as an opportunity to express our values and to demonstrate that Wales is a nation of values on the world stage. We will do this through our enhanced marketing campaign and international engagement…”

Incredible. Just saw a flying pig and Elvis is singing Leiber and Stoller’s ‘Dirty, Dirty Feeling’.