Qatar diary (21.11.22)

An occasional World Cup 2022 diary.

As soon as Britain’s chief snowflake Piers Morgan had tweeted his anger at the BBC’s decision to not provide coverage of the World Cup opening ceremony on its main channel, I knew it was the right thing to do. I don’t like using the term ‘snowflake’, which has been hijacked by right-wing self-styled ‘hard’ men like Morgan, but in his case, I’ll make an exception. He is, after all, the man who angrily flounced off his ITV breakfast show when the show’s weatherman had the audacity to challenge his bigotry. In any event, home and abroad, opening ceremonies are a tedious necessity, but in this instance it was pure sports-washing as Qatar tried to pretend it was a normal place to hold the world’s greatest sporting event (yes, it is).

Anyway, enough about Morgan and on to the football, such as it was. I am still not into it, despite my love of the game, and this dire encounter between mid ranking Ecuador and dismal Qatar didn’t do much to change it. Quite apart from the generally held view that Qatar should not have been allowed near to hosting a World Cup, they’re basically a pub team. It wasn’t just the international viewing population who noticed that: it was the locals, too. The stadium was half-empty from early in the second half, leaving just the jolly Ecuadorians and Qatar’s army of paid supporters to chant on demand. Oddly enough, the show’s director didn’t dwell on the empty terraces, not wishing to upset the nation’s leadership and, possibly, avoiding a public flogging.

England are playing Iran today, another country run by bigots and all-round wrong ‘uns who probably shouldn’t be there either. I write less than four hours from kick and as of this moment in time, my enthusiasm is through the floor. I expect to care a little more when the game kicks off but the likelihood that England captain Harry Kane will be intimidated into not wearing a ‘One Love’ armband fills me with gloom. And if beyond taking the knee – well done, lads – there is nothing, then let’s not blame the players. The bad guys in this are, overwhelming, the spivs and crooks in FIFA who allocated the tournament to Qatar in the first place. I believe strongly in not keeping sport and politics separate because, frankly, you can’t. But in the end, although the players are really what this is all about, in terms of politics they are bit part players. And it shouldn’t be the likes of Kane who carry the can for all this stuff.

Tonight, Wales will be taking on America and, if I bother to watch, I’ll be firmly behind the lads from across the…Atlantic. Being British simply isn’t a good enough reason for me to want them to do well, not least when Torquay’s own Kieffer Moore boasts of looking forward to booting England out of the tournament. I have no real issue with players pretending to be from another country when really they’re English because I only want players to play for England if they passionate to do so.

It is just SO wrong holding a World Cup in November and December and even more wrong to hold it in Qatar in the first place. As things stand, I can barely care less about it.