Qatar issues rules saying TV crews covering 2022 World Cup cannot film in areas where migrant workers live & agree they will not produce reports that are “inappropriate or offensive to the Qatari culture, Islamic principles” or face criminal liability https://t.co/Iy3nNRtXjg
— Tommy Vietor (@TVietor08) October 15, 2022
What's changed and what hasn't since I covered soccer in Qatar 30 years ago, by @CharlesPPierce: https://t.co/xb9BYfGzzX
— Defector (@DefectorMedia) October 17, 2022
… The year was 1993, the year before the World Cup came to America, and I had sold the editor of GQ, the late Art Cooper, on sending me to the Asian Zone qualifying tournament. I had sold him on the idea by telling him the teams that would be competing for the two slots to come to America. The teams were Iran, Iraq, North and South Korea, Japan, and Saudi Arabia. By my calculations, each of the competing nations had invaded, bombarded, and/or occupied one of the other competing nations over the past half-century. Throw out the record books when these traditional rivals tee it up, Jim…
This was the beginning of Qatar’s frenzied effort to become a go-to venue for international sports. Apparently, the country’s leader, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, was sports-silly. One night during the tournament, I met an English chap in the Library who’d been paid gobs of money to come and teach the sheikh how to play snooker. This was the biggest moment in his life since the day his skiffle group beat John Lennon and the Quarrymen in a battle of the bands in Liverpool. If you’re getting the impression that the Library shared very much with Rick’s Café Américain, you are not far wrong. During the tournament it was haunted by a vast assortment of godless infidels, including a massive contingent from Japan. One Japanese station had 25 people there. All of them were looking forward to a month of expense-account America, a dream that would be broken in hilarious fashion on the last night of the tournament.
Since then, of course, much has changed in Qatar. As part of the reaction to the 9/11 attacks, the U.S. largely has turned the country into an aircraft carrier. In 2010, FIFA awarded the 2022 World Cup to Qatar in a process that was strange and weird even by FIFA standards. Three years later, Sheikh Hamad apparently got tired of being sheikh and handed things over to his fourth son, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who is said to be as sports-nutty as his old man was.
But, over the 12 years since the 2022 tournament was granted to Qatar, the process of preparing for it has been a toxic mix of human rights violations and extravagant plutocracy. The country has spent a reported $200 billion in preparation for the event and, of course, very few (if any) Qataris did any of the actual grunt work. (An estimated 90 percent of the workforce is made up of migrant workers.) Migrants from all over the Middle East and the subcontinent came over to work, and many of them were gouged up to $4,000 by “recruiters” for the privilege. A 2021 analysis by the Guardian estimated that 6,500 of them had died on the job. Amnesty International has blown the whistle on the grotesque living conditions inflicted upon the migrant laborers; the AI report described conditions that made the Guardian‘s estimate of fatalities quite credible…
Let’s clarify some things about booze. Yes, Qatar is an Islamic state, and the Quran forbids alcohol. However, since no Qataris do the actual work, and since you can’t hand complicated oilfield work to someone who’s just come to town from Sri Lanka, that required Qatar to make some allowance for the Americans who came to town to work the oilfields. (Telling American oilfield workers they can’t have a beer at the end of the day is a good way to ensure that you don’t have American oilfield workers any more.) The Library was an example of these accommodations. So was the country’s only liquor store, a windowless warehouse out in the desert that some Americans in the Library referred to as “the little house on the prairie.” In this case, as in so many others, expedience trumped religious doctrine, a dynamic not unfamiliar to all of the world’s most prominent monotheisms…
… [T]he real drama came on the last night of the tournament, Oct. 28, 1993. As play opened, Saudi Arabia had virtually clinched the top spot in the finals, and Japan was in a sweet spot for the second slot. They would have qualified for a trip to the U.S. with a win in their final game, against Iraq. They also would have qualified with a draw if either South Korea or Saudi Arabia had lost their final matches.
