Should Australia have bid for the FIFA World Cup? | Thebigtip

Last month on that fateful day in Zurich, Australia saw their dreams of hosting the 2022 World Cup go up in flames as Qatar somehow managed to secure the rights despite FIFA’s own evaluation report highlighting the risks and hazards of a Qatar World Cup.

People offered suggestions that money could’ve been paid under the table. People suggested that this was a political decision with a hidden agenda somewhere further down the line and that this decision was going to ensure that Blatter stayed on as President.

But is this actually true? I have come across a whistle blowing website called "Transparency In Sport" which has released documents concerning:

a) The World Cup Bidding Process
b) What bidding nations have to agree to in regards to hosting

The more I read these documents, the more I become alarmed at how FIFA seem to consider themselves above normal people and organisations. Not being legally trained, a lot of the wordings of these documents were just puzzling and baffling to me but when they get summarized, it then becomes clearer and yet more alarming.

When it comes to host cities, they have protected zones around the stadiums which prevent activities impacting on the World Cup match from taking place, bars and pubs open later and rules with regards to billboards and advertising are all enforced but these are what the bidding organisations have to comply with. That makes me concerned and makes me wonder whether we’ll actually ever get to host a World Cup.

One cause for alarm was this compliance feature: "That people wishing to attend the competition shall not be denied entry visas unless satisfying FIFA of reasons for denial." Basically FIFA are trying to say here that everyone wishing to attend the World Cup must be granted an entry visa without restrictions unless people responsible for issuing visas provide FIFA with reasons for denying someone a visa. Talk about a potential security crisis here. Why should an organisation like FIFA be privy to this sort of information?

Another is this: "That any labour laws (limitations on working hours etc) that impact on the ability of people to perform competition duties or activities shall be suspended for the duration of the cup related to ‘said’ people." FIFA want to trample on workers rights here. We have workers rights for a reason and that’s to ensure that all workers are treated fairly and not subject to horrible working conditions. The only people that can change these laws are governments and no-one would do this as the people would revolt. Why should an organisation like FIFA be able to trample on such laws?

And then: "That no taxes be collected on profits made by FIFA and anything associated with the World Cup (i.e. delivery of goods and services, accounting credits, other deliveries, applications and/or remittances made to FIFA or it’s subsidiaries)" Where would you like to start with regards to an objection here? This is FIFA basically setting up a tax haven in the country that is hosting the World Cup. Essentially what it’s saying is that while businesses and individuals have to pay tax in their country, an organisation such as FIFA coming in and running a World Cup should be exempt from such taxes. This boosts money FIFA receive and surely this shouldn’t be allowed.