Arthur's Column

I think I started feeling negative about FIFA when there were some really obvious mistakes in the South African world cup.  Mistakes that modern refereeing standards such as those applied in every other high level sport – video refs and electronic aids – would have avoided.  We all saw the goal apart from the ref in that early enflish game.  There were off-sides and there weren’t and all in all it was a bit of a mess.

Today’s announcement that a small arab state that doesnt really play football – Qatar – gets the 2022 world cup is another travesty from this organisation that was outed for accepting bribes just 2 days ago by the BBC (almost certainly the reason why front-runner England’s cup bid failed).

They promise to use $50 Bn of that excess cash that comes from our outrageous fuel prices at the moment to build 12 new statiums (they dont actually play much so there aren’t any worth talking about at the moment).  Once the world cup is done and dusted these will be shipped off to deserving countries somewhere – lets see if that transpires!  Maybe they can be reused as another Ferrari theme park instead.

Then there is the small issue of heat.  Qatar is in a desert – its very hot.  Thats why its really good for nice golf courses (as long as you can afford the water bill). Apparently, according to the Wall Street Journal, the  nation will be building “high-tech, outdoor air conditioning system to assuage the summer temperatures that can reach 120 degrees during the day.”  That’s gonna be interesting – not least for the fans waiting outside the games!

Lets look a bit closer at how this bastion of world football came to decide on Qatar….

According to The Star:

“Qatar had one of the most aggressive and expansive lobbying campaigns of any bidder, led by Mike Lee, an Englishman who was instrumental in helping London secure the 2012 Olympics and Rio the 2016 Games.

Early on, Qatar struck a deal to sponsor the African football confederation congress, negotiating an agreement that gave it exclusive access to the top officials in African football. It pitched its bid from Singapore to Brazil in the final months and invited about 20 African football federations heads to a friendly match between Brazil and Argentina just two weeks before the vote.”

Something ringing a little corruption bell here?