Since the beginning of its allocation, the World Cup in Qatar has never been unanimous. It must be said that organizing an event of such magnitude in the middle of the desert was puzzling. Because of the heat, it was necessary to move the World Cup in winter. This will greatly disrupt the calendar of clubs in the coming months. The entire infrastructure of the country has also been redesigned in order to accommodate as many supporters for a month. In short, the site was colossal.
But what has most shocked international opinion remains the working conditions of the workers to build the seven stadiums that come straight out of the ground.
Last year, the Guardian notably published a damning report: “More than 6,500 migrant workers from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have died in Qatar since it won the hosting of the World Cup ten years ago,” revealed the British newspaper. “That’s been an average of twelve deaths per week since December 2010.” Figures that had necessarily outraged the whole world.
This Wednesday, on the sidelines of the draw for the World Cup in Qatar this Friday, Ronald De Boer was the guest of the Dutch program Jinek. This ambassador of the Qatari competition returned to these figures. “I don’t want to dwell on the subject because it is their word against that of Qatar”, he first started at the RTL of our neighbors. He then became more talkative. “All deaths were lumped together back then. Whether it was a teacher, a cleaner or someone working in the building,” Frank’s brother explained. De Boer, the Dutch coach.
“For me, it’s total nonsense! For ten years, they have lumped everyone together. It’s not doing justice to people who have died. A death is always sad. But this study gives the impression that people fall from the stadium because of the heat. Yes, people die in Qatar. But a teacher or someone who works in a hotel can also be injured. These figures are taken out of their general context.
Words that puzzled around the table. But not only. Quickly, Amnesty International wanted to react after this controversy. “You know Ronald, we’re also tired because we have to respond to this kind of nonsense over and over again”said the human rights organization in a chilling tweet.
The former Batavian international also replied to Louis Van Gaal, the coach of the Netherlands. The latter had considered that it was ridiculous that the World Cup was awarded to Qatar. De Boer sees things differently. For him, a World Cup will allow the local population to live better afterwards. “Thanks to football, many things have changed for the better. The current Emir is a young man with a big heart. I am convinced of that. This is a positive trend.”
Not sure he convinced everyone around him.
