In two weeks it will be Christmas Day. It will already also be the third anniversary of the passing of a great man, and a great friend of Gooners from around the world, who passed away in the early hours of Christmas Day 2019.I have struggled to know what to write about this World Cup, but I wouldn’t have been considering that at all had the Guvnor not inspired a group of us to try to continue his amazing work. Here’s to you, Dave!
It hasn’t been at all easy to write this piece. I had originally intended to reinforce our banner question of “ Why ?? “ with some facts and figures to illustrate what a corrupt bidding process and bizarre final decision it had been. In the meantime, hardly a word has been left unsaid about the fate of thousands of migrant workers who built the stadia, the lack of human rights and the extraordinary statements made by Gianni Infantino and, sadly, even our own Arsene Wenger, in an attempt to hush political discussion of the venue and make everyone “concentrate on the football”.
After all, FIFA goes to great lengths to ensure that sport and politics are not allowed to mix ! Woe betide the player who lifts his shirt during a Champions League game, to display a message condemning war in his own country, or the unjust fate of a relative or loved one. FIFA could never countenance such unchallenged proclamations unless, presumably, it was paid to do so ?
I then thought I would take one aspect of the “Why ??” and spent some time digging for more information on the bribery involved in the bidding process. I found a very good piece in the New York Times which dealt with the US investigations, the culprits and some of the sums involved. Those who might be interested can find the article by Googling – “New York Times FIFA bribery Qatar” – but be sparing with your searches – the second time I had to prove I was not a robot, due to my “unusual internet traffic”, and the third time I was hit with a paywall.
I decided not to reproduce that large amount of information here as it may already be familiar to some, but thought it might be more interesting to ask our banner question from the other side of the coin, so to speak.
“Why did Qatar want the World Cup?”
The general response to that question is that the Qatar World Cup is a sportswashing project, but that reasoning doesn’t fully explain why the country has spent an estimated £220 billion on a month-long football tournament that has invited international scorn.
Sportswashing is roughly defined as the practice of a controversial company or country using sports sponsorship to improve its reputation. But can Qatar really have said to have improved its reputation by hosting the World Cup? If anything it has amplified the country’s medieval set of rights for women and the LGBTQ community, and their now theoretically reformed kafala system of work sponsorship and its associated atrocious human rights violations. Solely on that basis, it has failed.
But sportswashing is not the only, or even the biggest reason that Qatar was prepared to throw such vast sums at hosting the tournament.
Simon Chadwick is Global Professor of Sport at Emlyon Business School in France. He claims, “It was never all about sportswashing. The term serves a purpose but it oversimplifies a complex debate.” He is keen to stress that sport does bring benefits in terms of reputation and does not dispute the accuracy of the phrase “sportswashing’, but he says it is only part of the reason Qatar wanted the World Cup. Qatar’s hosting of the World Cup is also about power and weakness. “Fundamentally the World Cup is about Qatar’s strategic vulnerability”, he says. Qatar is a tiny country – its area is less than that of Cork and Kerry combined – and it is surrounded by larger, powerful neighbours. It shares a land border with Saudi Arabia and maritime borders with UAE, Bahrain, and Iran. It is also sitting on the modern equivalent of a gold mine, with vast natural gas reserves, which they have efficiently exploited to make themselves the richest country in the world. But with great wealth comes great vulnerability.
Qatar was a British protectorate until 1971, with the British offering support and protection in return for access to oil and gas.”It was the British at work again in their colonial-era, imperialist way”, explains Professor Chadwick, “But when the British pulled out in 1971, Qatar was vulnerable again. Rather than be dictated to by the British as to how to use their resources, all of a sudden Qatar was on its own. It had to make its own decisions. Fundamentally, Qatar wants to protect itself and has done that by “hedging”, which is geo-political speak for trying not to annoy anyone. So while Qatar has a strong relationship with Iran and housed the exiled Taliban, it is also home to the US Army’s biggest air force base in the Gulf. Sport is part of that process.
The World Cup is undoubtedly Qatar’s biggest project, but it also hosted the FIFA Club World Cup and the World Athletics Championships in 2019, along with the 2016 UCI Road World Championships and the 2015 World Handball Championships. It has also been added to the F1 Grand Prix roster and may yet bid for the Olympics in 2036. “They are so small and so vulnerable, they can’t afford to antagonise anyone”, says Professor Chadwick. “So they have to remain visible and present, and appear constructive, trustworthy and legitimate. The World Cup is part of that narrative to allow them to be seen as legitimate and trusted members of the international community.
