With the 2022 World Cup rapidly approaching, the controversy and conundrums are flying as to whether it should be going ahead, whether it should have been awarded to Qatar in the first place, and, most pressingly for the international footy fan, whether we should be watching it.
I’ll say right now that I don’t have an answer to any of those quandaries because my weak mentality finds me only able to think for myself, so I remain a slave to them.
On the flipside, many national FAs and authoritative figures within the game have expressed their concerns and have pressed on with denouncing the games, claiming that they won’t be watching, competing, or co-operating in any way with the tournament. This is all well and good for teams that haven’t qualified, but for those that have, the decision to not attend is suddenly a much harder one — turning down an invite is always more powerful when you’ve been invited. If Denmark, for instance, were to take a stand and refuse to compete, that would strike a blow and a nation would be commended for doing what they thought was right.
That would be respected.
I could see their reasoning, and their line of thinking was clear.
My line of thinking is also clear. To me anyways. I love football, I love the World Cup, and while I denounce the practices of those that have seen people die for the tournament…
No. There’s no good way to end that sentence that makes me feel good about myself.
Human lives have been sacrificed for profit, that’s the bottom line here.
Watching the games that occur in Qatar will feel cursed. For over a decade, blood has been spilled in the build-up to a month-long hosting of a crooked cup. Twelve years of needless deaths for four weeks of entertainment isn’t right. And will it be entertaining? Watching the best teams in the world play amidst a cloud of human rights abuses? How far can you turn and how blind does that eye have to be?
I would not blame anyone for wanting to watch the footy. Whether you wanna watch it straight-up on the tele, or have a protest on your own by streaming it illegally, or maybe you wanna livestream yourself watching the games while you host a gay orgy, or (if you’re a woman) you fill in a voting slip.
For this, no-one on the outside deserves demonising for it.
This is Will John.
Mr. John is a professional footballer from the States who has plied his trade across the world, as well as on the WiFi waves. Yes, Mr. John is also very active on the YouTube posting football-related videos, whether they be tutorials, breakdowns, or simple opinion pieces. I haven’t watched a tonne of him, but from what I have watched, he’s very insightful, offers a great perspective, and enjoys using capital letters in the titles of his videos.
To absolutely nobody’s surprise, Mr. John also has a podcast — The Way Of Will John. And on this podcast, he weighs in on the Qatar World Cup situation.
There’s the video on it, though there is a longer podcast version likely linked on the page.
Right off the bat, the title is one of those annoying titles. Don’t predict my behaviour, Mr. John. However, if he’s using reverse psychology, then it’s for a good cause.
Secondly, I tried to get to this video from his podcast page and when I clicked the link from the corresponding ‘cast, it instead took me to a video entitled ‘WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM HUNTER-GATHERERS TO SAVE CIVILIZATION w/ Heather Heying & Bret Weinstein’. Which simply can’t have been what I was looking for.
From here, the hosting YouTube channel (The11thCommandment), sports videocasts with titles like:-
THE TRUTH ABOUT UFO’S, CONSCIOUSNESS AND THE UPCOMING WAR IN SPACE
THE PASTOR THAT WENT TO JAIL FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING — DRUGS, SEX, JESUS & THE AFTERLIFE EXPLAINED
Here is where you go if you want the afterlife explained to you.
WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW ABOUT JEFFREY EPSTEIN & GHISLAINE MAXWELL — THE SECRET LIVES OF THE RICH
5 ANIMALS THAT WERE SENT TO HUMAN PRISONS
WHY HAVING LESS SEX MAKES YOU MORE MANLY
KOREA BANS LAUGHTER | GHISLAINE GOES TO JAIL | HOW DOES PORN AFFECT THE BRAIN
Honestly, the variety on offer is commendable. And not a lower case letter to be seen.
Now, I’m not taking the mick here. If I was into this kind of thing, the scope of what this channel does and what Will John does would likely thrill me and have me holding them in high regard.
But I’m not into it, so I don’t.
Back to the video we’re talking about though, and sadly, I do not mean the one that states in black and white terms that less sex = more manly.
Once you get beyond the bizarre rants regarding the CIA and mercenaries, Will John puts the entire issue regarding the 2022 Qatar World Cup shades-of-grey-less-ly out into the world. ‘It’s not a question of morality any more, it’s just not.’
It is.
He is correct, when he states that this is all part of an existing issue within the game regarding greed, but what does that come back to if not morality? The world is twisted so let’s not try and tidy our corner?
This ‘cast reeks of rolling over and letting shit happen and that’s worse than ignoring it.
He scoffs at the idea of an amateur grassroots alternative as if he’s on Dragon’s Den and they’ve asked for investment directly from him. He patronisingly puts them down before stating ‘nobody is going to watch your backyard World Cup…That’s just a thing, that’s just a fact.’
Then why should we even try? It’s only gonna be like one or two people actually protesting so we might as well all sit down and do nothing.
This apathy from someone with a quote on their wall that reads ‘I see only my objective, the obstacle must give way.’ A quote that proudly displays itself to be from Napoleon, by the way.
From here, Will John goes into great detail on how Qatar 2022 is again, part of a bigger problem, but this time within the sport. We all know Qatar bought the tournament, but evidence shows that Germany did the same in 2006, Brazil in 2014, and Russia in 2018. Qatar were simply playing the game, and yet we didn’t protest any of the other editions.
‘It is funny that there was no talk of a boycott in 2006…’
Many didn’t know, and workers weren’t being murdered, human rights weren’t being abused.
‘… There was no talk of a boycott in 2018…’
Yes there was.
‘… There was none in 2014.’
Again, yes there was, OVER DEATHS OF WORKERS forced to work in subpar conditions.
And even if there weren’t protests in those years, there still should be now. And no, anyone protesting isn’t just protesting Qatar hosting it, they’re protesting the way the cup is awarded, the practices of the governing bodies, the morals of those in charge. It goes all the way up and doesn’t stop at a World Cup.
Maybe we did know in 2006 and looked the other way, but now it’s time to stop. Maybe we’ve realised too late, but at least we’ve realised and at least we’re trying to do something about it.
That’s surely better than realising and trying nothing.
‘Boycotting Qatar seems to me almost like breaking your arm and putting a band-aid on it. It’s not really gonna fix the problem. A week later, you’re still gonna have the same issue, just in another place.’
We can’t solve human corruption and greed so let’s not even try.
Don’t be like Will John.
It really does go to show that you can’t trust anyone with two first names.
The overriding sentiment was well expressed by the aforementioned artist Yermolenko:-
‘Unfortunately, the world is ruled by money, not by conscience. And when you see injustice, there are two options: either to remain silent, or to join in yourself, at least in a solitary picket. This is my ‘solitary picket’ against those big state forces that do nothing… I love football, but I will not watch the World Cup, and I do not advise anyone, to be honest, because you can not calmly watch an event which is smeared with blood, even if it’s a very beautiful concert or a very beautiful show.’
Perhaps the damage is already done with the World Cup already to be hosted in Qatar. Whether one watches or not, maybe it doesn’t matter now. But voices can be heard, and they can travel — so watch it, don’t watch it, proudly host your own, or prattle apathetically online — whatever you do, let it be known to whoever you can reach that kicking a ball is worth no-one’s rights, and no-one’s life.
