World ambivalent

It is nearly 12 years since FIFA awarded the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.

This was due to be played in June and July of that year.

This year.

Only we are now in November, and no ball has been kicked yet.

This is because of was physically impossible to play football in Qatar in Jue and July due to the extreme heat.

Anyone who has visited or worked in a desert will tell you, it is very, very dangerous.

So, in time, the decision was made to switch the competition to November and December, because, you know, football is impossible in the desert in the summer. Like this was news.

It was to FIFA of course.

Of the 22 members of the executive committee that voted for the World Cup to be awarded to Qatar, half of them have been sanctioned for corruption.

And yet the decision was allowed to stand.

With no consultation with players, fans or other regional FAs, the World Cup was moved, and the rest of football just had to like it or lump it. Why this time period (November to December)?

Well, funny you should ask.

FIFA's main TV partners are in the US, and it had to fit in between the end of the World Series and the start of the NFL post season. Either that or it would be in February to March next year.

So it is now.

A country with the same population as Kent will have 8 (eight) world class football stadiums once it is over in five weeks time.

It is estimated that the 8 stadiums, the hotels and new airport cost something like £220 billion on infrastructure since being awarded the World Cup. How any of this is sustainable is beyond me.

And then there is the estimated 6,500 migrant workers who have died whilst working in the state in the last 12 years. Six and a half thousand!

Words fail me.

When a worker was killed at the showpiece stadium in Brazil it was headline news, six and a half thousand and the world shrugs.

LBGT is illegal in the country, and peole might be arrested and jailed if caught.

Meanwhile FIFA procalims equality.

It is all window dressing, of course.

Finally, yesterday it was announced that beer will not now be served at any of the stadiums, at least outside the VIP areas. Don't get me wrong, the banning of drinking before games could mean less problems, for the few fans that made the trip, but the real issue is with Budweiser.

Bud is one of FIFA's main commercial partners, and this should not have happened. Bud are not happy, though in public say it is something they will have to live with, but FIFA had 12 years to sort this out. So, we will have endless Bud ads round the pitches at all eight stadiums, but fans won't be able to drink, and FIFA have managed to upset their main commercial partner.

I hope the bribes that Qatar paid are worth all the deaths, the souring of football's name, the massive distruption to the football calendar.

Will I watch it?

Not every game.

Some games.

A few.

It begins in 24 hours and beyond the first game, I don't know when any other games are taking place or between whom.

Its about time we fans demanded and got our game back.