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Enjoyment, laughter, freedom, excitement, joy, love and celebration are some things usually associated with a FIFA World Cup. The event brings thousands of football fans together under one roof to witness different countries play the game they love so much. However fans can be assured that when they travel to Qatar in 2022 they will witness none of these things. The preparations for the 2022 Qatar World Cup have been marred by misery, slavery and blatant mismanagement by the officials who care only for themselves and not for the workers whose efforts make any World Cup enjoyable and successful. The right thing for FIFA and other sporting bodies to do is to label Qatar a disgrace for their treatment of the workers and bar them from hosting any events in the future.
Recent documents show that over 500 Indian immigrant workers perished in the last two years, including 24 in the month of January this year, due to the extreme working conditions and lack of proper facilities provided by the Qatari government. This takes the toll to 717 Indian deaths since Qatar were announced of the 2022 World Cup by FIFA four years ago.
World famous human rights body Amnesty International launched an investigation into the living conditions of the workers two years ago and found that the workers wore forced to work for 12-hours a day in the searing heat and had to rest in overcrowded living areas. If this is not nipped in the bud then the figures may shatter the dreaded 1000 mark. The International Trade Union Confederation confirmed these fears when they revealed that over 4000 workers could perish before 2022 if no improvements are made.
Another problem that is sure to effect the World Cup is the incredibly humid temperatures the Middle East witnesses during the summer. The World Cup has almost always been held during the summer but if the tradition is repeated in 2022 then fans could find themselves basking in temperatures as high as 50 °C which could lead to more fatalities. The Qatari authorities have come out with a technology that will see all of the 5 venues harnessing the suns rays which can bring down the temperature to at least 25 degrees but the technology remains untested in the big stadiums leaving a big question mark over the usefulness of these methods.
There have been calls to host the World Cup in the winter when the weather is bearable but this will lead to the delay in the seasons of the various football leagues of the world. Such delays will not be worth it after all the misery that has been caused. FIFA should have taken more precautions before allowing Qatar to host the competition.
I would be in no mood to celebrate the Qatar World Cup after all the pain and suffering it has caused to thousands of nameless and faceless workers whose deaths could have been avoided. It seems to me that the World Cup will be stained with blood. There is still time for FIFA to take action and revoke Qatar’s rights to host the World Cup. It may not bring the dead workers back but it will give some closure to their families who will know that the country that caused them so much pain will not get a chance to make money.
