I was pretty flabbergasted that Australia had put itself into the ring to host the 2022 Soccer World Cup. As the Bid Team were enjoying the 30 hour trip to Europe at the expense of taxpayers, soccer games of the peak calibre in the A League around Australia were enjoying crowds of a few hundred. This is not a country that should be investing in a bid to host a competition that can even fill a few seats let alone stadiums.

There is no question Australia is a great sporting Nation and we are the greatest hosts of International competitions, with a brilliant track record of Commonwealth and Olympic Games as well as Tennis, Rugby and Rugby League Events that are second to none. However indulging a local billionair's wish list is hardly they way to allocate resources. Sport needs to be built from the ground up not the top down as is clearly the ambition of the powers that being in Australian Soccer. The concept of invigorating the nations youth into playing soccer because we would be hosts of the World Cup is a pretty shonky way of getting interest into a sport. My view is get the sport right and get crowds filling the stadiums we have before we go getting excited about the next level of participation.

Anyways what was the use of bidding anyways. FIFA is about the dodgiest organisations out there and the results of the Bidding was loud and clear to that. The 3 strongest bids for logistics and security amassed 6 votes in the first round that is the USA, England and Australia. Between them they had the worlds greatest soccer star, a future King, the worlds most popular US President and a history of hosting the worlds best sporting events.

The winners of the night were the petro economies of Russia and Qatar. Qatar is really only known for a world trade agreement from the 90's that kept being fudged and the fact its Emir is so damn loaded they have gone on a buying spree of London's landmarks (and the UK wants them to buy more 'cause the Queen just laid out the red carpet as though he was the Emperor of China). Russia on the other hand is known for being the nemesis of the free world, having a Terrible guy called Ivan and enjoying the most distance between the 'haves and the have nots' of any Caucasian people.

Back to Qatar the winners of 2022. This is a country that has one of the strictest immigration laws on earth, poorest equality records and even outlaws homosexuality. It has a population of less than 2 million, offers very little for the 600,000 plus people that will attend the Cup and temperatures that stay in the 40's. Lets also not forget that Qatar was still trafficking in slavery as recently as the Queens coronation where by the Emir actually took along slaves to the event.

But to leave the criticisms of the actual country for hosting a world game aside it was unbelievable to watch the victory celebration. The Emir jumped up and rebuffed his wife pushed past his bid mates to hug his son (yes the running of the nations anything is a family affair) then when on stage demanded more applause from the crowd. Unbelievable is the only word I have for the winning bids behaviour, the process and the outcome.