Back To The Future?

Last weekend saw the culmination of the AFC Asian Cup, where the football tournament was held in Qatar. Yes folks, the same Qatar that was recently and somewhat contentiously selected as the host nation to stage the 2022 World Cup. Deemed a controversial decision sanctioned to many at the request of FIFA President Sepp Blatter, and his band of merry men within the organisation. I think this gives you an insightful clue as to where this post may be heading. However, before we get into that, I do believe congratulations are in order for the successful Japanese team that won the Asian Cup, defeating Australia 1-0 after extra time.

Like many showpiece finals, the match can only be described as an uninspiring contest. But with so much on the line and tactics set out not to lose, you can understand the reason for such an exhibition. With a superb volleyed goal from Tadanari Lee scored in extra time befitting to win any match, Japan secured a third continental triumph in the last four tournaments to go along with their successes in 2002, and in 2004 respectively.

With the plaudits put to one side, for those following the event we got a glimpse of the future. If the sound bites are followed, in exactly 11 years time and at this point of the year, football’s gatekeepers FIFA have suggested that the World Cup breaks 92 years of tradition, and be staged in Qatar outside the standard months of June and July. A move aimed to combat the situation of both the players, and their supporters being exposed to the extreme temperatures of the Middle East country during that time in the year. 

Technically speaking, football’s World Cup has been contested in much cooler temperatures in the past, or even in the winter months of its hosting nations. You only have to look at last year’s tournament in South Africa as a recent example of a winter World Cup, and looking slightly further back, the 1978 competition in Argentina which the host nation won. But it has always fallen in line with being played in June and or July, and an aptly time when many league and cup competitions in Europe have finished. But what football’s chiefs are putting forward is nothing short of a logistical minefield all for the sake of not scrutinising efficiently, the enormity of the potential problem of the event being held in temperatures that could reach 50 °C.

Now I am all for emerging groupings getting their time to shine, and those who have often been overlooked showcasing what they are all about to a grand stage. I always like to see challenges to the status quo, and champion revolution in the correct manner. With globalisation thus making the world smaller and far more accessible, the days of the long established nations always leading the way are beginning to cease in many fields. This too can be said in sport, and a factor in which I felt there was only going to be one winner in who was to stage the 2022 tournament. I personally am glad the World Cup is going to new territory in the shape of Qatar, though query the 2018 decision, but that is for another time.

Yet since its selection both FIFA and the constructed Qatar event organisers appear not to be on the same page, with the FIFA President claiming it most likely the competition will be staged at the start of the calendar year. Blatter’s European equivalent at UEFA, Michel Platini has also backed the idea, and even suggested the tournament could be co-hosted by Qatar and its regional neighbours. 

Both views which have been rebuffed by the Qatarian coordinators, and have insisted they plan to hold the competition during June and July, in a solo effort as proposed as part of their bid. But where was the correct foresight and provisions in place to deal with this matter at hand? There is no point in FIFA and some of the game’s influential individuals to now recognise that after two years of a bidding campaign, and choosing the nation to host the 2022 edition of the World Cup that this is a real predicament to negate.

Fair enough many of the stadia during the competition are planned to be air-conditioned but what about the fans travelling to and from the stadiums? You cannot air-condition a whole entire country? Yes, 2022 does seem like a long way off and who knows what technologically advancements or proposed allowances can be employed, to make both the playing and spectating experience more comfortable. But the lack of foresight and making wild statements without sound consultation with the event organisers of Qatar, a nation FIFA in the end did give the World Cup too is nothing short of staggering. Not to mention the lack of acknowledging the sport’s numerous football associations, and clubs whose fans and players will be taking part.

Now Michel Platini has gone a step further and wants to make football a summer sport from 2015, where every league in the world would have their domestic season being played from March to October.  A plan that would allow a time of six weeks for a scheduled program of international qualifying games to be completed in Novemer and December, with a rest period for the players of four weeks that covers the festive season. Platini’s scheme would mean all the big international tournaments to be contested such as the World Cup and continental competitions to be held in February and March, just before the start of a new domestic season at club level.

Gentlemen, as key figures within the world of football let me remind you your job is to administer the safekeeping and continual development of the sport we all love so much. Not to enforce your whimsical ideals in an almost dictatorship fashion to the world’s beautiful game, with consultation clearly being absent. There are far more pressing matters that need your respective organisations concentration.

Issues that include as clarifying once and for all the open-endedness and ambiguous interpretation of the different and active phases of the offside rule, which in fairness to the officials is not making their lives any easier to supervise over during match play. The latest addition to this subject’s ever-growing catalogue was seen this week at the Emirates Stadium, as Arsenal played Everton in the Premier League. Everton’s Louis Saha scored a contentious goal which for many was deemed offside, however the game’s officials and their understanding of active phases allowed the goal.

How about introducing the aid of technology of to conclude matters of fact in the game? More specifically goal-line technology to prove whether the match ball has fully crossed the line, eradicating endless situations like what we saw in the 2010 World Cup and the quarter final clash between Germany and England. Or are you waiting before such a tournament is won or lost in the final with similar circumstances, before you boys get your act together.

I agree perhaps there maybe a need to formulate a more concise football calendar, but these rather are key topics that need to be looked into more urgently. Not the half empty gestures that you show in proving that doing your jobs, and taking wasted affirmative actions against banning of all things, snoods!