World Cup Diary | Day Two

Blood on the Sand: Qatar 2022

World Cup Diary

Day 2: England v Iran, Senegal v Netherlands, & USA v Wales

Another day of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar and we woke up to the news that FIFA had threatened the European Football Associations that if they were to wear the One Love captain's armbands adorned with a rainbow heart, that they would receive sporting sanctions, including perhaps a yellow card for the wearer, suspensions from games or even points deductions for the nation.

Remember, the One Love armband had been planned for months, FIFA made a decision on the morning of matches featuring nations who had chosen to wear it.

And then in a move that made FIFA President Gianni Infantino look even more like Voldemort from the Harry Potter films, FIFA asked Belgium to remove the embroidered word “Love” from their shirts. Was not a shred of irony lost here? What is the problem with the word “Love”?

In fact, FIFA have a set of rules and guidelines for inclusivity and diversity, as well as football's role in society. “Football has to show social responsibility just as all sectors of society do.” That's not me saying that, that comes from FIFAs 2015 “Good practice guide on diversity and anti-discrimination”.

If you haven't read this 94 page document, I don't blame you, but it seems like Gianni Infantino hasn't either. And after making these decisions regarding the One Love armband and even the word “Love” itself –2022 Gianni Infantino is going to be absolutely furious when he learns what 2015 Gianni Infantino had to say.

“FIFA is demonstrating in word and deed that discrimination has no place in football” he said.

“The knowledge and expertise of our member associations is crucial in our commitment towards ensuring that football is for all. Only by working together can we ensure that this aim is achieved” he said.

“So speak out, lend a hand, take action. Safeguarding diversity in football is something we must all do.” he said.

Well, 2015 Gianni, I'm trying to speak out, to lend a hand, and to take action, as are the European Football bodies. Trouble is, 2022 Gianni Infantino is making it really difficult.

Anyway, while FIFA were focusing on important matters like erasing the word LOVE from existence, somebody had updated the FIFA ticket app incorrectly, deleting tickets for people using the app. When fans arrived at the Stadium for England v Iran they were told they couldn't get in, and they ended up queuing for hours while the ticket offices printed physical copies of tickets for the game.

It's going well isn't it?

With so many empty seats in the stadiums today, I did wonder why organisers didn't simply open the gates for all who were there. Who would go all the way to Qatar without a ticket? And even if they had, they were so easy to get a hold of.

It wasn't until FIFA released the official attendances of todays games that I realised why they couldn't just let any old person in. All of the games played in this years World Cup were actually over capacity.

That's right. Your ears are not deceiving you, your eyes were. At the opening ceremony there were 7,372 more people than there are seats, which is even more odd when you consider how many empty seats were visible. Across today's games, there were an extra 10,000 people attending, despite, again, the grounds being nowhere near capacity.

Remember, these are official figures.

Two days ago Infantino asked why European journalists do not talk about all the good that has happened in Qatar, all the great changes that have come about because they are hosting the World Cup. Maybe that's because any perceived changes appear to be exercises in public relations and as accurate to reality as the official attendance figures.

If Qatar thought that this World Cup would be a way of sports washing their nation, then they might find the spot light of the world too harsh.

And why should we doubt their intentions? Maybe, as an example, when they do things like invite Indian Islamic televangelist Zakir Abdul Karim Naik to the World Cup to give religious lectures throughout the tournament.

This is a man who is a fugitive, facing charges of money laundering and hate speech. Who has advocated suicide bombings in the name of Islam, who has even, somewhat incongruously, called “football as a profession: haram” i.e. forbidden by God or evil. He has compared non-Muslims to animals and recommended the death penalty to LGBT+ peoples. He has condemned music, dancing and singing as “intoxicating”.

This is a dignitary, an invited guest speaker. Erasing the word “Love” is starting to make sense.

Maybe none of this was ever about sports washing. Maybe this was about selling extreme interpretations of Islam to the world?

In any case, FIFA's aims for football include bringing nations and cultures together, not promoting ways to tear them apart.

I digress, 800 words and still no mention of the teams playing today, and we are still far away from talking about anything on the pitch. This World Cup is the ultimate metaphorical geopolitical onion.

Day Two was an emotional day for Iran.

The political situation in Iran is another topic which is far too big for this podcast. But briefly, Iranians have been protesting against their government in some form or another for decades, but the latest movement began in October 2016 and was re-ignited in September 2022. The protests are thought to be turning now into an attempted revolution, and what was once dissent against a cocktail of issues: low wages, unemployment, inflation, corruption, the water crisis, the international isolation of the country has since been focused on women's rights.

In September this year Mahsa Amini was arrested for not wearing a hijab by Iran's Guidance Patrol – the religious morality police. Morality police: it sounds so dystopian to my ears. Mahsa died in their custody. Reports were that she was beaten to death. Beaten to death, for not wearing a hijab.

Mahsa's story was not the first story like this. She was not the only women who has been reported beaten by the morality police. But her death sparked a wave of protests that were more serious, more passionate, more violent, more reckless, more purposeful. The largest and most widespread protests since at least 2009, perhaps the biggest protests since the revolution in the late 1970s.

Iran Human Rights have reported that at least 304 people have been killed in the protests, Amnesty International have reported that in some cases Iranian security forces were firing live ammunition into the crowds. Others were beaten to death with batons, just like Mahsa. Thousands have reportedly been arrested, some have been sentenced to death.

From the city streets, windows and rooftops, to the towns and countryside, the cry of the people is, “the whole regime is our target”. On the gravestone of Mahsa it reads: “.. you will not die. Your name will become a rallying cry.”