“If you can demonstrate to the world that you can deliver on a plan, keep your promises, and have the resources to invest in important projects, it sends a signal to the global community.” Sport is also used by Qatar as basic nation-branding, a vehicle to advertise around the world the essential fact that Qatar is its own nation state.
Only 15 years ago Qatar was little known. Now, people certainly know the country’s name. Defining national borders and entrenching them in people’s minds has its own defensive purpose. In his book ‘Inside Qatar: Hidden Stories from One of the Richest Nations on Earth’, John McManus writes that there was concern in Qatar that Saudi Arabia might invade during the Gulf crisis of 2017. “There is a defensiveness underpinning Qatar which a lot of people have not picked up on,” says Professor Chadwick. “Putin deliberately used sport for offensive rather than defensive purposes. Without doubt, sport for Putin was of a malign nature. It wasn’t intended to pacify or placate, but to divide and conquer – a totally different strategy.”
But while the World Cup has betrayed Qatar’s vulnerability it has also projected its power. That power has increased since Russia invaded Ukraine. Qatar’s gas exports for April this year were more than double what they were in the same month a year earlier, as Western leaders descended on Qatar to strike deals. The West’s reliance on Qatari gas has been articulated through criticism – or rather the lack of it – of the nation’s hosting of the World Cup. Western governments have rarely spoken as one on the matter, and often tempered whatever criticism they have mentioned.
To give an example, Germany’s Interior Minister, Nancy Faeser said in October that “it would be better if the World Cup wasn’t awarded to countries with a human rights record like Qatar,” which earned her a swift rebuke from the Gulf State. She clarified her comments a week later, saying they were “misinterpreted” and Qatar had, in fact, introduced “very good laws” in improving the living and working conditions of migrant labourers.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has also praised Qatar’s “progress” on improving labour rights in the country while speaking on a visit to Qatar during which he signed gas deals with Qatar and the UAE. Amnesty International have acknowledged those same laws and improvements, but warned that there remained a gap between the writing of the laws and their implementation across all infrastructure, not just the projects directly related to the World Cup. “What we have here is a very small country with outsized power, and that outsized power is a consequence of their resources and the interdependence that allows them to exert control over countries like Britain, Germany and many others across Europe”, says Professor Chadwick.
Only this week French president Emmanuel Macron wheeled out the tired old line that sport and politics shouldn’t mix. “We must not politicise sport”, he said, surely in hope rather than expectation. In awarding the World Cup to Qatar, FIFA have allowed the competition and the sport to be used as a political tool – to become one plank of a nation-building strategy. The politics will never consciously leave the World Cup – it will always be of use to someone, somewhere. It is FIFA’s job to ward off those politics. In that respect, they have distinctly failed.*
A whistleblower who was jailed in Qatar after raising concerns about the mistreatment of migrant workers at World Cup stadium sites, was tortured on the eve of the tournament, his family has claimed. The human rights organisation FairSquare also released a letter from the family of Abdullah Ibhais, a former media manager in Qatar’s Supreme Committee, which accused FIFA of “callous indifference” for ignoring his case. FairSquare is now calling for the United Nations working group on arbitrary detention to intervene in the hope that Ibhais will be released from his three-year jail sentence.
In the letter Ibhais’s family claims he spent four days “in complete darkness in solitary confinement after being physically assaulted” – as punishment for contributing to last month’s ITV documentary Qatar: State of Fear? – with the air conditioning at full blast and used as a torture device. “He was in a cell of two metres by one metre, with a hole in the ground as a bathroom and with temperatures near freezing,” the letter adds. “I was already suffering from several bruises after the prison guards’ assault and I was shivering all the time, as the cold air directed to me never stopped. I hardly slept during those four days,” Ibhais said.
Ibhais says he was jailed after raising concerns that the Supreme Committee planned to deny that World Cup workers were involved in a strike of between 4,000 and 6,000 people in Doha. He says he found 200 workers in Education City Stadium and Al Bayt Stadium that had no drinking water and had not been paid for four months. However, Qatar’s authorities insist that Ibhais, who was removed from his role in 2019, was sentenced on fraud charges relating to a contract to produce social media content for the World Cup. But that is disputed by Fair Square, which says he was coerced into a confession and denied a fair trial.
Nicholas McGeehan of FairSquare said Ibhais had gone to FIFA before his arrest. “He was messaging directly members of FIFA’s human rights team,” said McGeehan. “At some point, however, they just disappeared. They essentially ghosted him – for want of a better word – and he had no further communication from them after that.”
