World Cup 2022: Qatar

[chrisp65]

So, for what it’s worth, my take on Qatar as someone that didn’t go there, but knows 20+ people that did. People that borrowed flags from the flagbag, in order to represent.

The first thing, would be the relentless pictures of fans in bars, singing and shouting and mixing with fans from other countries. The people that went absolutely loved the closeness and physical scale, because it meant they got to meet fans from Argentina, Australia, Korea, Morocco… Seeing kids from Senegal wearing Wales tops they’d swapped on a beach or in a bar a few days earlier. They’ve all come back absolutely evangelical about venues being close together and making it a real festival for fans. Those that could afford it, loved it. Both those that stayed in Qatar, and those that border hopped.

The fly in the ointment was the organisation and stewarding at stadium level. Petty, and partisan. People with all the paper work to take instruments in to the ground were told there was an absolute ban on all instruments… only to have Iranian fans with giant drums walk past them, with stewards assisting with the bigger drums. Flags that weren’t allowed in because they might be political, only for Iranians to have dozens of Palestinian flags. People bothered by security and questioned because they had a stripey armband or a rainbow hat. Children had bucket hats confiscated because they had multi coloured bricks on them. Officiating at that local stewarding level was poor. Flags were measured, one flag from the flag bag wasn’t allowed in to the stadium for the USA match because it was 100mm too wide. Another got in to the stadium, but was taken down by stewards because they didn’t know what the wording on it meant. They just took it down, and walked off with it, never too be seen again. Clearly google translate via smartphone app hasn’t got the global reach you’d imagine.

But none of that stadium admin outweighed the fun of mixing with fans from countries not in the same group, complete non-rivals able to mix and chat without some drunk microdick chucking patio furniture around.

A World Cup spread over Vancouver, Kansas, New York and Mexico City isn’t going to replicate that festival atmosphere. Not least when so many of the host cities will have football, alcohol, and guns.

This isn’t to praise FIFA or Qatar, the money based decision making stinks. The lip service to human rights stinks. As it did in Brazil when the police ‘cleaned up’ the streets, as it did in Russia. All rightly reported at the time. If you make a political stand and refuse to watch a World Cup, I’d love to know where your trainers and jeans are made and what bank you use.

We are further ahead than Qatar on equality, but we’re no shining example of true enlightenment. We’ve had age equality for straight and gay sex for less than twenty years and we’re still obsessed with who can use what toilet.

The actual football? I managed to be working from home to watch every daytime group game and early knock out game. I thought it was excellent, once you worked out how to avoid ITV and BBC commentary. I thought the actual final was one of the best.

 

 

[blandy]

Yay! Hope all's good, Chris.

FWIW what you've posted is what a few people who went have said. The closeness of all the venues really worked for the fans, on multiple levels, not just mixing, but no treks half a world away after the group stage, or for a quarter final and stuff.

Watching, not watching, makes no difference to anything. I saw some early games and then once the (for here) evening kick offs stopped and the games were all moved to the middle of the night, just saw bits on catch up on the phone or re-runs in pubs. It seemed pretty good from a long way away. And being out of the UK, there was none of the "hype and media stuff around off field stuff, it was all about whether their team would continue to overachieve. They did pretty well, to be fair, before a heroic defeat to the eventual winners.

[chrisp65]

Yeah, I had the good fortune of a fairly serious health thing whereby I couldn’t get to the office, and the office attitude was that I could / should have taken sick leave for a few weeks but were grateful for me offering to work from home as and when I could.

Which basically meant that for the first time in my life, I sat in front of a World Cup and watched pretty much all of it.

By genuine coincidence, we’d also recently got around to upgrading the TV to a bigger better picture.

And I had Morocco in the office draw.

FWIW a winter World Cup was a clear success. Made a nice change for the likes of Argentina to be able to watch in their summer. I’d imagine similar for Australia. It can’t all always be for the convenience of the top 4 European leagues. I’m also a massive fan of the tournament being expanded to take in more teams. I have little interest in seeing the 32nd time Denmark have played Germany. But I love seeing Saudi Arabia play Peru. Not least, because the fans of perceived ‘lesser’ teams like Peru, New Zealand, Italy, or El Salvador etc get a go at being in a tournament. Which can only be a good thing. Next step is to stop loading the dice by seeding and have a genuine balls out of a bag draw. Then I’ll be all in.

[blandy]

9 hours ago, chrisp65 said:

Made a nice change for the likes of Argentina to be able to watch in their summer. I’d imagine similar for Australia

Argentina I have no idea, but Australia, no. It was mostly in the middle of the night, so Summer, Winter, what's the difference, really.

[The_Steve]

Still no justice for migrant workers in Qatar