The final will take place at the Lusail Stadium in Doha

IT’s a football tournament and almost certainly one that may get very exciting on the field and could yet lead to fevered dancing in the streets of Camden Town, but this is not the World Cup.

How can it be when a sporting spectacle that is supposed to be so unifying is not welcoming everybody? While gay rights may have taken too long to be won in the UK, in Qatar – the host nation of the finals kicking off on Sunday – it still remains illegal to be have same-sex relationships.

The death penalty remains a possible punishment. People, put simply, can’t be who they are without harassment or fear.

There was hope that the arrival of the greatest show on earth to the Gulf might be a force for good and there were some muttered pledges to change, but just last week Khalid Salman, a former Qatari player now serving as the World Cup 2022 ambassador, said being gay represented “damage to the mind” and that players and visitors would have to “accept our rules here”.

That’s not the World Cup.

Beth Mead, the Arsenal footballer, summed up the response as she explained in a radio interview earlier this month how the choice of hosts was problematic: “Although I’m cheering for the boys who are going to play football there, from the minute it was announced I thought it wasn’t the best idea…

“We’re in the 21st century and you fall in love with who you fall in love with. It doesn’t matter who they are. That’s the perception we need to get across.”

At its best, the World Cup is about stretching arms across the world and enjoying the drama supplied by the globe’s best players. It should be a meeting point of cultures and colour. Back home, we should be collecting stickers, filling in wallcharts and enjoying permission to not do the hoovering for another 90 minutes because Costa Rica are playing Japan.

The scene in Camden Town after England beat Denmark in the European championships last summer

There should be facepaint and flying pints. It’s hard to enjoy any of that when gay football fans have said they don’t feel they can travel to Doha to support Gareth Southgate and his England squad. As for the tournament it’s also being increasingly brushed under the carpet how we ended up here in the first place – and the dubious selection process that meant new stadiums would have to be built from scratch.

When viewers get ready to switch on in millions, perhaps they will be unaware that it is alleged that thousands of workers died in the race to get these huge construction projects completed in time. While it is accepted that the footballers cannot play in Qatar’s searing heat, hence the unique winter timing for the tournament, the same allowance was not made for the poverty-pay migrant workers who were pulled in to get it done.

Qatar will show off stadiums that look like illuminated masterpieces, but the lights will not spell out the whole story. Of course, every nation must also look inward when it criticises others.

We often hear about the abuse that black English footballers get when playing in eastern Europe, without properly addressing the abuse they can get in grounds here.

But there is a groundswell demand for this World Cup to at least be a turning point and a growing acknowledgement.

We’ve cleared pages of normal advertising in the paper this week to provide space to set out the dilemma of Qatar 2022, to show solidarity and to suggest to those who just can’t watch a few ideas on how to escape the tournament.

RICHARD OSLEY
EDITOR