And Finally, A Bit Of Fun
So, after all that seriousness, it must be time for something a bit more lighthearted. It’s really isn’t my style to do a solely serious piece …..
As we all know, Russia and Qatar were each awarded a World Cup at the same ceremony in 2010. In 2022 those two countries are probably the most featured in international news – Qatar for their football tournament and appalling human rights record, and Russia for their own form of inhuman behaviour in Ukraine.
The Arabic names constantly in the news reminded me of a very old poem, more recently (1974) recorded as a song by Peter Skellern. The poem, by a strange quirk of circumstance, deals with a skirmish that happens accidentally, in a market place, between an Arab Emir (actually Turkish but we can surely suspend disbelief for the sake of a bit of fun) and a Russian Tzar. It’s interesting that way back in the 1800s when the poem was written, the intolerance of both parties led to ….. well, give it a listen. It is fun!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7GgmOdHDog
Stop press: (for me anyway!)
Baddiel and Skinner have released a revamped version of Football’s Coming Home in an attempt to achieve a Christmas No. 1, says Frank Skinner – “it’s finally come down to a shoot out between Mariah Carey and me as to who’s got the best voice!” Great video – enjoy!
Oh, and a Very Merry Christmas !
*From an article by Sean Ingle of The Guardian, 7th Dec 2022.
Great piece Trev, with very interesting commentary on the geopolitical balance in the Gulf. My congratulations on a very well researched piece and for the quality of the writing.
Excellent research work Trev, You contextualise this tournament nicely. As a result of Qatar’s succesful bid and in accord with their objectives, I suspect we are all infinitely more aware of Qatar and can more accurately locate it on a map than we formerly were. I also suspect that the subsequent widespread criticism of their successful bid and their customs and practice came as something of a shock to the Qataris. Nonetheless I expect they feel that it was all worth it.
Let me echo what C100 said @1 and add that there is a further dimension to what Qatar and other Gulf countries are doing with regard to sport, which is to use it as a basis for developing tourism industries ahead of the day when their fossil fuel wealth will no longer sustain them. Saudi Arabia has the benefit of cultural sites and Red Sea resorts with which to lure visitors. The smaller emirates have to manufacture reasons to visit. Much of the $220 billion Qatar is estimated to have spent on infrastructure ahead of hosting the World Cup has gone on things like 105 hotels and a new subway system that will serve tourists for years to come. Only around $8 billion has been spent on stadiums.
The World Cup has also allowed the region to move on from the boycott and blockade of Qatar imposed in 2017 by the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt. Although the diplomatic row was formally ended in January 2021, the World Cup has provided a rallying point for Gulf unity, and, if anyone outside the region is paying attention, to the region’s support for the Palestinians.
Qatar is now accused of attempting to bribe members of the European Parliament, according to the Belgian newspaper Knack.
https://www.knack.be/nieuws/wereld/europa/wk-qatar-14-huiszoekingen-in-onderzoek-naar-corruptie-in-het-europees-parlement/
The BBC has an English account:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63921002
Trev
Thanks for an excellent piece which adds greatly to our understanding of the complexities around this tacky competition.I’ve watched three England games but nothing else and haven’t missed it at all.
Untold Arsenal have picked up on the attempted EU Parliament bribery 5iday as well. It’s not often we can be twinned witn them- but your piece is much funnier and much better written !
Thanks Trev, an excellent piece airing some of the background to the whole sorry mess.
Interesting read thanks Trev.
Just to pull back from the WC to Arsenal.
Why was the foul on Harry Kane by Upamecano not given, quote from Metro
Meanwhile, VAR cannot award free kicks retrospectively, which is why England ended up with nothing from that incident, despite it appearing to be a clear foul on Kane.
VAR was used against Arsenal v Man Utd for exactly this reason, chalking off our excellent goal consider me confused?
Apologies for my continued absenteeism but long covid continues to kick my ass.
Thanks Trev! Tremendous work and an excellent piece about what is behind the “Why Qatar”.
It is the cruel reality this beautiful game is not a game anymore. But one of the most effective political tools right next to Facebook.
DG@7. Stay strong. Always a welcome for you here.
Thanks Trev for a very interesting and thought provoking read.
DG. Hang in there mate. Every word of what Ned said just above.
DG@7
The clouds will part and you will get stronger. Keep going mate !
Thanks Trev for a well constructed piece, it was a really good read.
DG @ 7 – always good to see you here & stay strong.
Aston Villa 1 Arsenal 4
— as it should be.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/63849447
Thanks all, for reading and getting involved.
