The Appalling Death Toll Among Migrant Workers Building The Stadiums And Infrastructure For The 2022 Football World Cup in Qatar

Tory Donors Benefit From The London Olympic Stadium.
Look at what’s happening to the London Olympic Stadium we built for £537million.
In a deal between the Mayor of London (Boris Johnson) and the West Ham board it’s being turned into a football ground.
The conversion bill of £272million is being paid by the taxpayer, with West Ham only being asked to cough up £15million, despite benefitting from the billions now pouring into Premier League coffers.
Surprisingly, we haven’t heard any complaints from West Ham’s joint-chairmen, Tory donors David Sullivan and David Gold, or vice-chairman Tory Dame Karren Brady, who no doubt passionately believe that tax-scroungers are the biggest threat to Britain’s prosperity.
Clearly, there are no mirrors in the West Ham boardroom.
( Brian Reade, 27.06.2015 )

Returning From The World Cup.
The FA has been labelled sexist for welcoming back England’s women footballers from the World Cup with this offensive tweet: “Our Lionesses go back to being mothers, partners and daughters today, but they have taken on another title – heroes”.
They claimed it was taken out of context, which didn’t wash with the critics.
Maybe they should have claimed they have a similar one ready for our men when they return from the next World Cup.
Which reads: “Our Lions go back to their surgically-enhanced WAGS, being arrogant, overpaid, flash car-loving, grunting cavemen, but they have taken on another title – failures”.
No, hang on, that’s not sexist is it?
Just true.
( Brian Reade, 11.07.2015 )

Only Heroes Need Apply.
Let’s be honest about this.
It is getting to the point now where if you want to be a referee, only heroes need apply.
You will be threatened and you will be ridiculed – on and off the pitch.
If you make a decision that meets with the disapproval of a manager who is trying to shift the blame for a poor performance, you will be hounded and you will be abused.
If we carry on like this, we’re going to have to start paying referees danger money.
You think I’m joking?
I’m not.
( Oliver Holt, 15,03.2015 )

A Fair Game Or A Drug-Promoted Fake?
Karl Marx got it wrong.
Religion is not the opium of the people.
Sport is.
Its personalities are demigods, loaded with honours and lucre.
And where big money comes on the scene, corruption is never far behind.
International athletics is probably riddled with it.
Cycling certainly was.
World football is under criminal investigation.
Who knows about all the other sports?
The public isn’t even getting a fair deal for its cash.
You can’t be absolutely certain that what you see on the box is a fair game or a drug-promoted fake.
( Paul Routledge, 28.08.2015 )

The Special One.
He must really think I’m a great guy.
He must think that, because otherwise he would not have given me so much.
I have a great family.
I work in a place where I’ve always dreamt of working.
He must have a very high opinion of me.
( Jose Mourinho on God )

Former Footballer Convicted Of ABH.
Chelsea legend Kerry Dixon was jailed for nine months and ordered to pay £500 compensation on June 6, 2015, for a pub attack on May 15, 2014.
He was convicted of ABH.
The 53 year-old former striker knocked Ben Scoble from his bar stool before battering and kicking him as he lay on the floor.
The assault was caught on CCTV.
Dixon, who scored 147 goals for Chelsea, 34 in his first season, and won eight England caps, launched the attack in the Nag’s Head pub near his home in Dunstable, Bedfordshire.
Mark Wyeth QC, defending Dixon, pleaded in vain with the judge to suspend the sentence.
He told the judge that Dixon has expressed several times that he felt ashamed and wanted to apologise to Mr Scobie.
Mr Wyeth also told how Dixon, who earned £400 a week in his 80s heyday, now lives in a rented council home and works as a labourer.
( Fred O. Wilson )

This Is Slave Labour.
As prime contender for the title of Man Least Interested In Football, I can’t get too worked up about FIFA on the fiddle.
Where there’s loadsa cash, there’s always thieves to steal it.
Hence the banking scandals.
For my money, the real FIFA outrage is not corrupt soccer “executives” or the delayed-action resignation of Sepp Blatter.
Rather, it is the appalling death toll among migrant workers building the stadiums and infrastructure for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

So far, according to the International Trade Union Confederation, more than 1,993 construction workers have died in the tiny, oil-rich monarchy since it won the bid to host the tournament five years ago.
On current trends, more than 4,000 workers will pay with their lives by the time of the first kick-off.
And that’s only the migrants from Nepal and India, the two countries that keep mortality statistics.
The true figure is much higher.