The Japan-Iraq game ran late. Saudi Arabia beat Iran and South Korea shut out the North Koreans, 3–0. So Japan had to win. However, strange reports about the two Koreas began to filter into Al-Ahli Stadium from over at the Qatar SC. People pointed out that the only thing that the two Koreas agreed on was that neither of them liked the Japanese, and observers kept telling us that the North Koreans, knowing the situation, had not seemed too enthusiastic about their jobs against South Korea. They gave up three easy goals in the second half. Now, Japan had to beat the Iraqis.
That game came down to stoppage time. This was my first experience with a sports contest in which only the referee knew how much time really was left in the game. (I wondered what the NBA would be like under those circumstances. There wouldn’t be an arena standing after the playoffs, I reckoned.) Just as the clock passed the 90-minute mark, Japan, nursing a 2–1 lead, somehow surrendered a corner kick. Off the set piece, Iraqi star Jaffar Omran, who once had been forced to dive into raw sewage by Uday’s torturers, rose up and headed the ball past Japanese keeper Shigetatsu Matsunaga. Almost immediately after the ensuing kickoff, referee Serge Muhmenthaler blew his whistle, declaring full time. Almost as one, the Japanese players dropped to the turf as though pulled by the same string.
But their agony was nothing compared to what we saw in the Library that night. The vast Japanese press corps had seen a month on the arm in America go up the spout in the very last seconds. They were the biggest collection of sullen, mournful drunks I ever saw. We tried to buck them up. (They were colleagues after all, and the tragic loss of a lengthy expense account is a universal journalistic nightmare.) But I’m afraid those of us from non-aligned nations found it hard to contain our hilarious delight in how things had played out. (In Japan, the game is known as the Agony of Doha. In South Korea, they call it the Miracle of Doha.)
I had spent 15 days in Qatar, two weeks and change in 100-degree heat, and in what I had come to view (and cordially dislike) as a society rooted in expedient religion, indolent oligarchy, and pure labor parasitism, none of which had been redeemed by the entertaining burlesque of the last night of play. I flew out two days later. I had to change planes in London, where it was misting and raining and I flattened myself against the airport window. It was the most beautiful weather I’d ever seen. I went across the corridor and ordered the first beer in nearly a month that didn’t feel like a loophole in someone’s conception of paradise.
Defector is the only sports site to which I subscribe (for the writers, principally Dave Roth), so unless some more knowledgeable front pager takes over, you’ll be seeing stories like this:
The World Cup injury crisis is only going to get worse: https://t.co/VnWecraA5y
— Defector (@DefectorMedia) October 18, 2022
Baud
Has anyone seen Jim, Foolish Literalist? Looks like he’s been away for a couple of weeks.
Alison Rose
I hate FIFA, awarding the Cup to Qatar was bullshit, I’m distressed about all the inhumanity surrounding it, worried about workers and players…
…and I’m also going to watch every match I can.
I am a bad person sometimes. But soccer.
Baud
I also never got used to ref-kept playing and stoppage time.
Amir Khalid
The player in red in that Defector tweet is another star player who will miss the World Cup because of injury: Diogo Jota of Liverpool FC and Portugal. I am not a fan of international football, but it does bug me that Liverpool must do without one of its better forwards for much of an already tough season.
Mousebumples
For sports sites, I enjoy the Athletic – but there is an excellent Bucks beat writer that I especially enjoy reading.
I don’t mind soccer but probably won’t be following the World Cup that closely.
Suzanne
Zaha Hadid Architects designed the stadium. Zaha herself died a few years ago, but she brushed off criticism for participation of her/namesake firm in this debacle, saying that it isn’t the architect’s responsibility to make a safe job site. True in a legal sense, but just monstrous.
