Good luck to England but I won’t be watching the World Cup
This is not a tournament where all fans feel welcome, writes Harriet Williamson
On Sunday, World Cup 2022 opened in Doha, Qatar. The eyes of the world are on the small, oil-rich, Middle Eastern nation, and the run-up to football’s most prestigious tournament has been dominated by discussion of the country’s poor human rights record.
From a legal system that still discriminates against women and the criminalisation of homosexuality, to the migrant workers who have paid for vast development projects – costing around $200bn (£168bn) – with their lives, this World Cup feels tainted for many.
Although Qatar has announced numerous reforms, the enforcement of them remains questionable. David Harding, The Independent’s international editor, spoke to the grieving families of migrant workers in a must-read feature.
He asked: “Is there anything that can be salvaged from the World Cup that can appease critics of Qatar and Fifa over rights, compensate those who have ‘paid the highest price’ and show that football is truly about ‘values and causes’?”
On the issue of LGBT+ rights, strong criticism has been directed at many UK pundits, players and public figures for their involvement, and on Sunday the comedian Joe Lycett appeared to follow through with his promise to shred £10k of his own money if “gay icon” David Beckham went ahead with his highly paid World Cup amabassadorship. Sean O’Grady’s Voices piece in response to Lycett’s headline-grabbing stunt is well worth your time.
Our Sunday editorial encouraged readers to “watch the games and enjoy the spectacle” while also remembering that “our entertainment has come at a cost”. And while I agree that “international sport is a valuable way of promoting dialogue between nations and understanding among peoples”, I won’t be watching any of the tournament.
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It feels wrong to know about the human rights abuses highlighted above, the blood price of the new stadiums and infrastructure – and lack of compensation for devastated families – and Qatar’s continued stance on LGBT+ people like myself, and then just... put it all to one side.
I believe that the UK government has also let LGBT+ folk down when it comes to the World Cup. Foreign secretary James Cleverly said that LGBT+ fans in Qatar should “flex and compromise”, which sounds very much like “we don’t actually have your back” in a country where queer people are not safe and homosexuality was called “damage in the mind” by a Qatar World Cup ambassador just two weeks ago.
Unfortunately, this is not a World Cup where all fans feel welcome, and the controversy around it is impossible to square with a sense of enjoyment or togetherness. My personal choice is, therefore, to sit this one out.
Yours,
Harriet Williamson
Voices commissioning editor