So now we’re really kicking off. Following Sunday’s ‘opener’ between Qatar and Ecuador, we’ve now had some proper football. Meaning: England played. Not just played, but were so victorious that the Ayatollah resigned (if only) and wants to become the supreme head of Great Britain instead now. Cos what’s the point of being the spiritual leader of such footballing no-hopers? And not just no-hopers, but no-hopers who fucking hate the Ayatollah! To the extent that the Iranian team refused to sing their own national anthem. Not just because its horrible and no-one understands a word of it; you could say that about the Welsh one, but as a ‘poli-tical state-ment’. And for that, the team which was thrashed 6-2 by ‘my boys’ commands my total respect, devotion and even love.

If Harry Kane didn’t sing the national anthem he’d get shit on social media, have a few nationalists up in arms, get slated by the press and the politicians. But his life would not be in danger. Which you kind’a feel is not the case for those brave Iranians who will return home to… who knows, but it won’t be good. The Ayatollahs, like all totalitarian heads, don’t really tolerate ‘protest’. They react to it with more… ‘murder’. Hence over 400 people dead so far for protesting in Iran. Protesting over the death of a woman killed by the ‘morality police’, and also over the terrible restrictions imposed on women’s lives there generally by the religious extremists who run their country.

So that was a ‘protest’ about which we were all totally on board. Then how about ‘armband-gate’? Harry Kane was going to wear his ‘one love’ rainbow armband in support of LGBTQ… rights but received threats from FIFA effectively forcing him, and all the others, not to. So he wore the official FIFA one which reads: “NO DISCRIMINATION! unless it is sanctioned by horrible countries who persecute women, gays, alcoholics and cross-dressers”.

To what extent should sports and politics mix? Well, given a world stage, a platform before hundreds of millions of viewers, it becomes irresistible to make your point. For FIFA to adopt yet another ignorant, enabling and hypocritical stance puts them in the same light as Qatar and does them no favours.

Happy World Cup (in its own way, the most interesting one we’ve ever had)

A xxxx