In 1966, when England won the World Cup for the first and so
far only time, I was eight years old and had no interest in football. I recall
that my Dad watched the Final against West Germany and that I was in the room
at the time, but I was more interested in a Batman
comic than the match.
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| While Geoff Hurst was doing this, I was reading Batman. |
By 1970 I had become fanatical about football and the
Mexico World Cup was my first opportunity to watch the tournament properly. Perhaps
because it was the first World Cup that I saw I still regard it as the best
that I have witnessed. This was the first tournament covered by television to
the point of saturation but it was also the tournament that produced the team
that many regard as the finest international eleven of all time, the Brazil
side that featured Pele, Rivelino, Tostao, Carlos Alberto and Jarizinho. Almost
all of the games in which Brazil were involved in were classics. Stand out
moments included Pele's duel with Bobby Moore in the England game and Gordon
Banks' save in the same match; Pele's audacious dummy in their match with
Uruguay and his long range lob against Czechoslovakia and of course the final
itself and the Brazilian's 4-1 demolition of Italy in which captain Carlos
Alberto scored a goal of exquisite grace and power that epitomised his team.[1]
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| Bobby Moore and Pele in the days when football was about the sport. |
Four years later and I would dash home from school to catch
the afternoon matches in the 1974 World Cup in West Germany. Despite England's
failure to qualify for the finals there was much to enjoy with the emergence of
the Dutch as a force in international football, the charismatic Johann Cruyff
and their brand of "total football." If subsequent tournaments did
not quite reach the heights of Mexico '70, I still pored over fixtures and
television schedules to make sure I caught as many games as I could, with the
1990 finals in Italy being a particular high point. England so nearly repeated
their win of 1966, losing to Germany in the semi-final on penalties, an outcome
we seem destined to repeat with monotonous regularity. Over the years I have
watched World Cup matches in pubs, on tiny portable TV's at work, rushed home
from the office to see the second half of games and stayed up late to watch
matches from the other side of the globe. There was a time when I would have
moved heaven and earth to watch a game, especially an England game, but times
change.
Forty eight years after that England triumph, forty four
years after that brilliant Brazil team enchanted the football world, another
World Cup kicks off today in Brazil with the hosts playing Croatia. Whereas
back in 1970 and 1974, and to some extent in 1990, I was eager to watch as many
games as possible, I now find it difficult to get excited about the competition.
I know that England play their first match on Saturday against Italy, but other
than that it is all a bit vague; I certainly have not made any special
arrangements to watch any of the games. Sadly my enthusiasm has waned over the
years and whereas I would once not contemplated missing the final and certainly
not an England game, how many games I see will depend upon what else I might
have to do by way of alternative[2]
and as for the final, well I've seen too many disappointing matches since 1970
to get excited by the prospect.
I do not think that I am alone in becoming disenchanted by
the World Cup. It may be a function of age (I think we all have a tendency to
look at the past through rose tinted spectacles), but there is now so much that
is wrong with the competition, so little to admire and enjoy, too much
controversy and alleged corruption. The World Cup has become a soulless money making
machine. Perhaps I am being naive; the 1970 World Cup that I look back on with
such affection was not without its controversy. The decision to give the
tournament to Mexico was made against a backdrop of lobbying and political
posturing while moving kick-off times for some games to mid-day for the benefit
of European TV was an early example of broadcaster's unhealthy influence at
such events. Furthermore the arrest of England skipper Bobby Moore in Columbia
for the alleged theft of a bracelet was seen by some as an attempt to discredit
him and wreck England's chances. Controversy has not been far away from the tournament
in subsequent years; from allegations of match fixing to charges of bribery and
corruption, the World Cup would be incomplete without some scandal or another.
Preparations for Brazil's hosting of the tournament have
been marred by the deaths of eight people working on the construction of the
stadia between November 2013 and May 2014 and there have been protests among
the populace about the amount of money being spent on the tournament as well as
concerns about safety and transport[3].
And it isn't just the 2014 World Cup that has been troubled; the decision to
award the 2022 tournament to Qatar is probably the most contentious in World
Cup history while the choice of Russia as hosts of the 2018 competition has not
been universally popular either.
 |
| Construction of stadia in Brazil has been marred by accidents. |
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| An artist's impression of a proposed stadium for Qatar 2022 |
My disenchantment with the World Cup is threefold. Firstly
the bloated nature of the competition. It used to be about the sixteen top
footballing nations competing to see who was best in the world; now it is about
thirty two countries, many of whom are just making up the numbers, playing to
make Fifa, their sponsors and various hangers on oodles of cash: the glory of
winning the World Cup itself seems to have become a secondary consideration.
Where once a nation could take pride in hosting the World Cup they now do so
certain in the knowledge that they will be left with a legacy of debt and
derelict stadiums (South Africa was a prime example[4]).
Then there is the blatant exploitation of the public who national football
associations, kit and souvenir manufacturers expect to pay outrageous prices
for tickets and merchandise.[5]
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| One of the stadiums built for South Africa 2010 that now lies idle and almost derelict. |
Thirdly, this year we have had the English Football
Association's public relations own goal that came when Greg Dyke announced the
ill conceived idea for a third division in the Football League to include
Premier League B teams.[6]
For once the preparations for England's World Cup campaign this time appeared
to have avoided the usual jingoism and spectacularly misplaced optimism that usually
typify their appearance at World Cup finals (even if this was replaced by an
undertone of hoping against hope that the Three Lions might emerge triumphant).
The average fan might have been inclined to look sympathetically on Roy Hodgson
and his charges, until this was totally undone by Greg Dyke's pronouncements,
made with the apparent belief that football supporters, particularly those of
lower Football League sides and those in the Conference, would happily
sacrifice the integrity of their clubs and the competitions they play in on the
off-chance that the national team might be successful.
 |
| Sepp Blatter |
Add to this the increasingly outrageous, extravagant and
outlandish behaviour of Fifa, an organisation who are apparently accountable to
no one, and sadly I find it hard to warm to the prospect of this World Cup
tournament. No doubt I shall watch some of it, but certainly not as much as in
days of yore.
[1] In
case you have never seen it before, Brazil's fourth goal can be viewed here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/27005795
[2] I
have just noticed that the date and time of England's last group match clashes
with a radio show I have tickets for, so that is one game I may not see much of
for a start.
[3] How immoral is it that Fifa spent £10m on the
draw alone in a country where 16 million people live in poverty and earn less
than £27 per month?
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