- Fifa is a dictatorship says Neville – and we’re so glad he’s finally caught up
- How long can a keeper hold on the ball for; and how many players missed the WC through injury?
By Tony Attwood
One of the most outrageous positions taken up by Englsih media is that “our” referees are ok, professional, not making mistakes, and doing a good job, while some of those johnny foreigner referees simply don’t know the rules of the game. So now we are starting to get headlines such as “‘Terrible’ referee who sent off Tuchel to officiate England’s World Cup opener”
It is part of a double offensive that the media use. First, there is the suggestion that all refereeing in England is ok because, well, not to put too fine a point on it, the referees are English which is why there is no need to consider their decision making in reports And second, because the reason that England don’t win the world cup except when they play all their games at home, is because too many of the referees are foreign and they don’t understand the rules of the game.
And of course, there are always several stories doing the rounds, such as World Cup VAR risks controversy over ‘white supremacy’ hand gestures. I will let you look that one up yourself. It is in the Mail.
The Sun has a bash at the ref with “England handed referee blasted as ‘1/10’ and ‘terrible’ by Thomas Tuchel in World Cup opener against Croatia.” But it is strange that these newspapers don’t ever criticise the referees in the Premier League in the same way. It’s just foreigners who don’t get it, I suppose. In fact I’m suprised we don’t pull out of the world cup and just have a competition against Wales, Scotland and Norther Ireland, with PGMO officials. Although come to think of it, we do.
However, the notion that referees can be criticised as much as anyone wants if they are foreign is an interesting one, and maybe a view the media could consider a little bit further once the English football season gets underway. Except English referees are beyond reproach, so we don’t see that.
There is of course, more if you want to read it with “World Cup VAR risks controversy over ‘white supremacy’ hand gesture” which turns up in the New York Times While inews e has All the ways fans are being fleeced at the World Cup I think they are pretty much the same way fans were fleeced last time there was a WC and the time before. If you don’t have a subscription to that site, then the BBC helpfully run it for free….
The starting point of the BBC’s coverage is that 30-minute train journey to a World Cup game at MetLife Stadium will cost $150 (£111). Before the world cup came along the price was under the equivalent of £10.00
As the “My journey time” website put it “From banning water bottles in summer heat to outrageously priced tickets, FIFA’s 2026 World Cup has become a masterclass in extracting money from the people who love football most. Fans are noticing.”
And that last point is worth picking up on, because noticing is one thing, but doing something about it is another. During most World Cups the one site that makes a point of picking out all the things that are wrong with this sort of affair is, well, not to put too fine a point on it, this one. Others do mention it, but I think we do try to pick it out every time, because this is what always happens. Undoubtedly, the Americans running the show have watched how money was made in other parts of the world and are copying that approach. But they didn’t invent this as a way of making money.
Of course, some are trying to make something out of it, as with the Daily Mail for example, but really we did know about it because this sort of things happens at each World Cup. Only this time it is far, far, far worse.
So the question arises, what will Fifa do about it? And the most likely answer is nothing. The second most likely answer is they will ask bidders for future World Cups not to do it again, but then do nothing to enforce the control of the situation. Most certainly, for all future WCs, fans attending the event will be screwed.
And there really is no excuse about Fifa being taken unawares, as in the last world cup we saw the headline “Desperate fans take to the World Cup ‘black market’ as scalpers sell tickets outside Qatar’s stadiums for massive mark-ups.” It is always the same.
Of course, everyone chooses their own way to support football, and nothing is going to stop the World Cup, just as nothing is going to stop the next World Cup being another exposition of how to rip off football fans. But it is just the thought that loyal football fans are treated with such contempt by those who run football that gets me. There really ought to be a way of overcoming this, but we don’t seem to have found it yet.
