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What they’re saying about the World Cup decision
Should England have let the PM and the Prince prostrate themselves before Fifa?
The decision of Fifa to virtually ignore England’s bid for the World Cup – it received only two votes from the 22-man committee meeting in Zurich yesterday – and award the 2018 tournament to Russia has caused an avalanche of comment in the British media. As for Qatar getting the 2022 Cup, it’s an insult to football fans, says one leading football writer. Here’s the best of the opinion available so far:
James Lawton, the Independent: "No sliver of doubt now attaches itself to the conclusion that to stage it you do not require the culture and passion which gave tournaments in places like Argentina, Spain, Mexico, Italy, France, Germany, England and South Africa vibrant and distinctive lives of their own. You just need the money and the connections and we are not talking about prime ministers and royalty and celebrity players. No, it is the men of the truly big money, Fifa announced in Zurich yesterday, who conquer all."
Richard Littlejohn, the Daily Mail: "Frankly, the sight of the future King proclaiming to the watching world that football is his ‘passion’ was stomach-churning. He came across like a needy contestant on Masterchef, or one of those pathetic individuals ‘living the dream’ on reality TV. Was it really necessary for the heir to the throne to have to prostrate himself over breakfast before an 82-year-old Paraguayan crook?”
Simon Jenkins, the Guardian: "The one leader to emerge from the World Cup farrago with credit is, of all people, Russia's Vladimir Putin, who wisely decided that the Zurich shenanigans were beneath his dignity. Depths to which the Russian prime minister is not prepared to stoop are deep indeed. But then he probably already knew he had won. Why did Britain not know? Why does David Cameron now react with a solemnity more appropriate for a terrorist outrage or a natural disaster?"
Robert Fox, The First Post: “The logistical complexity of the Russian tournament – with matches spread among far-flung cities and across some half a dozen time zones – offers added opportunity for terrorists... In tiny, highly concentrated Qatar, the problem is quite the opposite. It is a confined space in a highly volatile region... Prominent Qataris, including members of the ruling family, are suspected in the [Wikileaks] cables of actually funding al-Qaeda.”
Paul Joyce, the Express: "England’s humiliation in seeing the decision to hand the 2018 World Cup to Russia and then take the greatest show on earth to Qatar in 2022, had little to do with football. It was to do with politics and slapping down a nation whose free press had dared to try to expose the stench of corruption within the ranks of an organisation who like to think they are above the law."
Editorial in the Daily Mirror: "The fact that England got just two votes indicates how poor our 2018 team was. Badly led, staffed with mediocrities and bogged down with in-fighting, it was always going to be a steep hill for Becks and Co to climb."
Henry Winter, the Daily Telegraph: "The real scandal in Fifa-ville was the decision to award the 2022 tournament to Qatar, a soulless, featureless, air-conditioned, cramped place with so little connection to football it required hired hands like Pep Guardiola. It was as if Fifa was saying ‘to hell with the fans’. Qatar 2022 will be a joyless experience for supporters."
Richard Williams, the Guardian: “There will be a hangover from today's announcement, and unpleasant consequences. The prospects of upgrading stadiums in such places as Nottingham and Milton Keynes, for example, will no doubt recede. It would be sad, however, if it were allowed to affect the prospects and the development of the generation of young English players who won the European Under-17 championship this year, and who might be approaching their peak in 2018. For them, a World Cup in Russia – or anywhere else – is as important as a World Cup in England.”
Simon Kuper, Financial Times: “In choosing Qatar for 2022, Fifa ignored its own experts. Fifa’s evaluation called Qatar’s heat ‘a potential health risk for players, officials, the Fifa family and spectators’. The stadiums will be artificially cooled but, as Chuck Blazer, an Exco member, said, you cannot air-condition a country.”