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
Why is any World Cup being hosted by a country were women are second class citizens and subject to male guardianship laws. I guess FIFA does not care…
Baud
@EmbraceYourInnerCrone:
Yeah, my guess is FIFA will care about migrant worker safety before they care about women, at least for the men’s world cup.
ronno2018
Well, I expect Spain, Germany or France to win it all but here’s to hoping the USA can do it! GO CHRISTIAN PULISIC AND OTHER DUDES!!!!
ronno2018
@ronno2018: AND SCREW FIFA CORRUPT BASTARDS!!!!
Ken
If the case weren’t going to be tried in a Qatari court, filming where migrant workers live could be used to highlight the hypocrisy. “Is the prosecutor saying that the workers’ conditions are offensive to Islamic principles? Is the state of Qatar aware of this violation of Islamic law taking place under its jurisdiction?”, that sort of thing.
Amir Khalid
@EmbraceYourInnerCrone:
Because, out of all the bidding nations, they paid FIFA the biggest bribes. Simple as that.
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
@Amir Khalid: Which makes perfect sense, sadly.
Steve in the ATL
@Baud: you never ask this about me when I’m busy with work and don’t post for a while [sad face emoji]
eclare
@Alison Rose: I share your sentiments, but I will also be watching. I am also an SEC football fan, and it will be weird to have them both going on at the same time, besides all of the other weird stuff with the timing of the WC.
Baud
According to Wikipedia
CarolPW
@Baud:
Two threads down at the end.
Ella in New Mexico
And we’re all particpating in this because…?
Steve in the ATL
@Baud: if my math is correct, that means that eleven of the 22 committee members escaped justice
Steve in the ATL
@eclare: as an SEC football fan, you must be devastated that Alabama lost on Saturday
raven
@Steve in the ATL: Sheeettttt! I’m headed to the Keys to fish next week. I told the boys anything goes until 3 Saturday
eta RIP Charley Trippi
Baud
@CarolPW:
?
Can’t find it.
eclare
@Steve in the ATL: Bless their heart…as I sit here in my orange fleece.
Steve in the ATL
@raven: FTMF, as they say on that other website! Would love to see another 21 points in 2 minutes at the end of the half!
raven
@Steve in the ATL: GATA!!!
Steve in the ATL
@eclare: check out Roll Bama Roll if you enjoy schadenfreude! They got totally cheated because Metchie and Williams weren’t playing!
raven
@Ella in New Mexico: So people can whine about something other than football.
eclare
@Steve in the ATL: Hehehe…I’ll take your word for it. Too much football left to play to get too cocky.
Baud
@raven:
Technically, we’re still whining about football.
raven
@eclare: That’s a really good idea.
eclare
@raven: Being a Vol fan (class of 90) for around thirty years, you develop coping mechanisms.
Another Scott
@Baud: Jim is JSF??!!
;-)
This is the most recent Jim, Foolish Literalist comment I see (from October 12).
HTH.
Cheers,
Scott.
raven
@eclare: I have 2 degrees from UGA and have lived in Athens since 84.
eclare
@raven: Grew up in Knoxville, for the most part. Middle school and high school there.
Alison Rose
@EmbraceYourInnerCrone: FIFA most definitely does not care. I mean, this is the same FIFA that forced the women’s teams to play on artificial turf and whose president said the women’s game could draw more fans if they wore tighter shorts.
So no. They have precisely zero fucks to give about women. Which is another reason why I sometimes hate being a soccer fan.
CarolPW
@Another Scott: Shit, I got the Just SF and the Jim FL mixed up, because they have both been quiet.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@Alison Rose: At least it’s not our national celebration of CTE, American
soccerfootball…Shalimar
@Steve in the ATL: Only having 2 players who can catch a football is more of a recruiting contretemps than getting cheated.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
Hey, fellow sportsballers! How about that home team!
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
@eclare: Go Vols!
