The FIFA Women’s Cup, which Canada is hosting from June 6 to July 5, could be described as FIFA at its best! It begins on Saturday in Edmonton, Alberta, when Canada will face China. And according to John Doyle, Canada, currently ranked 8th in the world, will have a tough time.
John Doyle, by day the television critic at Canada’s Globe & Mail newspaper, is a man of soccer, or football. He describes himself as “a devoted soccer player, follower and a journalist who’s written many articles, covered World Cups and written a book about soccer.”
Listen“The World is a Ball: The Joy, Madness and Meaning of Soccer” is the book that qualifies him to shed some light on the current madness involving top FIFA officials and the antics of Sepp Blatter. John Doyle says “FIFA is in crisis.” Like many, he is hoping for an outside entity to come in and “wipe out the culture of bribery”.
Doyle says the awarding of the World Cups to Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022, signalled that “something other than the good of the game was involved in those decisions”, and the time is right to reform the organization.
When asked about the “charitable status”, Doyle says FIFA does do good work, and the Women’s World Cup is an example. He says the women’s side of the organization goes from strength to strength, pointing out that at the last cup, there were 16 teams competing, in Canada there will be 24. That growth has come from the support and grooming of FIFA. It is part of FIFA’s mission to put the huge profits to use in promoting the game, and starting teams and leagues in places where there’s a need and no other means to do so.
“In the last ten years or so particular emphasis has been placed on creating leagues and organizations that support women and girls soccer, especially in Africa and Asia. These are good works. These things have had a very beneficial effect especially in the women’s game. In countries where girls are excluded from so much the benefits of being in a sports team in terms of fitness, nutrition, organisation, mental strength and optimism about the role of women, this has happened and these are in fact good things. So it would be wrong to be entirely dismissive of FIFA as a corrupt organization that should be just dismantled and forgotten about.”
On the other hand, Doyle says the women’s teams will encounter the dark side of FIFA in this tournament: “One of the effects of FIFA’s arrogance, sexism and greed that is, the insistence that every game be played on artificial turf in every one of the venue stadiums in Canada.” He says it should never have been allowed to happen and this Women’s World Cup will be an anomaly, and will go down in history as such, in that is not being played on natural grass.
The timing of the larger scandal works in favour of the women’s event, according to Doyle, in that it takes some of the weight off it all. People can concentrate on the games and the play, as the upper levels have been exposed, and some of the taint has been removed he says.
And about the tournament itself, John Doyle says our Canadian team may have a hard time. A very mature team, with some great experience they may find themselves challenged by some of the powerhouses. He says Germany is eager to follow up on the men’s victory in Brazil. France is one to watch, as is the Japanese team for both their strategy and sophisticated play. He says the Americans are coming to win, but cautions that no one really knows what some of these eight new teams might be capable of; so enjoy the tournament!
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