AS the kick-off to the World Cup in Qatar nears, there has been a relentless campaign, originating mostly from Europe, criticising the host nation, with some questioning why the cup was even awarded to the petrodollar-fuelled sheikhdom. The criticism has focused on Qatar’s alleged human rights excesses, including its treatment of migrant workers and LGBT people. The German interior minister had said that it would have been better if the football gala had not been awarded to “such states”, though she later backtracked after Doha protested, saying that Qatar had “very good laws” regarding human rights. Moreover, some French cities have refused to screen matches publicly, while a French publication has released a cartoon portraying the Qatari football team as terrorists and suicide bombers. Perhaps more than any real concern for human rights, much of this criticism may be due to European discomfiture with an Arab Muslim state successfully hosting world football’s premier event for the first time. The Qatari emir has responded to the campaign by terming it “slander and double standards”, while FIFA has called upon participating states to “focus on football” and leave “ideological or political” battles aside.

While global sporting events are supposed to be free of politics, this has rarely been the case. For example, the West and its allies, including Pakistan, boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The Eastern bloc responded in kind by staying away from the Los Angeles Games in 1984. More recently, many athletes have been ‘taking a knee’ to protest racism. Of course, such pressure has worked at times, as the sports boycott of apartheid-era South Africa proved. But such criticism — and some of it may indeed be valid — so close to the World Cup is unsportsmanlike, especially when many of the European states slamming Qatar are notorious for racism in their football leagues, particularly targeting players of colour. There will always be time for politics. For now, let’s leave politics for another day and enjoy the Beautiful Game.

Published in Dawn, November 12th, 2022