Let’s put all the negativity aside and just enjoy the Beautiful Game

MOST people’s usual routine in the morning is to brush their teeth and shower first – but mine is going straight to the Twitter feed before anything else.

Yes, technology and social media have consumed my life, but that’s the nature of my job. I don’t want to miss any news, especially this month, as the World Cup takes centrestage.

Following sports writers and podcasters like Adam Crafton, Tim Vickery, James Richardson, Julian Laurens and Sean Ingle is a must.

But sadly, there is so much negativity surrounding this World Cup in Qatar.

There were questions about the fans, the exorbitant food and beverage prices in Doha and, yes, the constant talk of human rights issues.

I will get to see this first hand as I will be heading to Qatar for the greatest show on earth.

It has always been my dream to go to a World Cup and watch matches there. Finally, I’m going to one – thanks to four years of saving up.

But a recent development that Qatar have brought in South Asians to act as fans in the World Cup has made me chuckle. Will I be considered a “state-sponsored” fan as made up by several western media establishments?

Look at India, for example. If you go to Kolkata or Kerala, the craze is different. You will see cutouts of Messi and Ronaldo, which shows how passionate they are about international football.

They are not brought in by Qatar. Besides, the number of expats outweighs the citizens in Qatar.

According to Qatar’s Planning and Statistics Authority, as of October 2022, the nation has 3.02 million people, of which more than two million are expats.

And these expats are passionate about the game too. They can’t wait for the World Cup to start. Yet, they get bad press, which is infuriating.

Football is truly global, and it’s not surprising to see so many international fans supporting their teams in the World Cup. It’s perplexing that some are still ignorant about that. Some even bring nationalism and politics into it.

Sports and politics are two separate issues, but well ... I can’t say anything much about it.

This holier-than-thou attitude is just abhorrent. The amount of scrutiny in this World Cup is crazy.

All this has eroded the sanctity of the sport, but after watching “FIFA Uncovered” on Netflix, one can’t help but realise that the system is already corrupted as highlighted by the fact that officials took bribes to help Qatar and Russia (2018 World Cup) get hosting rights.

If corruption is already a culture, we can’t do anything about it unless more people are willing to be upright, which is unlikely.

It is a worldwide pandemic, including in Malaysia. We can go on screaming “sports washing” and so on, but when money is shown, we still wag our tails.

Even the so-called Western principles, lauded by themselves, feed into some of these regimes in the name of “income”.

Look, money is everything these days, and it’s something we can’t avoid. Some of us have a conscience, but some say it’s “rezeki” (sustenance).

If we hope for a cleaner system, we have to start with ourselves first. That means not condoning what is wrong and unacceptable, and practising what we preach.

For now, I just look forward to enjoying the beautiful game in Qatar.