Amir Khalid
@Alison Rose:
It’s that kind of thinking that makes women’s beach volleyball difficult for me to watch. I appreciate the athletic female physique as much as any straight guy; but when I see what they are required to play in, I feel like I”m being invited to ogle them, whhich makes me uncomfortable.
eclare
@EmbraceYourInnerCrone:
Yay! Another Vol!
Mo Salad
My Liverpool tainted perspective:
I would have been cheering for England all the way but now that they are in a group with USA and Wales, and since Gareth Southgate can’t figure out how to use Trent Alexander-Arnold while at the same time the team can’t seem to be able to put the ball into the fucking net (the 2 items are related), fuck those guys. I hope USA and Wales make it out of the group.
Brasil will take it all. Alisson in net. Firmino and Fabhinho ride the bench and maybe see some minutes. Three LFC WC medals to go with the rest of their extensive collections.
My favorite underdog? Sadio Mané’s Senegal. I’d love to see them make a run.
Timill
@eclare: I got to adopt them, since my wife and her friends are all Vols, and we live north of Knoxville.
Tony G
@Ella in New Mexico: Apparently enough people want to watch soccer to make the TV broadcasts profitable. That’s all that matters to the TV networks.
Mo Salad
If you want football that is more in line with our political leanings, I invite you to check out my new local passion, Detroit City F.C. They have qualified for the USL Championship’s playoffs their first year in the league. Kickoff Sat 8pm EDT. ESPN+, I think. Maybe ESPN2. Maybe the Ocho.
Instead of being some franchise some millionaire buys to then make the taxpayers build them an stadium ( I’m looking at you, Memphis 901), DCFC has grown organically and plays in (and fills) a 7,000 seat stadium built by the WPA 85 years ago. The stadium was restored with the help of the sweat equity of the fans, especially their Ultra group the Northern Guard (noonelikes.us on the web), several years ago.
Many of the ultra groups for these second tier independent clubs embrace LGBTQ+ rights and women’s reproductive rights.
Please check it out.
Steve in the ATL
@Shalimar: too bad the GOAT can’t recruit or develop talent!
Shalimar
@Steve in the ATL: I think his deal with the devil had a faulty clause. He was going along fine with one superstar receiver at a time, until they recruited 4 in 2 years. Then no one since. They had to borrow Williams from Ohio State last year. Who knows how long they will have to go with no one who can catch to make up for those 4 first round picks.
WeimarGerman
I am struggling with how to boycott FIFA, but still enjoy some of the WC. My earliest soccer memory is going to RFK stadium with my dad to watch the 1972 championship match on closed circuit TV. Beckenbauer vs Cruyff. Then also going to NY Cosmos vs Dips when Beckenbauer and Pele played for NY.
FIFA sucks (watch the John Oliver expose from 2015). Qatar is beyond horrible for many reasons (misogyny, homophobia and worker slavery).
I can’t wrap my head around how I can watch when the whole system disgusts me.
WeimarGerman
@Mo Salad: and what a game between the Reds and Man City last Sunday.
Mo Salad
@WeimarGerman:
Was at OLSC Detroit HQ Thomas Magee’s for early day drinking and screaming.
Alisson’s annual assist to Salah could not have come at a better time.
Mo Salad
@WeimarGerman:
1974?
WeimarGerman
@Mo Salad: yes 74. showing my age with multiple data points.
Paul in KY
@Baud:That is an impendent (IMO) to the game being taken seriously by American sports fan. Too much ‘finger on the scales’ by the referee. I watch alot of soccer now & I have never seen it where Team A is in stoppage time & the ref just blows the whistle while they are setting up for a free kick or corner or whatever. The time left should be known to the second and when that second hits, blow the whistle.
Mo Salad
@Paul in KY:
It is custom to allow thea team that is behind or tied to complete their possession when in the opponent’s end. In addition, there is usually time wasting, substitutions, injuries, during the extra time that the ref then adds to the extra time.
This cannot be addressed with a timeclock.
Ixnay
Pierce is a treasure. Charlie’s good tonight, ain’t he…