Culture and communication: FIFA and the Qatar World Cup

What happens when culture and communication collide?

You get the ‘square-peg-in-a-round-hole’ Qatar World Cup.

Normally, sports fans can dress as they like, making any statement they want.

It’s different this time.

Normally, fans can celebrate with beers to go with the cheers.

It’s different this time.

And every time the cultural clashes arise  month, it will be another own goal for organisers FIFA and hosts Qatar.

So why was this always destined to be a communications disaster?

Read on.

My Middle East experiences

Three years ago, I visited Qatar for the first time.

I was on a Middle East “sweep”, taking in various locations like Oman and Dubai as I spoke at leading golf clubs about building communication skills.

My host, Mike Braidwood (pictured above), ran the Education City Golf Club in Qatar.

We’d worked together at Gleneagles Hotel and again at Riffa Golf Club in Bahrain as he transformed it into the Royal Golf Club.

When we arranged the 2019 trip, our first conversation was about culture.

How does the culture differ in the three countries I’d be visiting?

How did he want me to approach discussing it?

What do women wear during golf lessons in Qatar?

How do Qataris regard the ruling Royal Family?

And how comfortable will female members of staff be presenting in front of men?

Overcoming obstacles

When I delivered my tutorials, it was from a position of being fully briefed.

To be credible, I needed to show understanding of the customs, way of life and beliefs.

For example, in the UK if an interviewee added “God willing” to a comment, I’d point out (in the growingly secular UK), that it would undermine their point to many people.

It would be leaving the final say to God.

But in Qatar, “inshallah” (“if Allah is willing”) is an expected comment to make. It’s part and parcel of every conversation.

The Middle East Tour was a big success.

Feedback in all three countries was great.

Some women cautiously presented for the first time, supported by a largely male audience.

My goal was to be a round peg in a round hole.

Did I raise gay rights? No.

Did I question the regime? No.

And before becoming short-sighted about the ethics of governance in each territory, I’d be best to recall where else I’ve earned money.

In the United States, three years ago, where it can be easier as a teenager to buy a gun than a bottle of beer.

In Azerbaijan, where immigration officials required a cash payment to process my paperwork.

But mainly in the UK, where the Government has suppressed the truth about Bloody Sunday (1972), The Lockerbie Bombing (1988) and Hillsborough (1989).

Need I go on?

Culture and communication

If the real issue around the Qatar World Cup is about human rights, the world governing body of football, FIFA, may be best to restrict future completions to Scandinavia.

It’s where all four countries regularly feature in the Human Rights Top Ten (according to one register I’ve studied).

Otherwise there may be future controversies.

But in the meantime, the square-peg-in-the round-hole World Cup will stumble on.

Where England players dared to ‘take the knee”.

But the English and Welsh captains capitulated to FIFA’s threat of being awarded a yellow card if they wore a One Love armband.

Where former Welsh women’s football captain Laura McAllister says her rainbow bucket hat was removed by security.

And an American journalist claims he was taken away and questioned entering a stadium wearing a rainbow tee-shirt.

Then there’s the Germans, who covered their mouths in their team photo to protest at being ‘silenced’ by FIFA.

And the Iranian players, lining up against England, refusing to sing their national anthem in protest at the abuse of women’s rights in Iran.

(Although Qatar may be OK with that, good luck to the players on returning to Iran.)

Where sponsors Budweiser are sitting on massive stocks of beer after the consumption of alcohol in and around stadia was banned two days before the tournament kicked off.

FIFA are learning that an agreement is an agreement only if the Qatari Royal Family stick to it.

It’s the price you pay for taking a liberal festival of football to an authoritarian state.

Of which there are a growing number around the world.

Surely the point of showcasing a World Cup in different parts of the world is to be more inclusive rather than less.

If this World Cup has to be reviewed by its own Video Assistant Referee (VAR), there can be only one conclusion.

Own goal against Qatar, assisted by FIFA.

Bill McFarlan is the Executive Chairman of Pink Elephant Communications.

Read more about him here.

Photos in Culture and communication blog thanks to Bill McFarlan, Dipin Das, & Riccardo.