Let it be football that unites the world

Football is not known as the beautiful game for nothing. It knows no racial or religious boundaries; is as beautiful to watch as it is to play; and its potential for easing tensions and bringing people together in an increasingly hostile and belligerent world is unparalleled.

I’ve lived this at the micro-level. Growing up in inner city London, being obsessed with football was what kept many of my generation out of jail; it gave us discipline and focus, and broke down barriers. A potential fight involving knives could be settled by a game of football; a solid training regime with the local and school football teams could be the only alternative to joining a gang and living a life of drugs and crime. Playing in a mixed-race, multi-faith team taught us about the commonalities that we share with others, and that even if we differ on some issues, we can still work together to achieve common goals. I cannot think of anything else that has this ability to unite people.

I discovered that football is a truly global game by watching the BBC and ITV coverage of matches. I watched my childhood heroes such as Zico, Socrates, Maradona and Zidane, men who had grown up extremely disadvantaged, but who had the drive, ambition and inner-belief to go on and conquer the world. The BBC in particular had world-class introductions, wonderful sets and the unrivalled Des Lynam. Who could ever forget his masterful quoting of Rudyard Kipling’s If to sum up the 1998 World Cup in France?

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But that was then. It was very painful to watch the start of the 2022 FIFA World Cup coverage from Qatar, because now we have a very different BBC where football is no longer the focus. The BBC’s coverage of this once-in-a-lifetime event for the Arab and Muslim world was reduced to a pitiful display of virtue-signalling.

“It’s the most controversial World Cup in history, and a ball hasn’t even been kicked,” was the opening line from Gary Lineker, a former England football captain who once, ironically, presented for Qatar’s Aljazeera Sports. Lineker was the main anchor for the BBC’s World Cup programming. With those words, he set the tone for what was to follow, where the virtues that he and co-presenter Alex Scott so obviously hold dear were pushed as those that needed to be shared by the whole of humanity, and that it was this rather than the excitement and jubilation of the world coming together for one month that should characterise — and indeed overshadow — the whole tournament. I cannot recall seeing any Western media outlet, ever, beginning the coverage of a major international sporting event in such a sour way.

Even worse followed, with the BBC judging that the carefully created opening ceremony custom-made to display the culture, traditions and intentions of the host country did not merit any recognition. It was simply not broadcast. And yet, just nine months earlier, the BBC was quite happy to air the Winter Olympics opening ceremony in China, a country accused of committing genocide by British MPs. No politicised criticism of the hosts was broadcast instead of that ceremony, as it was with Qatar’s.

So BBC viewers missed seeing what the rest of the world watched: a message of unity and a celebration of differences, at the heart of which was a conversation between Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman and Ghanim Al-Muftah, Qatar’s “miracle boy” who is a poet, activist and aspiring ambassador, despite being born with a rare condition known as Caudal Regression Syndrome (CDS) which severely impacted the development of the lower half of his body. He has a huge following on social media and is a well-known figure in the Muslim world.

Al-Muftah quoted the Qur’anic verse where God explains His wisdom in creating us all and making us “into races and tribes, so that you should recognise one another. In God’s eyes, the most honoured of you are the ones most mindful of Him.”

This was the ideal description of what a World Cup held in a Middle Eastern and Muslim country should be: a unique opportunity to welcome guests and celebrate our differences, all while being excellent in conduct and mindful of our Creator. This was also a perfect response to the hateful and negative media coverage to which people in the region have been subjected for decades. Instead of this unity, though, we got sanctimony from the narrow-minded BBC.

Lineker and Scott were by no means the only sanctimonious culprits. We had a Fox Sports reporter indignant about female-only queues at Doha Airport (it’s called being respectful!); others complaining that no alcohol was allowed in the stadiums, even though this is common in other countries; and a couple of Englishmen wondering why they were refused entry dressed up as medieval crusaders. Some went as far as to say that the Arab world is unfamiliar or new to football, while others called Qatar’s culture an “abomination”. Of course, people are entitled to their views, but the intensity and targeted nature of this seems to suggest that certain elements of the Western media think that they can dictate to the rest of us what the agenda should be. We are no strangers to military, political and economic imperialism, but it seems that sporting events are to provide the opportunity for cultural imperialism, no less tyrannical, to be deployed.

