From Special Correspondent and Manchester United Season Ticket Holder Laurence Rabinowitz in London:
In the week when Wikileaks told the world what most people already knew, namely that Vlad-the-Drac and his Russian Government are ["allegedly"] corrupt gangsters – no more and no less – and that Qatar is a state ["allegedly"] content to do deals with Islamic terrorists, one might have thought that neither Russia, nor Qatar, looked likely venues at which to hold the biggest soccer shows on earth – namely the World Cups 2018 and 2022..
But that would assume that those making the decisions about this were any less ["allegedly"] corrupt than Vlad-the-Drac and whoever it is who currently heads the fiefdom in Doha. You are not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy!
And so, the alternative venues, including England, the home of football, New York/Los Angeles, places which have shown themselves well able to entertain hundreds of millions of visitors at a time, and to throw great events successfully, and Spain/Portugal, surely on top of the world in terms of sheer footballing ability, were left to ponder a reality in which they could not even hope to host the competition for at least another 20 years.
For English football, sending the “Three Lions” - football royalty in the form of David Beckham, political royalty in the form of new Prime Minister David Cameron, and real royalty in the form of Prince William, achieved nothing but humiliation and embarrassment. The whole episode has left a sour taste in the mouth. At least we now all know that it is simply not enough to make the strongest technical case, or the strongest commercial case, or to fill the place with household names. We now all know (did we really ever imagine otherwise?) that all that matters is who is able to offer the biggest and best inducement to the 22 men who, under Sepp Blatter’s guiding hand, hold absolute power to make the decision.
Was it just a coincidence that Roman Abramovich, a Russian oligarch and one of the richest men in the world, was smiling smugly as the even more smug Blatter tore open the envelope which announced Russian victory. I don’t think so, although I suspect that the envelope or envelopes that really matter were ones we the general public will never see being opened. And I am betting that they contain something altogether more bankable than a big white card with a name embossed on it.
To be fair to the Russians and the Qataris (if we must), it is doubtful that any of the bidding nations did not indulge in at least some form of low -level corruption or offers of inducement. England for example sent Beckham to the Caribbean to play football with Caribbean kids. They even sent the grown ups to play an international in Trinidad and Tobago. But with an estimated £3 billion being the prize to whatever country landed the competition, it should perhaps have been obvious that something more substantial was required. The Russians and the Qataris understand how to play these games. Countries like the United Kingdom, and the United States, who, rather quaintly, still hold on to notions of fair play and justice, do not.
And so, what do we do now? It is very likely that these events will prove dismal failure. Why would anyone with a choice in the matter want to go to Russia or Qatar, countries that, frankly, have little or nothing to offer the visitor. But by the time these events flop, as they surely will, those responsible for this decision will all probably be long retired, sailing away on their shiny new yachts, all of which were bought and paid for. So why would they care? Maybe it is time to just say enough is enough, pick up our soccer balls, and go and find our own game, where we no longer have to deal with people like Blatter, Jack Warner, Putin, Abramovich, and whoever was the bagman for the Qataris. Or maybe we should wait until after Brazil 2014, when, at least, what may be the last proper World Cup of our lifetimes, will take place in a proper football country.
Bitter? Me? No, never. I think international football is pretty rubbish anyway.
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