England Shouldn’t Host The 2030 World Cup by Dan
It wasn’t meant to be like this was it?
England no doubt had some sort of parade arranged for Monday had they won the Euros. Instead we have had days of players being racially abused, Downing Street condemning behavior of fans inside and outside of Wembley, and a UEFA investigation having already been fined the FA after the Semi Final.
In essentially a home tournament, with the world watching, this wasn’t a good look for the country.
That’s not even including; booing of national anthems, laser pens being used, fireworks set off, Denmark fans complaining of vile chants, etc.
The fear is now it will impact Great Britain’s and Ireland’s bid to host the 2030 World Cup. Which it should!
There’s a perception of England within the sport of being arrogant. They self-proclaim they have the best League in the World, every tournament singing ‘It’s Coming Home’, etc.
Worse though they are very critical when other nations struggle to contain racism or hooliganism, etc., like Bulgaria, Spain, Eastern Europe, etc. England have rightfully preached about tougher sanctions and justifiably been bemused by UEFA’s light punishment over the years.
I wonder if the Football Association will be demanding huge fines now that they are the ones having to pay them?
Of course it’s the minority, but we have to be careful with that thinking.
In a venue of thousands, most are decent people. Yet what’s the number of people you accept as being in the minority?
I would be interested if that were the World Cup Final being played in Moscow where fans broke in, would the English press be calling them the minority?
In 2021 shouldn’t we aim for one person being racially abused being one too many?
The numbers of anti-social arrests are increasing on Match Days as are complaints of discrimination online.
There are countless examples of grown men and women who seem to think that in their footballing bubble they can act however they want.
That’s why you hurt what’s most important to them. If they knew stadium bans, point deductions, etc. were a consequence of their behavior would they think twice about their actions?
In a sense, I’m not worried about those cowards, but more concerned about educating the next generation.
There are children who watch YouTube and think it’s normal to swear at players if they play badly.
They are constantly hearing players being abused online to the point it’s normalised.
If a 10-year-old sees the events of the weekend and then hears we are hosting a World Cup in 9 years, what are we teaching a child?
He or she needs to see adults treating it like a big deal.
In the last two months, 2 of the UK biggest stadiums have been broken into. If that were another nation, we would say that country had a problem.
Are other nations just as guilty?
Will places with worse crime rates, human right issues, political issues, etc. still bid to host events?
Of course.
I’m asking my country to be better.
Pointing to other countries that have crowd and racism problems as well, doesn’t make it okay for you to have them as well.
We have to accept we have problems which are increasing.
Lasers, Fireworks, Breaking into Stadiums, racism …. that’s some crime sheet to build in the space of one month.
Is it fair on the majority of decent people to miss a home World Cup due to the minority?
Correcting a growing issue is more important.
Protecting players from this treatment is more crucial.
Showing that next generation this country has a zero tolerance towards this behavior must be paramount.
No different to English clubs being banned from Europe in the late 80’s and early 90’s.
Not every fan caused crowd trouble in that era, but it reached a point where Football had to say enough.
In 2021, I fear there is too much money around for anyone to really force reform.
When FIFA picks who hosts the World Cup, they are not basing their criteria on who’s fans are behaving.
The same reason why Facebook and Twitter won’t demand users register details.
The same reason why the Prem owners don’t demand Stadium bans or point deductions as a consequence to racial abuse.
……Money!
Every few decades though you have that one person who wants to make a difference. An inspirational figure who demands change. I will wait for that person who says… Enough is enough!
Be kind in the comments
Dan