World Cup fever conquers all

SURFING THE WAVE Kylian Mbappe of France has been one of the stars of the World Cup in Qatar. Pic: Sportsfile

The Way I see it
Ger Flanagan

IS it safe yet to admit that I’m really enjoying the World Cup in Qatar?
As I write this column, the plucky Japanese have just beaten Spain and subsequently sent Germany home earlier than expected.  
Earlier, Romelu Lukaku contracted a vicious case of the yips and scoring a goal seemed completely alien to him, resulting in the Belgians exiting and Morocco going through.
There was the audaciousness of the Saudis to put one over on Messi’s Argentina, the early morning shoot-out between Cameroon and Serbia, and the growing bullishness of our impressive neighbours before their inevitable defeat (hopefully on penalties).
By the time this column hits the press, no doubt there will be plenty more controversy and carnage to enjoy.
I had to come back to it Sunday night and give a shout-out to my South Korean friends (of which I have none) for their brilliance in sending Uruguay and their pantomime villain, Suarez, home.
It’s not often I do it, but praise also to the wall-to-wall coverage on RTÉ – who knew how quick a working day can pass when there’s three matches going on in the background.
There’s also that feeling of sadness knowing that the 2022 World Cup will be the last time we get to see Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi dance on the same stage.
While it feels like the announcement of their successor, the sensational Kylian Mbappe.
Oh, and who can forget Roy Keane and Graeme Souness nearly coming to blows!
Such has been the entertainment, we seemed to have completely forgotten about all the outrage the engulfed the competition only weeks ago.
Remember the outrage caused by the thousands of migrant workers who died constructing the football stadiums, the shocking human rights record of Qatar and other middle East countries, or the culturally homophobic home nation, to name but a few?
Media, commentators, pundits and players were tripping over themselves at the outset of the competition to say their piece, justify why they decided to not boycott the World Cup, display their stance and share their disgust.
The reality was, and is, that it was mostly all complete virtue signalling.
We humans have short-term memories, are pretty selfish and, if we are being completely honest, we don’t really care about the negative issues surrounding the hosting of the World’s biggest sporting event.
I mean, the majority of us are genuinely disgusted at all the issues and the blatant corruption that took place to get the World Cup to the oil-rich nation of Qatar, but the reality of saying anything otherwise is virtue signalling.
Some pundits were only doing the same.
Roy Keane raged that the World Cup shouldn’t be there, Gary Neville reasoned that he was on a vigilante mission to tackle the issues head on as to why he travelled, BBC pundit Alex Scott wore a rainbow armband during England’s first game while her native country were scared off doing the same by the threat of yellow cards.
And the German’s ‘Speak No Evil’ gesture went down like a lead balloon considering their later performances.
While their moral intentions may have been good, the cold truth is that if they really believed in what they were saying, they would have boycotted the tournament and stayed at home.
That is a meaningful stance.
Don’t get me wrong, I consider myself to be in that category too; if I was in their position I would have done the same.
We’re all human beings and it’s in our nature to be selfish and look after oneself.
A very interesting social psychology theory I’ve read about in the past is what’s known as the ‘diffusion of responsibility’ or the ‘bystander effect’.
It was born after studies in the aftermath of the murder of Kitty Genovese in New York City in 1964. The 28 year-old bartender was walking home from work in the early hours of the morning when she was attacked and stabbed to death.
It was reported at the time that over 30 neighbours in the apartment block were peering out their windows at the murder, but none came to her aid.
One man shouted down to the murderer to ‘leave her alone’, but that was the extent of anyone’s efforts.
The diffusion of responsibility theorises that, essentially, people are less likely to bend down and help someone up who might have fallen if many other people are passing by and doing nothing as well.
There have been follow-on studies to contradict the theory alright, but this one can be interpreted as ‘we’re basically all a bunch of self-centred you-know-whats’.
This World Cup proves that too.
The Mexican Wave of World Cup fever has swept up the underlying issues and dragged them out to sea while we all lie there and bask in the sunshine of glorious winter football.
There will be an odd hero or heroine who will take a stand, like the protester who ran onto the pitch during Portugal and Uruguay donning the Ukraine flag, but he will be a lone wolf.
The pundits will have their heads buried in the sand until they realise the football is coming to an end and some reflective virtue signalling will take place from all the same suspects.
But in 12 months time it will all be an afterthought as their outrage will be shifted to something or someone else and the Qatari people, along with those who lost family members for the tournament, will be left picking up the pieces.
Yet no doubt we’ll hear all the same guff in the final days of the tournament.
Pundits have been contracted to give their opinion on the football, and just the football.
They should keep to their remit unless they are willing to bend down and actually pick that person up as opposed to just telling them how.