Friday, December 3, 2010

World Cup Woes

Well it looks like I'll have to wait at least another 20 years for the chance to see the World Cup in my own country! By the sounds of it, the way the voting went we were never really in the running. Partly thanks to the BBC screening a documentary implicating some members of the committee in a "cash for votes" scandal about 3 days before the vote. Well done guys - good timing! We all know this kind of stuff goes on  (Qatar?/World Cup? - I'll come back to this one) but at least expose them after the vote!


So Russia (have loads of oil wealth) and Qatar (have loads of gas & oil wealth) have got the votes. Well, I guess at least Russia have a football pedigree and have actually been to the World Cup before - but Qatar!? It'll be weird though seeing every other country's football team dying of mysterious food poisoning incidents leaving Russia to win in 2018..


Firstly, as we all know it is going to be 'king hot in Qatar in June/July - no seriously if you haven't experienced 45-50C (maybe more - it got up to 51C here this summer and it has been 55C here before) then it is difficult to convey how nasty it is, especially as it will be over 90% humidity too most likely. Now I know they are building these super "green" (yeah right, ok) stadia with mega air conditioning etc. - but what the hell do you do when you are not at the games? These are the times when fans relax in the parks/seafronts/street cafes etc enjoying the atmosphere and banter with other fans - drinking lots (and lots) of beer, eating hot dogs (not made from chicken) and flirting with the local girls!! Hmmm.... problems all round then!


They are going to have stadia in multiple places in Qatar, but really Qatar is, well, Doha. And Doha is really not that big. There will simply be too many people in a small place with nothing to do. Some of the stadia are apparently going to be dismantled and sent to poorer countries after the event. Now this is a good thing, because at least if they go to somewhere in Africa for example, they will get used - filled to capacity - if they stay in Qatar, they will be redundant. There will be no lasting football legacy for Qatar.

2 comments:

  1. Hundreds of thousands of fans with thirsts (of ALL kinds) in Doha. Hot, thirsty and bored fans=trouble in this area. Points well made! Lots of work to be done. The USA lost out as well.

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  2. I notice that some Islamic leaders are encouraging muslims to go on Haj during this time ... probably the best idea!

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