There is turmoil in my mind, some days, guilt maybe, about getting excited about this World Cup. In 1982 I had no real idea about the interference of politics with football, or the other way round. The Falklands war was something on the news. I had no real concept of how many thousands of lives had been affected. England and Argentina were at the World Cup. So everything was good, right?
In later years there were tales of Fifa bigwigs making a little bit of extra cash for themselves. A sense of injustice started to nag away at me. But still, there was Ronaldo and Lineker and Maradona.....and all was forgotten.
Now, with all the protests at the Confederation Cup last year and the extremely real grievances of so many Brazilians, I think, is this right? Can we justify, through watching, the incredible outlay of cash for this one event while so many Brazilians have little and get nothing from this? Are we saying we don't care because we are going to spend a silly amount of money to fly to Brazil, stay in overpriced hotels and feed the Fifa behemoth?
Should we feel guilty, should we ignore what's happening or can we separate the 2 events: there is football being played, a world cup being competed for and there is a huge chunk of the local population that needs a lot more than fancy stadiums.
Can one, as a football supporter, have a social conscience and enjoy the World Cup?
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