I’m boycotting the World Cup – does that make me a hypocrite?

Choosing not to watch this World Cup is hardly an act of radical protest. Indeed, my own passive resistance has been passive in the extreme.

It’s true that normally I would never miss an England game, but given the controversies surrounding this tournament, it seemed a natural choice simply to switch off. I was vaguely surprised that so many of those who had shown moral outrage at migrant deaths and human rights abuses are now blithely screeching “it’s coming home”, but what has really struck me is how offended many people seem in my choice to give the whole thing a miss.

No matter which unpalatable angle of the tournament I take issue with – and there’s a pretty long list to choose from – it seems that I’m a raging hypocrite. Didn’t I happily watch Russia’s World Cup in 2018? Do I not want to take a long hard look at migrant worker rights in my own country? Aren’t I aware that there’s a good chance the natural gas that heats my home comes from Qatar?

Clearly I have a Western superiority complex, since Qatar’s stance on LGBT+ rights makes me shudder. And – more recently – if I have such a problem with Qatar then why do I shop at Sainsbury’s (in which the Qatar Investment Authority has a sizable stake)?

I’m not qualified to break down the long list of everything that’s wrong with the 2022 Fifa World Cup (Miguel Delaney has done an excellent job of that here for anyone that’s interested) and there are hours’ worth of debate on the various issues raised.

But whichever way I look at it – whichever numbers I take as accurate, whichever facts I analyse, bend or scrutinise – the one thing I cannot deny is that this sporting event has been built on tremendous human suffering. The treatment of the 30,000 migrant labourers who built the infrastructure that made this World Cup possible just isn’t something I can make my peace with.

Although it would have been easier to simply pretend the tournament wasn’t happening (as I’d originally planned to) there’s something to be said for being forced to confront my reasons. The number of migrant worker deaths is truly shocking and almost incomprehensible.

I’m under no illusions that by simply skipping the pub and avoiding TV screens I’m taking any sort of real stand. For me, this World Cup has been a wake-up call that I probably need to do more than just look away from these uncomfortable truths – and I hope I remember that long after the trophy is lifted on 18 December.

Yours,

Annabel Grossman

Associate editor