To be clear, I don’t think any of this excuses the Qataris’ behaviour, but it grabbed my attention because of just how deep their motivation, and possible need, went to get this event.
A very pertinent piece in The Standard (Austria’s, London’s) on the alleged bribery of the EU vice president Eva Kaili by Qatar.
The nub is
The small, filthy rich Emirate of Qatar basically invented what other Gulf states are doing today: investing a lot of money and diplomacy in polishing up its image and international networking. And even if in principle this strategy doesn’t have to cross criminal boundaries, it quickly comes up against what should be considered an ethical no-go in Europe.
‘Filthy rich’ sounds even better in German, ‘stinkreiche’.
https://www.derstandard.at/story/2000141700784/katar-klein-reich-und-in-staendiger-angst-um-seine-unabhaengigkeit
That should be, Austria’s, not London’s. Autodidactic autocorrect!
I’ve watched very little of the World Cup – just the last three England games which I watched largely to see how Bukayo played . I’m not intending to watch the rest of the games and don’t feel I’ve missed anything of any consequence other than a few decent games .
The game on Saturday has prompted the two things I hate about huge televised football. Firstly you get people who know absolutely nothing about football parroting the opinions of ‘ experts’ from the telly . Secondly we get the doom and gloom merchants who don’t understand fine margins .
Some on here are cricket fans and the rest may remember the World Cup fifty over final in 2019. We won off the last ball of a super over after , a few balls before , the ball had hit Ben Stokes’s bat quite accidentally and gone for four very fortuitous runs .We had
( and are ) a great white ball team but so are New Zealand who could have easily won the game and would have been worthy champions .
My point is that at the top level tiny events and incidents can tilt the balance in sport . OK we lost on Saturday we are depressed in England but we took the French all the way and could , maybe should , have won.That is much better than our exits in 2014, 2010 and in fact every year since maybe 1990.
Not having seen many games I’ve not been able to be enthused by the talents on show . Looking at France I wondered if we’d still be picking Lloris ,how Upamecano can possibly get in ahead of Saliba and if Giroud would have any chance of making the England squad . Otamendi starts for Argentina , Lovren for Croatia and would any other top national team include Wieghorst in their squad? We included Maguire but he did well in my view .
I’ve heard that we are very likely to sign N’Dicka next summer on a free and Ornstein is suggesting that we are all in on Mudryk this January. If we do sign him I hope it’s on January 1st not 31st.
If it is fine margins you are looking for, TTG, then Maguire getting beaten to the ball by Giroud for France’s second goal would be one.
I don’t think Lloris would start for France if any of the three keepers in the England squad was French, but I am not sure France has better.
If you haven’t seen Mudryk – and I’ve watched him in the Champions League , examine this . You Tube compilations can be misleading and some of the games are at a lower level but this boy really looks incredible
Thanks for the kind wishes all, I long believed things would get better but evidence suggests otherwise lol.
Year 1, heart attack, mobility issues, brain fog, hearing issues, visual issues.
Year 2-3 heart issues, more mobility issues, confirmed hearing and vision degradation, degenerative bone condition in hip, problems with kidney/liver, blocked vent in gall bladder, confirmed as newly diabetic, rheumatoid arthritis newest confirmed autoimmune disease.
Thank god Arsenal have been so bloody brilliant this year, made some painful days way less painful and some excellen pieces by very clever and well read fellows here that I admit have been too much for me to respond to but I promise I have read every single one of them.
The little things help a lot when the big things are seemingly going against you, so here’s hoping Eddie jumps into action as the newly improved Eddie who can copy Jesus and be another saviour.
DG @20, I am very sorry to read of your ongoing health issues. I do hope that you experience some improvements soon and that Arsenal can contribute further to your wellbeing. Best wishes.
DG@20: What bath said @21. That’s a tough hand you’ve been dealt. I hope the team can bring you many more moments of comfort.
TTG@19: Mudryk looks to have peak-Bellerin acceleration and a low centre of gravity that makes it difficult to knock him off the ball, essential attributes in the PL. Is it really possible that we might get all three of him, Felix and Tielemans in January?
DG
You’ve had a very tough series of problems to deal with there .
Thank goodness you aren’t a Marshdweller! You are quite right that our great season perks one up enormously. Let’s hope 2023 brings a huge improvement in your medical condition and some silverware for the Arsenal.
COYG !
Trev, thank you for a rigorously researched and brilliantly articulated article, nuanced and balanced.
