964 lives lost

And still Blatter insists Qatar is the right place for the World Cup

AS PRESIDENT of FIFA, Sepp Blatter is by far the most powerful individual in world football. So when he acknowledged that they had made a ‘mistake’ in awarding the 2022 World Cup finals to Qatar, it came as some surprise. He was quite philosophical about the error. ‘You know,’ he said, ‘everyone makes mistakes in life.’

Now, FIFA’s Rapid Response Unit is on full alert whenever Blatter opens his mouth and, within minutes, we were being told that he hadn’t really meant what he had so plainly said, that he was only talking about holding the competition in the heat of high summer and that he certainly wasn’t questioning Qatar’s right to hold the World Cup, heaven forfend.

And some recalled his earlier blunders, such as the time he confronted the issue of racism in football in these words: ‘There is no racism but sometimes there is a word or gesture which is not correct. The one affected by this should say, “This is a game” and shake hands.’

Or his enlightened suggestion to women footballers: ‘Wear tighter shorts and low-cut shirts.’

Then there was his sensitive advice to those who might be at risk from Qatar’s anti-gay laws: ‘I would say that they should refrain from any sexual activities.’

Blatter has an ability to talk offensive nonsense on a wide range of issues. But that’s just the way he is. He’s 78. Surely he can be forgiven the occasional senior moment?

The truth is, though, he can’t. Because the World Cup finals are destined for Qatar, that impossibly rich and morally bankrupt emirate which held off superior bids from Australia, Korea, Japan and the United States in a FIFA vote which stank to high heaven.

And yet, that lamentable decision made the wider world aware of Qatar’s savage iniquities.

THIS is a nation of 2.1million people, 1.4m of whom are migrant workers. It operates the ‘kafala’ system, a form of modern-day slavery by which workers are tied to their employer. Wages are derisory, living conditions are scandalous, passports are confiscated and exit visas withheld.

A report by an international law firm has just quoted the Qatar government’s own statistics on the number of migrants who have died on its soil in 2012 and 2013: no fewer than 964 from Nepal, India and Bangladesh, 246 from ‘ sudden cardiac death’ while enduring an inhuman workload in relentless desert heat. While the Qataris say the deaths are not linked to the World Cup, critics insist that fatalities have occurred on infrastructure projects associated with the 2022 tournament.

As a result of this report, along with a good deal of brave and diligent reporting by British and European journalists, the Qatar government have agreed to scrap or soften certain aspects of kafala, but their promises are being treated with a degree of cynicism by international human rights agencies.

For the world’s richest nation per capita is also a feudal society which equates mild reform with raging revolution. Let them have exit visas and, next thing you know, they’ll be asking for a living wage. The deal is by no means done. Yet Blatter, back on message, believes that change is on its way. He called it: ‘A significant step in the right direction for sustainable change in the workers’ welfare standards in Qatar.’

Soon, have no doubt, he will claim credit for his organisation’s sagacity in taking the World Cup to this benighted land and thereby hastening its modernisation. For he has served as president since 1998. He has been re-elected on three occasions, with the ominous possibility that he may stand for a fifth term next year. ‘Of course, I want to continue,’ he said. ‘I have the drive to continue’. And he well understands FIFA’s fondness for comforting delusions.

But he, too, has a weakness for delusion. And he does not begin to comprehend the outrage ignited by the very idea of a state such as Qatar staging the ultimate celebration of the most popular sport on the planet. For it fails pretty well every test, save that of extreme wealth. And that is the asset which Blatter and his allies prize most dearly.

IT IS possible, just possible, to gloss over his racist, sexist and homophobic lapses as the foolish flaws of a bewildered old man. But, on just about every ground one cares to mention, this is an outrage of a quite different order. And he knows it, of course. When he said ‘everyone makes mistakes in life’, he was actually telling the truth. And he must live with the consequences.