Aside from a bit of sporting Schadenfreude at England’s expense, the decision to stage the 2018 World Cup in Russia is something to be welcomed in Wales.
For all the commercial and media driven yada-yada of how the UK would benefit from a global football-fest, the truth is that the vast majority the money-spinning activities & proceeds would go to organising body FIFA. The host country merely has the prestige of staging the event and paying the associated costs (estimated at around £200million, but that would have more than doubled eight years).
In South Africa, who hosted the World Cup this summer, the economic benefits have been as transient as a vuvuzela blast. The government is cutting back on social programmes to pay off massive capital debts incurred by staging the tournament.
Given the effect of the 2012 Olympics on the amount of money snatched from Welsh sport and the diversion of lottery funding into Greenwich, Wales has had a lucky escape. The smack in the gob for Cameron and Billy Windsor is simply an added bonus.
5 Comments:
Glad it's not going to England too. Partly for the issues you raise but also because, knowing our luck, 2018 would be the only time Wales qualify in 60 years ... and we'd get a blincking trip to Liverpool or Birmingham!
At least now, there's an outside trip to Russia or Quatar.
Macsen
We can think of at least one Welsh coach who deserves a trip to Siberia.
well said jaxx....sadly not surprising to see the london based media already crying 'foul' at the outcome of england's bid....hinting at dark goings on in the fifa corridors of power...ie that the vote was fixed! This from a bid that we were being told only 24 hours ago was almost in the bag due to the flawless nature of the english bid! To read the likes of the sun and the daily mail you would think that all the england presentation team had to do was show up and a grateful world would give the finals to the 'home of football'.....we could almost be back in the days of empire!!!
while i think i have just seen the worst hatchet job on a country ever broadcast on british television in the shape of an itv report on the 2022 world cup going to qatar. Admittedly i dont know much about qatar but i do know there's been a strong case for the football world cup going to the muslim world for some time now....indeed egypt and not south africa should in truth have been the first african nation to stage the world cup in 2010 but it seems that 'concerns' were expressed about staging the world cup in a muslin country by some 'european and north american' governments!
Leigh Richards
just to add Qatar is apparently only half the size of wales...so lets get a bid together and bring the 2026 world cup to the principality shall we....it is alas probably the only way we are ever likely to qualify....:(
only issue is who to have in our 'presentation' team?
Leigh Richards
On a related subject, what does this outcome say about the often qouted "invaluable" influence of royalty? We already know via wikileaks what low esteem Yorkie is held within diplomatic world. Nephew Billy may come over as more polite and a lot less venal but his usefulness appears just as limited.
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