So just a week after the FA wrote to Marc Guehi to warn him about not to write religious messages over their rainbow armbands, they approved Saudi Arabia’s 2034 World Cup bid. The saddest part is fans have long seen the irony, but the contradiction no longer shocks them.
English Football’s governing body have stressed that asking captains to wear rainbow armbands for a week was not to force LGBTQ+ views on anyone but to send the message that they believe the sport should be inclusive to anyone.
They either are saying that to tick their PR box, or their beliefs have a price. Because you can’t in one breath demand equality in the Premiership, yet then award the biggest event the game has being staged in a country with one of the worst Human Rights records. That includes same sex couples being illegal in that part of the world.
It’s why some players stopped taking the knee realizing the gesture meant nothing evidenced by the actions they were seeing.
We had the same debate regarding Qatar, and once nations didn’t make the stand that they should have (not wearing the one love bands out of fear of a yellow card) then the tournament was always destined to return to the Middle East.
Of course, the competition should be shared around the globe, yet anyone bidding to host FIFA’s biggest event needs to be able to meet FIFA’s rules. If you can’t meet their criteria then you shouldn’t be on the short list. No different to the cities that want to have the Olympics needs to meet the legislation the Committee sets.
Part of FIFA’s ethos is they don’t discriminate. If you can’t meet those requirements, you shouldn’t be considered.
So how sad is it that not just were most associations voting for Saudi Arabia’s campaign they were asked to make their vote by taking turns giving a round of applause.
What a sad reflection of society that here’s these powerful men and women aware that people will yet again die building stadiums , females will be restricted in what they can do and anyone not heterosexual will be risking their lives travelling , yet they put on a smile and nod their heads because it makes financial sense to do so .
Credit to Norway for being one of the few European nations to express their concerns.
FAs of England, Wales, and Scotland have all stressed that they have been given assurance that ‘all fans would be safe and welcome in Saudi Arabia in 2034 – including LGBTQ+ fans. They assured us that they are fully committed to providing a safe and welcome environment for all fans.”
You hear a lot of that in the next decade.
In reality though Britain want the 2031 Women’s World Cup so don’t want to cause a rift while politically Keir Starmer was visiting the Crown Prince this very week
It’s not just Football of course. WWE, F1, Tennis, Boxing, have all held events as part of Saudi Arabia’s 2030 Vision Plan. The strategy being to pay the biggest forms of entertainment to fly over to distract observers from unethical practices and corruption scandals. For a month Prince Mohammed bin Salman will order they show tourists their biggest smile.
One day there will be someone big enough to make a stand. Those personalities come along once in a while. For now, though, it reflects where society is. I almost admire those involved no longer fighting their hypocrisy. They know there is zero point pretending their motivations are anything but money.
Yet maybe lose the rainbow shoelaces?
DAN
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