So it was under this backdrop that the ashen-faced Iranian captain, Ehsan Hajsafi, became the first Iranian footballer to speak about the protests. His sad-eyes flickered with the enormity of what he felt he had to say. It is a dangerous thing, to speak out against the Iranian regime.

This is still football right?

Again I think back to FIFA's directive sent to the Football Associations before the World Cup with the instructions to, “focus on the football”. It's impossible, football is completely inseparable, at least at this World Cup, from the politic upheavals in the world today.

Because it's so symbolic. This nations flag, this national anthem, these people at this moment, they take their place on the theatrical stage with the whole world watching. The world's game, the world stage.

When the English and Iranian players lined up for the national anthems, the stony-faced Iranians looked defiant, their refusal to sing the national anthem a small but significant gesture to their government back home. In the crowd the feelings swelled louder, booing, jeers, cheers and tears rose up to meet the public announcement system blaring out those music notes.

It was a cry for help. And another timely reminder that, just as we separate ourselves from our own governments, so we must never mistake the Iranian people for the Iranian government, nor, for that matter, the Qatari people for the Qatari government.

One last symbolic political gesture then before a whistle was blown that day, as the England players took the knee. A gesture so protested at home, perhaps the reality of global politics, might show how vital these gestures are.

The football then, phew, we made it.

There had been fears that Gareth Southgate's style of football was not attacking enough. That his 3-4-3 system was too defensive, or even – boring. Well England scored put six goals past Iran, playing in a 4-3-3. England the boring no more, arise England the beautiful, England the emphatic.

19-year-old Jude Bellingham ran the show from midfield, he already looks a superstar.

And there was a heart-warming moment at this World Cup. Jack Grealish's celebration, a tribute to a young fan with cerebral palsey – 11-year-old Finlay. This is what football is about.

There was of course the ritual of VAR discrepancies, but something new – enormous amounts of added time. Something which seems to be a deliberate new rule. At 6-1 in the 90^th minute the 4^th Official raised the board for 10 minutes of extra time. If this is a ploy to stop time-wasting then perhaps it will work, but it feels like another change that will get old very quickly.

A change that would be welcome, and one that has been called for repeatedly, would be concussion substitutions. Players safety has never really been a priority for footballing authorities. We've seen FIFA's obsession with money, but it's not just them, players are playing more games than ever, player welfare at an all-time low.

Footballers are up to five times more likely to develop dementia later in life than members of the general public. The concussion protocol is already in place, it simply needs a signature. It seems like the footballing authorities currently have other priorities.

But at the final whistle, there were only positives for the England team.

Now then, Senegal v Netherlands, finally, a World Cup fixture reminiscent of the ones from my youth. Two colourful sets of fans, with contrasting cultures that always seem to come together in tournaments in fun and good faith.

The congo drums of Senegal and colourful outfits serenade any game they attend.

But the story of this game is the Iron Tulip, Louis Van Gaal, the Netherlands manager, on his last managerial assignment, having survived intense cancer treatment earlier this year. The cancer treatment was a success, his decision to retire after the tournament seems final.

A tight affair lit up late in the game by a couple of moments of brilliance. And the hotly-tipped Cody Gakpo breaking the deadlock. Netherlands win, as they were expected to, 2-0, not emphatic but perhaps they are just warming up.

And so onto the day's final game, the USA v Wales. It was Wales first World Cup for 64 years and the Welsh had the largest and most vocal travelling support of the tournament so far.

They were happy “just to be there” but were dominated by a young, aggressive USA side that come with a tactical plan – to play fast direct balls with clever movements by the forwards to get in behind the Wales defence.

I can only assume Michael Sheen's stirring speech was played in the dressing room, or perhaps part of his concentrated spirit injected into their half time oranges as the sleeping dragon awoke in the second half.

This was more like what we have to come to expect from Wale's 'golden generation'.

George Weah's son Timothy had opened the scoring for the USA, meaning the last two goals Wales have conceded at World Cups are by the famous names of Weah and Pele. Football heritage. And it was Gareth Bale, who else – from the penalty spot that has given Wales hope and put the group in the balance. England are out ahead, but 2^nd place is up for grabs.

The USA are a sleeping giant of football, this young team have so much potential and in four years time on their own soil, they will be looking to go far.

The day had begun then with FIFA trying to erase the word love, and football finally taking centre stage. As twilight falls on day two I can't help but think of security officers in stadiums refusing to allow any one wearing rainbow colours into the ground. Former Wales footballer Laura MacAllister was asked to hand her rainbow bucket hat into lost property. She pretended to do so, but instead smuggled the hat in anyway and planned to wear it: “There's no point having principles if we're prepared to give them up the minute someone challenges you”.

Wise words that the 2022 Gianni Infantino could learn from.

ABOUT

The Qatar World Cup 2022 is potentially the most controversial sporting event since the 1936 Berlin Olympics. A story that is so bizarre and complex, it has sent sport from the back pages, to the front pages, to the long-reads in the middle of newspapers.

Blood on the Sand: Qatar 2022 will track the progress of the World Cup through the World Cup Diary series. A short podcast episode, one per day, covering news from the tournament both on and off the pitch. Followed by a more detailed in-depth look at the history of Qatar, the tournament and how those two collided.

CREDITS

Blood on the Sand is written, produced and performed by Adonis Storr (@theadelites on Twitter).

Cover Art was created with Daan (@DaanGraphics on Twitter and Instagram).

Music by WombatNoisesAudio (https://soundcloud.com/user-734462061) including the tracks The Legend of Narmer and Jewel Of Nekhen. Music was promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com and is used in conjunction with Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US.