Qatar 2022 - Expect Amazing, or, Money's Coming Home
What you do, it seems, on learning that Qatar has been awarded the 2022 FIFA World Cup, is start up your Land Cruisers, open the windows and sun roof, turn the radios on at full volume, and drive up and down the Corniche in convoy, beating a tattoo on the horn. But then, you also do this to mark the start of each Eid and on National Day, so you've had plenty of practice. And you keep it going till about 3 a.m.
And what you'll do for the next twelve years is build and build. Solar cooled stadiums, roads, hotels, apartment blocks for the professionals, labour camps for the faceless ones. A football city will rise from the desert.
The FIFA guys are not stupid. Russia (2018) and Qatar (2022) were the only two bidding countries that could reasonably be expected to come through the coming financial meltdown intact. (2008 was merely a rehearsal). Money follows money and it's a long time since football was about sport.
My guess is that you'll be ready in time. The 2006 Asia Games should have taught you that lesson. But what will you do with the hordes of fans in the hours between breakfast and the first match of the day? You know, the rampaging thousands looking for beer and every entertainment that goes with it, which doesn't mean shopping malls. Then there's the tattooed loons who think they can take the sun because they've been once to Ibiza. You're going to need a stadium-sized casualty and burns unit to cope with that lot. And an army of police. Good luck guys!
Has anyone picked up on what Septic Bladder said at the recent press conference about gays visiting the country?
ReplyDeleteIt seems like the dust from all the construction will be carrying on for a few more years!
Hi Jayne - I missed that, but even for non-gay fans, they're not going to find all they're looking for here! They need more changes than a load of new stadiums!
ReplyDeleteThe full impact of the cultural differences hasn't fully sunk in yet - booze, boobs, the football equivalent of The Balmy Army and others like them - still 12 years is a long time in the modern world, look at where Qatar was just 12 years ago....... PaulRB_Doha
ReplyDeleteI was trying to find out if they had a name and came across this: "English Football Fans are the 3rd most feared group of people in the known universe (behind the SAS and Scottish football fans) and the most deluded. Living on a diet of alcohol, Pukka Pies and embarrassment this distinguished group has evolved into a fierce rioting machine capable of destroying such illustrious cities as Moscow, Rome and Istanbul. http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/English_Football_Fans " Cheers, PaulRB_Doha
ReplyDeleteHi Paul - I think the worst time will be in about 6 to 10 years from now, when everything will be under demolition or construction, nothing will be finished, rents will be sky-high and panic will be setting in!. But I'm not expecting to be here too much longer. A couple more years at the outside. Maybe!
ReplyDelete