ITUC found men, some employed by British firms or their contractors, working in dangerous conditions in temperatures soaring up to 50C (122F) and living in cramped, unhygienic, disease-ridden conditions.
There were up to 10 crammed into bunks in tiny, squalid rooms, existing on poor food.
Under a system known as “kafala”, foreign workers are owned by the employers, who can refuse a change of job or an exit visa from the country.
The bosses control wages, employment conditions and the supply of ID cards.
This is slave labour.
Men are dying for the so-called beautiful game and FIFA has done nothing about it.
( Paul Routledge, 05.06.2015 )

Condemning Exploited Workers To Death.
FIFA isn’t just under investigation for alleged bungs when up to 4,000 workers could die in Qatar by the 2022 World Cup, according to the International Trade Union Confederation, with the bloody toll already exceeding the verified 1,200 figure.
Unofficial estimates add hundreds to the widely-quoted death rate so a separate Swiss probe into football’s governing body could prove a life-saver.
Swiss authorities want answers from Geneva-based FIFA after accepting a complaint that the game’s plutocrats allegedly failed to protect the human rights of migrants dying in the building boom linked to the tournament.
On a second secret trip to Qatar in two years, I found few improvements in the slave conditions when meeting workers with Unite leader Len McCluskey and Labour MPs Ian Lavery and Naz Shah.
Condemning exploited workers to death is a potentially fatal charge for FIFA.
( Kevin Maguire, 01.02.2016 )

Footballer’s Pay Explosion.
The top weekly rate for footballers, introduced in 1901, was just £4.
But it was still almost five times the average working wage of 17/6d (87p).
By 1939 it had risen to £8, double the usual industrial wage.
And in 1960, when the wage cap was dropped, football stars were on £20, £5 more than the working man.
In 1961, England captain Johnny Haynes became the first £100-a-week player.
Premier League average pay is now £44,000 a week, £2.29million a year, compared with the regular worker’s £26,500.
Wayne Rooney is the Premier’s highest-paid ace on £260,000 a week.
( Daily Mirror, 15.01.2016 )

Whoever Bought One Should Be Tarred And Feathered.
Today’s football has many evil sights, but the whims of the modern fan and commerce collided to produce the most horrific sight at Old Trafford this week, the selling, and wearing, of Jose Mourinho/Man United manager scarves, when they already have a manager called Louis Van Gaul.
Whoever bought one should be tarred and feathered in half-and-half colours, have it tied round their necks and hoisted from outside a corporate box with a plastic flag stuck up their jacksey as they play Day Tripper on the tannoy.
( Brian Reade, 02.01.2016 )

Sol Campbell Turns Tory Because Of Threatened Mansion Tax.
The Tories’ latest celebrity ‘coup’ is ex-footballer Sol Campbell, driven into their arms by Labour’s threat of a mansion tax on his £25million home, saying he now wants to win them the next election by securing the black vote.
Good luck taking your message on to the estates, Sol.
Although I doubt you’ll find too many black faces on the Yorkshire estate owned by your wife’s family where these days you like to go shooting.
When I interviewed Campbell a decade ago, he painted himself as a man of the people: “I’m just the same working-class person I was. If I hadn’t been a footballer I’d probably be settled down with a woman in East London today. Money hasn’t changed me,” he said.
I think you’ll find it has, mate.
( Brian Reade, 25.10,2014 )

When Britain Topped The Olympic Medals Table.
The fourth ever Olympic Games in 1908 were originally awarded to Rome, but sadly for the Italian capital, Mount Vesuvius had other ideas.
After the volcano erupted in 1906, mounting Italian financial problems led to Rome withdrawing and the Olympic organisers looking for an alternative host city with just 18 months to go.

Luckily for all concerned, the head of the British Organising Committee was the remarkable Baron Desborough.
Desborough quickly set about building a stage to make Britain proud.
By striking a deal with an exhibition that was planned for White City in 1908, Baron Desborough got a 66,000 capacity stadium built to Olympic specifications in double-quick time.

The new stadium was therefore ready for the first ever Olympic Games Opening Ceremony on July 13, 1908, in which representatives from the 22 competing nations paraded flags in front of King Edward VII.
London 1908 was the first Olympic Games where the athletes, some 2,008 of them, including 676 from Great Britain, competed as part of a national team rather than as individuals.
Great Britain topped the medals table with 38 Bronze, 51 Silver and a staggering 56 Gold.
( Fred O. Wilson )