Referenews

Up till the first ball was kicked in that “historic home of football” in Qatar, one could have been forgiven for being confused as to the point of the festival. Was it meant to be a fiesta of fun football or was it an exercise in symbolism and values?

Firstly, the power of dirty money had bought and brought a summer tournament to a wintry desert environment. That in itself is no bad thing if done for the right reasons. After all, most of South America experiences winter during most World Cups (being in the southern hemisphere and all that). But the billions which purchased Manchester City and Paris St. Germain wanted more. FIFA was as always ready to oblige. For a bung.

Secondly, however, we got enmeshed in a culture war. Coincidentally, street protests flared all over Iran against the medieval strictures on religion and its mandatory manifestation of “modesty.” But where were they over Saudi Arabia’s inhumane treatment of women, much much worse than Iran?

And then there was the legitimate issue of LGBT and the freedom of sexual orientation. The question is: But will the taking of the knee, armbands or hand over the mouth be really expected to bring badly needed change in some West Asian societies? Of course not. 

After decades of raking in the millions from billionaires from Thailand, Russia, Ukraine, several Arab family dictatorships, and more, suddenly footballers are asking questions. 

Except for some very rare individuals such as Marcus Rashford who actually did something for poor children, all the Beckhams and the Messis (and the rest) have focused on the sponsorships, image rights, and more. 

Wasn’t Leo Messi a goodwill ambassador for Saudi Arabia? Aren’t we fed up with celebrities posing for two minutes on social issues before ringing their agent for more Arab money?

These are footballers, no better or worse than most. Historically they used to be treated like dirt in Europe. Hacked on the pitch for years, they were generally washed up by 30 and had to resort to some trade such as plumbing or carpentry. Rubert Murdoch changed all that in the 1990s and married satellite TV with football and fulfilled George Orwell’s observation about football and its role in mass control (with beer as the tranquilizer). 

South and East Asians have, for the most, only seen the TV-cum-billionaire version of the sport where the world’s best head to a grey wintry isle off Europe. Follow the money and forget the symbolism.

Thirdly, we come to death and destruction. You know, stuff like invasions, bombings, and a bullet in the head. The Russian Federation was ejected from the World Cup because of its invasion of Ukraine. Most readers of the Western media can’t see any problem with that. If that were the first invasion, then absolutely. But ask the question.

The US (along with Canada and Mexico ) will host the next World Cup. They were awarded this honour in 2018 after a tortuous process of three years. Luckily, Donald Trump hadn’t embarked upon a major invasion in his presidency. Africa remembered Obama’s destruction of Libya in 2011 but FIFA had no recollection. If you look vaguely north from Qatar you might notice a country called Iraq. Illegally invaded, on false pretences, and bombed to the Stone Age (with a million casualties), many “progressives” shrug their shoulders and say “but it was all such as long time ago.” Sure. Were the leading powers then banned from the World Cup in 2006 by which time we had found that Bush, Condy Rice, and Colin Powell had lied all along?

Incidentally, Serb Yugoslavia was banned in 1992 over their war. Time Magazine shows only a handful of others were too for relatively minor offences, not war. Yet no bloody European colonial wars post-1945 ever merited a ban. Nor the illegal bombing of Cambodia in 1972, nor Vietnam. And the rest before and after.

These issues are not forgotten in much of the Global South. This is fast becoming a bifurcated world. There are no clean shirts in this game.

I reckon we are going to have two rival World Cups within twenty years at a time when the world’s best could be playing in Asian leagues not in Europe.

Talking of future FIFA papal excommunications, does this mean that if the US launches an invasion or mass bombing the next three years that it will be banned from hosting the world cup in 2026? Somehow I doubt the US would ever get banned barring another Hiroshima. And even then …

Do you remember Mario Kempes and Argentina winning the 1978 World Cup? That benighted country was in the grip of a murderous fascist regime, responsible for tens of thousands of disappearances. Not a problem. It was anti-Russian (then labelled Communist ) and no issue at all. When the regime invaded the Falklands in 1982 then it indeed was a problem. But not for football. The World Cup had moved on.

Has anyone mentioned Saudi Arabia (and UAE) over Yemen the last few weeks ? That “non-war” since the mid 2010s has claimed countless tens of thousands of lives, but have you noticed any sanctions against the Saudi despots? 

Here’s the thing. China’s leader Xi Jinping has just made a rare visit to that kingdom. It is its biggest buyer of oil and no doubt will one day (how soon?) say it will no longer pay in US dollars but only in Yuan. 

Then expect the Western opinion-formers to scramble to tell you how appalled they have always been (but not found the time to campaign against them). That’s when Saudis might get the chop. Not before.

Have you noticed how little we have got to know about Qatar the last few weeks? There has been a lot of noise, but precious little information. How many times has that giant US military base in Qatar itself NOT been mentioned? The US generals and soldiers had no idea about dead South Asian labourers or LGBT people. How have Qatar’s dirty war and machinations with the Muslim Brotherhood and armed barbaric Islamist bands in Syria and further not been raked over. They wrote scathing articles in WaPo against Qatar for a while, then switched off when the deal was done. How many Qatari billions have been helping prop up Western financial foundations (on a magnitude far greater than on football).

As Jurgen Klinsmann (ex-German striker and also former US coach) explained: It’s in their culture. He was berating the Iranians for their alleged planned aggression in the Wales game and informed us that the Guatemalan referee (and by inference Latin America) was from that type of football. A huge Twitter storm was set off but to no avail. The BBC continues to invite him. In one of the subsequent matches they had him sit next to two black football commentators. Some BBC producers must have thought the viewers would appreciate the choreography. 

I don’t care if Klinsmann is a throwback or not. I just don’t want him talking vile nonsense. I only remember him as a great scorer of goals (and have long forgiven his notorious diving). I also appreciate the magnanimity of the Welsh fans for acknowledging that the Iranians were better. Ironically, this was followed by an Iranian defeat in the very next match against a seriously talented and exciting US football team.

I love football for its passion, skill, and beauty. Not for its social commentary nor political Instagram gestures. Klinsmann’s Germany made a shocking early exit and now we hear there might or might not have been a Far Right attempted coup against the government. 

The real thing or another diversion now that focus on football has disappeared? Whatever. 

The real wars and protests resume after the final whistle.

Farid Erkizia Bakht is a political analyst.