You can lead a horse to water
Football's cup floweth over
Image: Brazil secures the Jules Rimet trophy for good, after a third win in 1974. It displays and is dedicated to Nike (she’s the ancient Greek goddess of victory). goal.com
I don’t drink. If I’m pressed, I’ll take a drop of wine, maybe champagne at new year, but the enjoyment isn’t that great. A client brought champagne this week to thank me for my work. It was very kind, but I’ll share the bottle with people who enjoy it more than me.
Some people drink more than I do, but have no fear, I’m sure I have sins to make up. The law in Qatar is being tested in the light of that country’s concession to the nation’s absolute prohibition against public consumption of alcohol. For what are currently unclear reasons, its government has withdrawn the concession granted to FIFA for World Cup venues and will not allow alcohol sales at event stadia for the football. News bringer VRT asks “Can people really not get by without a tipple when they watch their football?”
I think they can. Just as they can get over 31 December without consuming alcohol. And birthday parties. Promotions and summer afternoons at pavement cafés, not to mention weddings. Just two things alter that conclusion, however. One is: they can get by, but they don’t want to. They want to drink beer as they cheer their teams on. It generally makes for louder cheering, after all. And, two, a brewer paid 75 million bucks to be able to sell beer at the World Cup venues. This will not now be possible as things stand. I think they’d do right to ask for their 75 million back. Quite a lot in the end.
So, why would Qatar retract its concession? It presumably has a clause in its constitution against the sale of this alcohol. Perhaps they felt the unconstitutionality was something its freely and fairly elected leader could not contemplate, that it might incur the wrath of his people and threaten his delicately poised majority in government, and decided just to rein it in. A principle is after all a principle. Alcohol is a poison, and Qatar has pinned its colours to the mast: no boozing, thank you. That is very laudable. I approve of people who hold to their principles. That’s backbone, dignity.
However, also indicative of backbone and dignity are sticking to the deals one signs. It’s slightly less dignified to retract an agreement that’s been fixed in tablets of contract for nine years. Just two days before its implementation was expected. Not so upstanding. Echoes of “Why didn’t you say so from the outset?”
Qatar is probably a very nice place to play football. It’s a bit more awkward to be there if you’re gay. What kind of a place recruits homosexuals, under cover of an amnesty from a physical thrashing, to act as fifth columnists in order to uncover other homosexuals and their networks so that they can be thrashed by the authorities instead? (Certainly reduces the interest of dating in Qatar to the niche groups into BDSM.) It’s reportedly also awkward for trying to get paid for construction work you’ve done on event venues. Or trying to stay alive while doing that construction work. Or, now, if you like a beer with your football.
The beer isn’t crucial. The football is. And football doesn’t need beer. But football also doesn’t need the rest of what makes one wonder how Qatar ever submitted such a plan for hosting this World Cup that seemed so attractive. Football doesn’t need a sense of arbitrariness and fear pervading the whole bally-hoo. Not when football is all about fair play and sportsmanship.
What football at least needs is money, isn’t that it? I’ve seen no reports saying that Qatar was reluctantly pressganged against its will into hosting the World Cup; certainly there was no threat of a thrashing if it didn’t agree, surely? It went into this project for the honour, the dignity, the esteem of being host. And perhaps a bit of cash.
Now it has not just withdrawn its alcohol concession, thus upholding its constitutional principle – don’t forget that important point – but it has raised the spectre of an embarrassing confrontation between FIFA and Anheuser-Busch, made an ultimate fun event less fun for some supporters, and at least raised the question: just WHY did they want the World Cup at all?
Football is passion, say the aficionados. Well, if that was why Qatar wanted the 22 World Cup, they’ve raised quite some of that, even before a ball is kicked in anger.