Sour and dispiriting is not how a World Cup should feel
In the end, the prospect of distorting their games for the sake of a multi-coloured One Love captain’s armband proved too much for the governing bodies of football in England, Wales, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands. The only good thing about hosting the World Cup, ironically, is that the world is far more aware of the suppression of human rights in Qatar, and indeed across the Gulf region. The point at which the Qatar tournament should have been revisited can be timed with some precision – April 2016, when Fifa promulgated a new article in its statutes, which declares: “Fifa is committed to respecting all internationally recognised human rights and shall strive to promote the protection of these rights.” This commitment is further defined in Fifa’s Human Rights Policy and in various public pronouncements by Fifa bigwigs. There is something artificial about the megastadia in the desert that has induced a flat atmosphere, one where players and fans alike increasingly feel as if they are being used in a $200bn exercise in “sportswashing”, which of course they are – albeit the clumsy propaganda has backfired badly on Qatar and Fifa. As the England Football Supporters’ Association pleads: “Never again should a World Cup be handed out solely on the basis of money and infrastructure.”
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