There is no question that criticism of Middle East countries, including Qatar, is to be welcomed, and even required, but what is shocking is the level of hostility, often based on disinformation. What was supposed to be a major international sporting event was turned into an unnecessary clash of civilisations.

Irony aside, there is no question that some of the issues raised in criticism of the hosts, such as worker’s rights as well as those of minorities, are vitally important, and that Qatar’s hosting of the World Cup should not mean that people’s views on these issues must be stifled or ignored. Despite Qatar taking important steps to improve the rights and working conditions of its migrant workers, a huge amount still needs to be done, especially in making sure that the stringent labour laws passed in recent years are implemented effectively, and that those particularly on the lower end of the pay scale get the assistance they are entitled to. However, much of the coverage went way beyond the legitimate points on worker’s rights, racism and other matters, which we can agree are issues, and became an attack on a whole culture.

It is reasonable to ask why Qatar was singled out for such scrutiny, as if the western values held by Lineker, Scott and others are morally superior to all others. Qatar is a religiously conservative Muslim society whose people have very traditional values, and this needs to be recognised. No other country has ever been asked to change its entire culture in order to host a major international event, and it is the height of arrogance to insist that Qatar should do so.

It needs to be understood, if not accepted, that there is an age-old consensus in the Muslim world on many issues related to gender-relations, the family, society and even foreign relations which is rooted in tradition and not forced from the top down. In fact, intelligent observers would note that when governments do attempt to impose top-down changes there tends to be a huge pushback from the masses. The reception that Israeli journalists received in Doha due to their government’s treatment of the Palestinians and the implications of the Abraham Accords, as well as the reaction to the pro-LGBTQ campaign from certain quarters, are two very clear examples of this. It would be as conceited as it would be fallacious, therefore, to deem that what the West does and believes has to be followed by the rest of the world. Again, in the spirit of cooperation and understanding, it is a question of accepting that, like it or not, people have different beliefs and value systems. Of course, as the host-nation of a festival of cultures Qatar should welcome everyone — and it did — but that should not mean it has to accept all kinds of behaviour by visitors, especially those antithetical to its own culture and heritage.

If, as some people demand, we prevent nations from hosting major international tournaments because of their beliefs and cultural practices, then the US should not be hosting the next FIFA World Cup due to its institutionalised oppression of its own black citizens and its wars of aggression overseas. France and Denmark, both of which ban Muslim women from wearing Islamic attire, should never host such tournaments. And what about England, my country, whose football team wears shirts made in Thai sweatshops where workers are treated like slaves and paid just £1 an hour?

Moreover, if Qatar’s culture is deemed as an “abomination”, then let us remember that almost every Muslim and African country shares its views on homosexuality. Should none of these countries, therefore, ever be allowed to host a major international tournament? How “international” would that leave the FIFA World Cup or Olympic Games?

These are my views about some of the western media and political coverage of Qatar 2022 thus far. As I write there are still the semi-finals and final to be played. Perhaps I give it too much weight due to growing up in the West at a time when the world was very western-centric. What’s more, having watched the tournament and spoken to friends and colleagues around the world, it is clear that there is also a far more positive view emerging about the hosts, as football fans from Japan to Uruguay, and Ghana to Mexico are testifying. The multitude of fans have generally been amazing, and more than drown out the pessimism and negativity.

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Nobody has a monopoly on views and ideas any more: Twitter, TikTok and Telegram see to that, and are often more representative and less discriminatory than mainstream media could ever be. The power to spoil no longer exists as the world is now bigger than any oligopoly or cartel; and just as we have seen other negative campaigns begin with shock and awe but end in a whimper, so will this.

At the heart of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar is the Football Unites the World global movement launched by FIFA in order to inspire people and bring about unity and development through football. This is what every player in Qatar has worn on their sleeve. As we wave goodbye to an astounding tournament, we can hope that it is indeed this, in the spirit of the Qur’anic verse recited by Ghanim Al-Muftah, which prevails and unites us all.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.