The real reason why football is not coming home

Nearly a week after FIFA’s controversial decision to award Russia hosting rights for the 2018 World Cup, the debate - in England at least - rages on.  How could football’s governing body ignore the technically superior English bid, and opt instead for the far riskier Russian option?

For many the answer has corruption at its heart: Russia was willing to play the political game, and used its financial might to grease the palms of FIFA delegates to get their way. England was not; choosing instead to naively concentrate on developing a bid that ticked all the commercial, technical and logistical boxes. A classic case of evil using underhand tactics to overcome good. 

The bid team, FA and the English media have peddled this theory ever since Sepp Blatter opened that envelope last Thursday and disappointed the nation’s football followers. As fans, many of us have bought it and remain outraged at the injustice of the system. But it’s time we all woke up and realised we are missing the point. 

England presented FIFA a low risk option that offered ready-made stadiums certain to be full for every game, involved minimal infrastructure development and would easily attract corporate investment because of its existing commercial power. A perfect bid then? Well not exactly; for England’s strengths turned out to be its weaknesses: England may want the World Cup, but it doesn’t need it.

Let’s ask ourselves this: how would having the World Cup in England change our football? I can’t see how it would bring any significant change at all, and therein lies the reason behind FIFA’s decision. 

Our stadia are already amongst the very best in the world, and attract huge attendances on a weekly basis. Despite our frustrations with the roads and rail links during the snow, our travel infrastructure compares favourably with other nations. London, Manchester, Birmingham and many of the other cities that were to host games if England was successful have proven track records at hosting international events and coping with tourism. The money generated by the Premier League is held up as an example to others of how commercial partners can successfully be engaged in the sport. In short, England hosting the World Cup would leave no discernable legacy; and we all know how much FIFA likes a legacy.

This is not to say that I agree with the decision, because I certainly don’t. I believe that either England or the Iberian bid would have provided a festival of football played out in front of fanatical fans. The passion of the supporters of  the countries involved in both bids would have created an incredible atmosphere, and given the experience of those countries in hosting big international and club level games, the tournament would most likely have been organised smoothly and without incident.

But the decision has been made, and we need to accept that FIFA believes its focus should be on extending the game beyond the traditional powers of international football. This is its priority, and there is a good argument to suggest that whilst England may feel it has been treated unjustly, there is little fair about the World Cup only being alternated between Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. We might say it’s our turn after 44 years of waiting, but how long is Russia expected to wait for the World Cup? 

As a nation, the reaction to the decision has been misguided at best, and arrogant at worst. At times, there has been an imperialism about the way we have conducted ourselves in the days since the decision; a school of thought that we brought the game to these buggers, so we’ll bloody well tell them how we want the world game to be run. Boris Johnson’s decision to withdraw VIP invites to FIFA delegates for the 2012 Olympics is quite frankly embarrassing, and will win us even less friends than BBC’s Panorama expose. No, it’s time we got over ourselves. 

We have much to be thankful for as football fans in England. We see some of the world’s top stars week-in-week-out, and get to watch our football in mostly fantastic facilities. We have extensive television coverage, and despite what some might say, still have fair play at the heart of our game. Football will go on whether England hosts the World Cup again or not, and we should be concentrating on building a team that regularly challenges to win the tournament, rather than simply hosting it.