Johnny Phillips: Money talks – and even the 'fans' are cashing in

The footage purports to show fans’ parades in Doha featuring supporters from all over the world – England, Argentina, Brazil, Spain, Portugal and so on. What it actually shows is a group of demographically identical men – they are all men – dancing around with similar instruments to similar music, decked in the colours and flags of participating countries. Without wanting to cast further aspersions on these “fans” it would be a fair guess that none of them have set foot in their “home” countries or seen “their team” kick a single football.

Earlier this month The Times reported that 40 supporters from England and the same number from Wales have been paid by Qatar to attend the World Cup. Part of the deal involves signing a code of conduct requiring them to deliver positive messages about being in Qatar, sing songs when directed to and – perhaps most darkly – respond to social media posts critical of the World Cup.

This week a Danish television crew was harassed and stopped from filming after reporting live from a public space in Doha, which may have been showing what the streets actually looked like. World Cup organisers have apologised to the TV2 channel, whose broadcast from a street in Doha was interrupted on-air by Qatari officials who threatened to break their camera equipment.

The broadcasters “were mistakenly interrupted” late on Tuesday evening, the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy acknowledged in a statement. “Upon inspection of the crew’s valid tournament accreditation and filming permit an apology was made to the broadcaster by on-site security before the crew resumed their activity,” organisers said.

Leaving aside the well-publicised human rights issues, the stage management of the event with stunts like this is just one illustration of why many supporters are struggling to get excited for this World Cup.

For the powerhouses of league football in Europe, the contrast is stark. Top leagues across the continent with stadiums packed full of genuine supporters creating their own atmosphere have been put on hold. The fixtures in these few weeks to Christmas, particularly in countries like England and Germany, are when the domestic leagues get really exciting. The tentative first steps in late summer, replaced by the table taking shape in autumn, before giving way to winter when matches gather an added importance. Football, in this country, should always be a winter sport. To have six weeks of the calendar emptied for the World Cup does not sit well.

The nights are drawing in and for many that escape to the match each week provides a real sense of occasion and togetherness that will be missing. It is why lockdown football during the pandemic, while better than nothing, had no real meaning. Football might be a spectator sport in name for those in the stands but the truth is that we are all participating to the sport. That sense of belonging and spectacle that makes football what it is.

I have attended six major tournaments, all of them in Europe, and the sense of togetherness is still there, albeit in a very different sense. Aside from the hooligan minority which have always accompanied these events – although they’ll certainly be missing this time, which may be one of the few advantages of staging the event in Qatar – the belonging comes from shared experiences with

supporters from many countries. I’ve got some great memories of inter-railing through France with Norwegians, playing football with Dutch and Spanish fans at campsites in Germany and even attending a Fat Boy Slim gig in Coimbra, Portugal, with a group of Latvians back at Euro 2004. Freedom of movement was rightly taken for granted and the welcome was warm from all host countries, where there was something for everyone - even a bit of tear gas from the Gendarmerie down at the old port in Marseille for the rabble rousers back in 1998.

While coming across the occasional unsavoury moment, the vast majority of those trips gave memories to last a lifetime. Hosting a major tournament should be about showcasing the cultures and communities of that country while welcoming the many nations that come to enjoy the event. Can the organisers honestly say that is the case with this World Cup?

When the hosts kick off tomorrow a lot of what has gone on before will, temporarily, be consigned to the back of the memory. Football fans all over the world will sit down in front of the screens and enjoy the deluge of matches – sometimes four a day – coming our way.

Even the disgraced former FIFA president Sepp Blatter eventually admitted that Qatar should not have been awarded the competition. From afar it has the appearance of a floating bubble, where reality has been suspended and only money talks. The football will provide a welcome diversion but when all is said and done it is hard to overlook the context these matches are being played in, no matter how many cheerleaders are wheeled out for the cameras over the next month.