Editorial in the Times: "A World Cup should be a celebration of sport. And yet the bidding process is a black hole of back-room deals and political self-interest." ·
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FIFA's choice for the 2018 world cup venue has once again showed us that FIFA is trying to spread the Gospel of football to areas that are under developed in terms of football.I am really sorry that England did not get the nod,the english people should try and take the defeat in good faith.
I am suprised that people talk about FIFA giving the nod to two terrorist prone countries,if i may ask where in this world is not prone to terrorist attack,is it England that has gotten a fair share of terrorist attacks or is it spain that almost everyday is being terrorised by ETA?FIFA gave Russia the hosting rights because eastern europe has never hosted the world cup and Qatar because the far east have never hosted it.
Tthere is no law that says that only the western wold or south america should be hosting the world cup.It would also be boring to be hosting the world cup in these places every time.New frontiers has to be opened so that these other areas can develop as wel in terms of footballl.According to the bible Jesus brought His gospel into the world,not for the righteous but for sinners for those that are not developed spiritually.
As a reminder when fifa chose South Africa,these same critics said fifa made the wrong choice,because South Africa is a dangerous place,but later they eat their words because the tournament turned out a big success.people came to know more about the culture of the people,about the vuvuzela trumpet.
In conclusion please all you fifa critics out there,as sportsmen or sport followers,try to accept defeat in good faith,so that sports can develop.
It is the last days of ancient Rome again. This time it is not just a local empire going to the dogs it is the whole planet. In ancient Rome the populace was kept quiet by maintaining the price of bread within reach and providing distraction in the Coliseum. "Bread and the Circus" policy. Today we have cheaper and cheaper consumer goods galore and the distraction of boring World Sporting Championship events which are as rigged as were the chances of survival of the Christians thrown to the lions.
The money spent in staging these events is as wasted as money burned in smoking cigarettes or pissed away in drink. Bah! Humbug the lot of it.
Well at least there is one independent body left in the world, and I do use the description advisedly. It is after all 'the world cup', get it? All the world should be involved, and as everywhere is now prone and susceptible to terrorist attacks no country can sit on the high altar of being 'safe'. I am glad that hosting it in South Africa (a very brave decision for Sepp Blatter and co, with nearly all the western media, especially in the UK, forecasting failure and disaster, that two countries as 'unlikely' as Russia and Qatar have been selected. Good choices and may they succeeed in hosting good tournaments.
Well, lets see....UK is unpopular with most of the world, and seen as a warmonger because of our hanging on the US coat-tails. UK is near bankrupt and already has the burden of the Olymics (yes, for most of us, burden; benefit only for the few who feather their nests, the organisers and the "approved" suppliers). UK doesn't really have a team (see how many foreign names there are in the Premier League, so where is the pool from which to build an English team...).
And think about the oil that greases football's wheels; the bungs: what can we afford? Not a lot!
The thing that makes me ashamed to be associated with this aspect of the UK is the last minute scrabble when it was realised that the job had been badly done and was going to fail: A royal, with no history of involvement in the game, the PM, who appeared to be involved because he couldn't find anything more prductive to do (in the midst of financial and weather chaos), and a guy who looks great on the football field but shows why he is on the field and not in the manager's spot as soon as he opens his mouth.
Truth be told, I don't care either way about the result, but I do care when this country does a desperately poor job, denies that it has dones so till too late, throws all kind of ill-considered resources at the job at the last moment childishly expecting to win anyway, then gets a savage attack of sour grapes when the inevitable happens and they loose.
"To fail to prepare is to fail to prepare"
Quite funny, really, to see three so cocky Englishmen with their faces looking like smacked ar**s.
"No, it is the men of the truly big money"....what does the premier league have to do with the world cup? (Except it is the same non-English players)................................
"and then take the greatest show on earth to Qatar in 2022"......What else is going there? .............................................
"(The prince)..one of those pathetic individuals living the dream on reality TV."...and tonight Matthew, I'm going to be one of the woodentops. (wasn't he dreadful!!?) ...........................