2018 World Cup Bid - more questions than answers…

Oh dear – it really hasn’t been a very good week here in the UK.

Firstly a massive cold snap deposited unprecedented (at least for 45 years) amounts of snow on this island, then the transport system grinds to a halt. Then Andrew Lansley (UK Secretary of State for health) tells us we must breastfeed, not smoke, not drink and that our children will be rewarded for walking to school. We then find out that England only gained two votes for their World Cup bid.

I would not presume to get into a major discussion on our transport system and I have already posted a blog about Lansley’s la la land of Public Health so I am going to turn my attention to the World Cup bid as this failure has significantly, but probably albeit briefly, dampened the wellbeing of many of us.

A few weeks ago I posted some questions to Obama and Lansley about each of their healthcare plans so now I am affording myself the luxury of posting some questions to Sepp Blatter (President of FIFA)

Questions for Sepp Blatter:

·         When are you going to retire?

·         Why did only two votes go to a nation with

- An existing network of world class stadia

- A long history of a love of the game of football

- Fantastic training facilities for visiting clubs

- A transport infrastructure ready for an Olympics

- A high score for the technical assessment

- The best presentation (‘remarkable’ – you called it)

And who fielded a future King, a football god and a Prime Minister?

·         If you and your voting panel were intending to give the vote to ‘developing football nations’ why did you let Spain, Portugal, The Netherlands, Belgium and England waste their time and money and the time of a future King, a football god and a Prime Minister?

·         When are you going to retire?

·        Why did you and your voting panel give the 2018 cup to a nation with sparse existing facilities, with a poor technical assessment and whose Prime Minister didn’t even have the courtesy to attend, when England fielded a future King, a football god and a Prime Minister

·         When are you going to retire?

·        Why did you and your voting panel give the 2022 cup to a nation with an average temperature at the time of the cup at 100 degrees? To a nation who will use obscene amounts of fuel cooling massive stadia? What about global warming? (Although I will grant you that the Qatari bidding team were delightful but not as delightful as the combination of future King, football god and Prime Minister)

·         When are you going to retire?

·         If your system is not corrupt, why did you instruct the voting members to remember what the British press have been doing and saying? Surely the vote should have been on the merit of the bid alone?

But let’s look at the positives….

Eddie Afekafe, a young Manchester lad who turned his life around thanks to football, was incredible as the master of ceremonies for the English bid. He spoke clearly, slowly and with great warmth. Our future King, football god and Prime Minister also put on an impressive show. David Cameron spoke eloquently as always without notes, David Beckham is a god wherever, whatever he does in my book, and I thought that William looked as though he could cry when our bid failed. These four lions really did us proud.

And finally….

We’re doing very well in the Ashes test at Adelaide so far…..

Let’s hope the BBC doesn’t try to scupper that too.