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| The World Cup is the antidote to the sewage lapping at our ankles | The World Cup is the antidote to the sewage lapping at our ankles |
| (6 months later) | |
| Everywhere, democracy and multilateralism are in retreat, and the urge to atomise is being encouraged and indulged. Elections aren’t free and fair; global accords are thrown aside; human rights are trampled in favour of cruelty and intolerance. And yet, right now, one of the countries driving all of the above is hosting a festival of unity, creativity and – goddammit – love that is the antithesis of the sewage lapping at our ankles. | Everywhere, democracy and multilateralism are in retreat, and the urge to atomise is being encouraged and indulged. Elections aren’t free and fair; global accords are thrown aside; human rights are trampled in favour of cruelty and intolerance. And yet, right now, one of the countries driving all of the above is hosting a festival of unity, creativity and – goddammit – love that is the antithesis of the sewage lapping at our ankles. |
| World Cup fever, gay rights abuses and war crimes – it’s an ugly mix | |
| The 2018 Fifa World Cup is being held in Russia, a country with a grievous record of human rights abuses presided over by a grimly authoritarian leader determined to use the tournament to legitimise his regime. The sight, during the opening match, of the king of Saudi Arabia, Fifa president Gianni Infantino and Vladimir Putin cosying up on preposterous Ikea-style armchairs was a modern version of a legendary statue: the Three Disgraces. | The 2018 Fifa World Cup is being held in Russia, a country with a grievous record of human rights abuses presided over by a grimly authoritarian leader determined to use the tournament to legitimise his regime. The sight, during the opening match, of the king of Saudi Arabia, Fifa president Gianni Infantino and Vladimir Putin cosying up on preposterous Ikea-style armchairs was a modern version of a legendary statue: the Three Disgraces. |
| But, for the moment, forget them. On the pitch and in the streets, we are seeing humanity displaying its capacity for rivalry, competition and obsession without an accompanying descent into hostility and aggression. Some scenes to treasure: Japan’s victory over Colombia, the first time an Asian team has beaten a South American one in the cup’s history; that exquisite draw between Portugal and Spain, in which Cristiano Ronaldo completed hishhat-trick to equalise in the match’s last gasp; and now Argentina, England’s nemesis, stand on the brink of an ignominious early exit following their slamming at the hands of Croatia. | But, for the moment, forget them. On the pitch and in the streets, we are seeing humanity displaying its capacity for rivalry, competition and obsession without an accompanying descent into hostility and aggression. Some scenes to treasure: Japan’s victory over Colombia, the first time an Asian team has beaten a South American one in the cup’s history; that exquisite draw between Portugal and Spain, in which Cristiano Ronaldo completed hishhat-trick to equalise in the match’s last gasp; and now Argentina, England’s nemesis, stand on the brink of an ignominious early exit following their slamming at the hands of Croatia. |
| In Red Square, fans from all nations have come together, just as they do every World Cup. In 2006, I recall wandering into Cologne cathedral to the sound of Buxtehude’s fabulous organ music to find a sea of football shirts from all over the world processing around the sacred space, doing exactly the same as I was. Yes, people also get drunk; yes, we know that football tournaments have been mired by fan violence and racism and by, on occasion, the over-enthusiasm of the police response. But the enjoyment and the camaraderie that international sporting events engender must not be written out of our appreciation of them. | In Red Square, fans from all nations have come together, just as they do every World Cup. In 2006, I recall wandering into Cologne cathedral to the sound of Buxtehude’s fabulous organ music to find a sea of football shirts from all over the world processing around the sacred space, doing exactly the same as I was. Yes, people also get drunk; yes, we know that football tournaments have been mired by fan violence and racism and by, on occasion, the over-enthusiasm of the police response. But the enjoyment and the camaraderie that international sporting events engender must not be written out of our appreciation of them. |
| Human beings are able to process more than one truth at once, however much it may not always seem so. We can applaud the extraordinary efforts and sheer bravery of campaigner Peter Tatchell in confronting Russia’s appalling attitude towards LGBT rights and still acknowledge the positive impact of this World Cup; and we can also weep and rage against this week’s heinous events in North America – now revealed as the host of the 2026 competition – while allowing ourselves the pleasure that the current festival of football is providing. | Human beings are able to process more than one truth at once, however much it may not always seem so. We can applaud the extraordinary efforts and sheer bravery of campaigner Peter Tatchell in confronting Russia’s appalling attitude towards LGBT rights and still acknowledge the positive impact of this World Cup; and we can also weep and rage against this week’s heinous events in North America – now revealed as the host of the 2026 competition – while allowing ourselves the pleasure that the current festival of football is providing. |
