Published: 4 November 2022
Last updated: 5 March 2024
The Socceroos’ statement calling attention to the World Cup host nation’s behaviour is worthy, but the world has had years to act. Qatar is a lesson in the arbitrariness and inadequacies of human rights protests.
Australia’s national football team, the Socceroos, last week issued a statement of protest about the host nation Qatar’s human rights record, specifically criticising its treatment of migrant workers and LGBTQ+ people.
The game’s governing body Football Australia also released a statement saying the "suffering" felt by workers and their families caused by the tournament "cannot be ignored".
It’s a worthy sentiment, more so because Australia is the first finalist to speak out. With the World Cup now less than a month away, it’s a small enough gesture to make it easy for other football nations to speak out.
A few weeks earlier, Craig Foster, the former Socceroo and TV commentator who has become a voice of social conscience, said he had decided to work on the SBS broadcast because he believes he can ventilate the issue better by being “inside the tent” rather than on the periphery. But he did say he will only do it from Australia; Foster doesn’t want to give Qatar any of his coin.
Again, like the Socceroos, Foster is sincere and his inspirational campaign three years ago to save the Bahraini footballer Hakeem al-Araibi from a Thai prison endows his statements with genuine credibility.
But really, to what end? To make the world aware of what’s been going on in Qatar?
The corruption and bribery behind its successful bid in 2009 to host the event has been well documented and the Guardian’s revelation that 6500 migrant workers had died while working on construction of the stadiums was published more than 18 months ago.
