Will you be heading to Qatar in 2022 Lollipop?

As I flicked through The Guardian‘s main sports headline entitled “Clutching the cup” and refreshed their website almost every minute for the result of the World Cup bid whilst supposedly working at my office desk I had practically all my fingers and limbs crossed!

Could it actually be possible that as well as hosting the 2012 Olympics England could also stage the World Cup 2018?

No! Of course it was not possible and I realised that for an entire afternoon I had allowed myself to be hypnotised by England’s relentless pleadings to host the competition.

“I cannot believe you actually thought we would win sis!”

“I know! After the BBC’s Panorama episode “which alleged that three of England’s executive committee members took bribes,” and our teams woeful performance in this year’s World Cup struggle. Also the rioting amongst fans at last night’s derby match where Birmingham City defeated Aston Villa in the Carling Cup shows what some British football fans are really like. I should have known we would fail lollipop.”

“Even the gorgeous David Beckham could not sway voters,” snorts my sister, “well if the majority of  Fifa Executive Committee members were female then maybe we would have had chance, especially with Prince William fully supporting the bid in Zurich as well.”  

“Yeah we would have had unanimous support if that was the case sis” laughs Lollipop as she reads the Guardian’s latest online report on the World Cup 2018 and 2022 bids and suddenly asks, “sis where the hell is Qatar? I have never even heard of this place and apparently they are holding the 2022 World Cup!”

“It is a country in the Middle East silly!” I instantly replied in order to hide the fact that I too had never heard of Qatar until it was announced that they would soon be hosting this prestigious competition.

As per usual I turned to my beloved facebook for more information and came across a certain comment on the England 2018 World Cup Bid page which questions English mentality as we have already had the world cup in 1966, and the Olympics in 2012. “To me you come across as greedy and selfish and I have no sympathy with you. All the best to Russia and Qatar,” states the facebook comment which like most statements on this page is brutally frank but makes an interesting observation.

Qatar is an Arab country. It became an independent sovereign state in November 1971 after originally being ruled by Britain and our once domineering empire. It is now a nation with the world’s third largest gas reserves. Most online news articles like those on The Telegraph’s sports pages are highlighting potential problems for Qatar and their hosting of the 2022 World Cup. The biggest concerns are that they are not prepared and the blistering heat which often reaches 50 degrees in the summer could cause players major problems. However the Arab state have twelve years to prepare for this momentous event and build the appropriate stadiums just as South Africa had to do previously this year and did so with great success.

Also Didier Drogba for instance is a Chelsea forward and just last week played in freezing conditions in the British Premier league. However he comes from the Ivory Coast where weather conditions are of course very different in comparison to Britain’s unpredictable climates and he copes just fine! Therefore Most of the footballers participating in the competition will have played all over the world and have experienced varying climates so should still be able to play for their country in such heat.

I too applaud Qatar and my sister Lollipop would definitely consider going there on holiday. “Have you not seen the snow outside sis? I would gladly go to Qatar and soak up some sunny rays. Maybe Justin Bieber may consider touring there too now that they are hosting the World Cup!”