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The cynic in me

World Cup Willie

Friday, December 3rd, 2010

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 If England is the home of football
and Brazil is the heart –
then what of Qatar?

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 Will it pump with an impassioned lifeblood –
or just be a sticky mucus
clogging the nose and chest?

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 Yes, they’ll invest
multiple billions
and have a concrete playground that
will measure up physically –
but spiritually?

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 And what then of Russia?
Will there be a soul
in the ‘sold out’ notices?

© World Cup Willie, 3rd December 2010

Notes

Best of luck to Russia and Qatar, and I genuinely hope they both do justice to the game we love.

If the mandate is to use the World Cup to bring football to places it has never been – or needs developing, then fair enough.

Russia makes sense.

Middle East makes sense – but surely spreading it throughout the region makes more sense – so why was this not a combined bid with other Middle East nations?

And if the above mandate is really the criteria – then why not Australia?

Football needs to make inroads in a country where unusually it is not the #1 sport – it ranks well behind Aussie Rules, Cricket and Rugby.

And it has plenty of ready made stadiums.

Ah, but it doesn’t have oligarchs or oil-rich Sheiks.
Or am I being too cynical?

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/the-cynic-in-me/