DG, very sorry to hear about all your health troubles. Wishing you the very best.
My profound sympathies DG. I do hope things improve for you.
Benny Blanco back on the pitch against AC Milan in Dubai.
DepressedGooner,
Very sorry, like those above, to hear of your horrible luck with health problems.
I appreciate that this is barely scratching at the surface, but have you happened on / already tried MethylSulfonylMethane – sometimes sold as MSM, and sometimes included in other combined products.
It is a naturally occurring substance in the human body but supplements of MSM can help with pain and inflammation – a factor in a number of the problems you mention above , particularly rheumatoid arthritis, mobility and hip problems.
Because it is a naturally occurring substance there is no recommended daily amount or dose BUT because you have heart, liver and kidney issues, you should still CHECK WITH YOUR DOCTOR first.
If Bathgooner has any contradictory advice, I would definitely respect that too.
Good luck !
Trev @28/DG, I don’t know anything about MethylSulfonylMethane so therefore cannot give any useful opinion.
Weird that Arteta said in his press conference that we all know why Benny Blanco left the England World Cup camp when none of us do.
on Ben White playing again:
I’m very pleased, everybody has been giving him a lot of support and love, which is what he needed. You know the reasons why he had to leave the camp, and we are delighted to have him back and have him in really good shape.
Ned,
The Daily Star printed the truth. Never a sentence I thought I’d write!
When I lived in England I just assumed they made it all up every day.
A France / Argentina final then, I must admit I really don’t care who wins.
Be nice for Saliba! to get a winners medal I suppose.
Ned
I suspect he is saying that White did leave the camp because he fell out with Steve Holland and suggesting he deserves support from the Arsenal family .
TTG/OM: I know that is the assumption, but do we know that is the case?
Separately, a pro-UEFA legal opinion was issued by the European Court of Justice’s Advocate General today regarding the case around the European Super League.
https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2022-12/cp220205en.pdf
The gist is that EU law allows UEFA and FIFA to do whatever they want to stop anyone from breaking their monopoly over running football and its competitions because sport has special standing under the EU treaty.
M’learned friends in the bar will have a more expert eye for the text of the AG’s opinion, but there seems some wiggle room for the ESL to linger on its deathbed for a bit longer, especially if it can devise a way to get rid of the closed league idea that so exercises the AG. My 2 cents would be that, eventually, UEFA will make changes to the CL financially favourable to the elite clubs.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/63987133
Good news about Pablo Mari!
Another bloody stupid idea from FIFA
https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/12769221/gianni-infantino-fifa-to-launch-new-32-team-mens-club-world-cup-and-will-rediscuss-2026-world-cup-group-stage-format
Before we turn our attention back to Arsenal, which we will do very shortly, just time for this superlative piece on FIFA and corruption by the incomparable Marina Hyde
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/dec/16/qatar-2022-this-world-cup-has-taken-place-in-a-scene
C100 @36,
I’m not entirely sure about the “lack of incontrovertible evidence” of corruption.
In the Nee York Times article I flagged up, there were names and amounts mentioned. Those concerned would have been jailed but their countries didn’t have extradition treaties with the USA. South Americans and Carribeans – to keep it intentionally vague – were on the list. They received huge amounts in return for votes, and the opportunity to make hundreds of millions from the sale of cheaply acquired television rights.
This has been a weird period in football . It has coincided with our wonderful start to the season which I care about much more than any international football . I determined not to watch any games and ended up seeing the last three England matches .I feel disappointed in myself for doing that
It’s up to everyone to determine their own position on Qatar / FIFA and all . If you want to watch the matches that’s up to you . I know loads of people who said they thoroughly disapproved of the tournament and yet watched every second of it . I think I’d feel conflicted had I done that but I feel conflicted watching three England games .
The knock-on effect will be injuries and burnout because of the timing of this tournament . It wasn’t just a product of bribery and corruption it was profoundly disruptive to every league in Europe and may have far-reaching consequences .
I love football but it’s become a lot less important to me over the last few weeks
TTG @38 I kept my word and haven’t seen a second from this WC. However, I read a lot about it. Here is a surprisingly outspoken article from a Lahm. I wish that the next Euro really would be about this.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2022/dec/16/football-is-the-most-attractive-game-but-its-governors-are-squandering-its-joy
I almost lost my promise to watch the extra time of Netherlands vs Argentina but finally, we went to smoke a cigar instead.
COYG
Big up every single goonerholic xxx
Cheers Esso! Love me some Toots. How’re you doing pal? Enjoying the cricket?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>