World Cup runneth under

Well, the World Cup kicked off on Sunday. I think. At any rate, it kicked off without me. As much as I am a sports fan, the World Cup is not my jam.

I was thinking that, if the US makes it to the finals - and that's a big if, as in 'as if' - I might put it on. But the final is on December 18th, and I'm busy that day. So...

If FIFA - Féderation Internationale de Football Association  the governing body which "governs" football (American English: soccer) - weren't such a rotten organization, and if I didn't find the sport (soccer/football) not all that thrilling, I'd actually think that the World Cup is a great idea. 

Universal language of sport. Make football, not war. Bringing the world together. Etc. 

But FIFA has long had a reputation for corruption - money changing hands in exchange for your country being selected as the World Cup site. And soccer/football? I can get caught up in any sport while I'm watching it. I mean, I keep forgetting that I'm an expert in the luge, and then I turn on the winter Olympics. But soccer/football? Sure, I can get excited in the moment. But mostly I'm meh.

The 2022 World Cup (which occurs every four years) is, quite controversially, being held in Qatar.

Arab nations have a well-earned reputation for sportswashing, i.e., using sports to burnish an image, elevate a brand. Hoping that no one notices the way a country treats women, LGBTQ+ people, migrant workers. Admittedly, there's plenty of room for improvement in the good old USA when it comes to all of the above. Still, I'd rather be a woman, gay, a migrant worker, etc. here than in any Arab there.  

Of course, Arab countries aren't the only sportswashers. Russia practically invented it (c.f., Russia hosting the 2018 World Cup). But they are really into it. 

There's LIV Golf League, founded to take on the PGA major golf tournaments monopoly and funded by the Saudis. And Abu Dhabi's Formula One (racing) Grand Prix. And, now, the Qatar World Cup.

Qatar isn't that populous a nation. There are 2.3 million people there, give or take, but the vast, vast, vast majority aren't Qataris. They're ex-pats. Who hang out in Qatar because it's exceedingly rich. Petroleum has made it one of the wealthiest nations on earth. 

And, since the late 20th century, it's crept a bit, a bit at a time, into the modern world. E.g., women can vote. Still...

For all Qatar’s progress though, it will be tested over the next month as it hosts the World Cup — an event that has invited a degree of scrutiny and criticism the country has rarely experienced and that threatens a global image carefully cultivated over the years through creative diplomacy, humanitarian work and commercial endeavors like sponsorship of sports.

Recent weeks have brought renewed attention to the plight of migrant workers who suffered or died building the infrastructure for the event, and to concerns over how LGBTQ fans will be received in a country that criminalizes homosexuality. In the past two days, the debate shifted to outrage over a decision to ban beer at stadiums. (Source: Washington Post)

I'm guessing that the no beer in the stadiums rule is the one that's most rankling the fans who've descended on Qatar. Just how will the football hooligans hooligan it up without being able to hoist a cold one?

And then there was this late-breaking World Cup-Qatar story. 

Fans who have travelled to Qatar as part of a controversial paid-for supporters programme have been told by Qatari authorities that their cash has been cut.

The Fan Leader Network is a scheme run by the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, the Qatari agency responsible for the World Cup. It has recruited supporters from around the globe, offering travel and accommodation and a place at the World Cup opening ceremony in return for enthusiasm and positive social media content. But the Guardian can reveal that a per diem payment for food and drink, upon which some supporters were depending, was cancelled just as fans were packing to travel to the Gulf. (Source: The Guardian)

Qatar pushed back, claiming that the "daily allowance" was never meant to be a quid pro quo but, rather it was intended to provide "a small uplift" to the personal expense money that the hired fans were supposed to bring with them. 

Even though they're no longer getting a per diem, the Fan Leader Network fan networkers are still getting flown in and put up, and being comped tickets to opening matches. In return, they're being asked to like and re-share positive posts. 

... and fans have reportedly been asked to flag social media content critical of the event.

Sounds like classic payola pay-to-play to me, with a bit of please-do-some-snitching on the side. You'd think that would be worth keeping the per diem going. After all, Qatar seems to be going all in on sportswashing. (The World Cup is by no means their only game in the sports arena.) You'd think they could have kept paying their social media members of the social media version of the world's oldest profession.

Anyway, I'm not likely to see any of of the paid fans social media posts. I'm way too meh on World Cup. For me, the World Cup underfloweth, that's for sure. 

Other than to say, Go USA. Failing that, Go Wales. And if that doesn't work, Go Germany. (Guess a fan's gotta fan...)