| But the question is how we can harness that power to unite and to liberate. Russia, Qatar and the US: three deeply problematic nations capable of inflicting immense damage on their populace and on those whom they fear will threaten the status quo. Rightly, we fear that awarding them such high-status global events normalises their behaviour, and the case for shunning those events is strong. We must not be complicit, and neither must we appease. | But the question is how we can harness that power to unite and to liberate. Russia, Qatar and the US: three deeply problematic nations capable of inflicting immense damage on their populace and on those whom they fear will threaten the status quo. Rightly, we fear that awarding them such high-status global events normalises their behaviour, and the case for shunning those events is strong. We must not be complicit, and neither must we appease. |
| However, football has never thrived through isolating itself. Sir Stanley Rous, English Fifa president from 1961 to 1974, held fast to his determination to limit the World Cup finals to 16 teams, and thereby allowed the distaste for England as the sport’s global administrator to flourish. When the case for exclusion was clear, as in apartheid-era South Africa, he argued for inclusion. His successors – each, in their turn, acting as emperors almost impossible to dislodge, and enabling a culture of corruption and obfuscation – have attempted to expand the game. If their motives and their operations are not always laudable, the impulse to broaden participation may still be valuable. | However, football has never thrived through isolating itself. Sir Stanley Rous, English Fifa president from 1961 to 1974, held fast to his determination to limit the World Cup finals to 16 teams, and thereby allowed the distaste for England as the sport’s global administrator to flourish. When the case for exclusion was clear, as in apartheid-era South Africa, he argued for inclusion. His successors – each, in their turn, acting as emperors almost impossible to dislodge, and enabling a culture of corruption and obfuscation – have attempted to expand the game. If their motives and their operations are not always laudable, the impulse to broaden participation may still be valuable. |
| The current incumbent, Infantino, is keen for the World Cup to include 48 teams. Why stop there? Why not 64? Currently, six of the planet’s eight most populous nations – China, India, the US, Indonesia, Pakistan and Bangladesh – are not represented because they failed to qualify. If they were present, the argument then proceeds, the quality of football would be diluted. But is that really true in a competition that is now under way minus Holland, Italy and (admittedly, this last might simply be a question of increasing the general gaiety) the Republic of Ireland? | The current incumbent, Infantino, is keen for the World Cup to include 48 teams. Why stop there? Why not 64? Currently, six of the planet’s eight most populous nations – China, India, the US, Indonesia, Pakistan and Bangladesh – are not represented because they failed to qualify. If they were present, the argument then proceeds, the quality of football would be diluted. But is that really true in a competition that is now under way minus Holland, Italy and (admittedly, this last might simply be a question of increasing the general gaiety) the Republic of Ireland? |
| The group stages would still weed out those teams not strong enough to take on the best; we would still have quarter- and semi-finalists and we would still have a World Cup winner. We would still be able to witness the spectacle of that winner going into the next tournament and suffering a shock initial defeat, as Germany did last Sunday when they came up against Mexico. | The group stages would still weed out those teams not strong enough to take on the best; we would still have quarter- and semi-finalists and we would still have a World Cup winner. We would still be able to witness the spectacle of that winner going into the next tournament and suffering a shock initial defeat, as Germany did last Sunday when they came up against Mexico. |
| Let’s spread the love. Let’s allow those with no interest whatsoever in football to continue to amuse themselves with entertainments such as Love Island, a far harsher expression of the will to compete and eliminate. Let’s create for ourselves a haven in which, for 90 minutes at a time, we are able to believe in a world in which children are not caged, in which members of parliament are not wheeled from hospital beds to voting chambers, in which the oceans are not awash with cetacean-choking plastic. | Let’s spread the love. Let’s allow those with no interest whatsoever in football to continue to amuse themselves with entertainments such as Love Island, a far harsher expression of the will to compete and eliminate. Let’s create for ourselves a haven in which, for 90 minutes at a time, we are able to believe in a world in which children are not caged, in which members of parliament are not wheeled from hospital beds to voting chambers, in which the oceans are not awash with cetacean-choking plastic. |
| Football’s level playing field is not the world; to think that it is tends towards a Pollyanna vision of life. But pleasure does not necessarily have to blinker us to the world’s evils, because we can choose to fight for its increased availability, for its democratisation. Optimistic? Certainly. Grandiose? Very probably. Concocting an argument that will allow me to watch yet more football matches? It’s a fair cop, guv. But right now, happiness is in short supply. Let us not cut it off where it exists. | Football’s level playing field is not the world; to think that it is tends towards a Pollyanna vision of life. But pleasure does not necessarily have to blinker us to the world’s evils, because we can choose to fight for its increased availability, for its democratisation. Optimistic? Certainly. Grandiose? Very probably. Concocting an argument that will allow me to watch yet more football matches? It’s a fair cop, guv. But right now, happiness is in short supply. Let us not cut it off where it exists. |
| • Alex Clark is a regular contributor to the Guardian and the Observer | • Alex Clark is a regular contributor to the Guardian and the Observer |
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