What’s the Socceroos’ Objective?

Qataris gather at the capital Doha's traditional Souq Waqif market as the official logo of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 is projected on the front of a building on Sept. 3, 2019. AFP via Getty Images

Commentary

In a video message, 16 members of Australia’s soccer squad, the Socceroos, recently criticised the human rights record of Qatar and advocated for the adoption of effective remedies to assist South Asian migrant workers who are employed in the construction of infrastructure needed for the FIFA World Cup.

The highly anticipated soccer World Cup starts on Nov. 21 in the capital city of Doha. Qatar is readying itself to welcome football fans to the world’s biggest sporting event, which will see the best players competing with each other for eternal glory.

Since the allocation of the Cup to Qatar in 2010, migrant workers and servants have been used to build the infrastructure needed for the competition.

Human rights organisations believe that 6,500 workers have died during the construction of the stadiums where the games will be played, but this figure is disputed by the Qatari authorities.

It is against this background that the decision of Australia’s soccer team to speak out against Qatar’s human rights record should be assessed.

The Socceroos qualified for participation in the World Cup after an exhaustive campaign that failed to secure automatic qualification, but the team was nevertheless able to sneak into the competition by winning a qualifying playoff against Peru.

Australia celebrate after winning the game in penalty shootouts in the 2022 FIFA World Cup Playoff match between Australia Socceroos and Peru at Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium in Doha, Qatar, on June 13, 2022. Joe Allison/Getty Images

Should the Socceroos Just Focus on the Game?

Although Qatar is hardly a paragon of human rights virtue, should a sports team become a social justice advocate?

Undoubtedly, the Socceroos’ action is bold because, in denouncing the human rights practices of a foreign country, they seek to achieve objectives that have nothing to do with football.

Of course, there are legitimate concerns about the capacity or willingness of Qatar to respect the rights of migrant workers and to implement the right to be free from discrimination.

Nevertheless, is it really the job of the Socceroos to involve themselves in contentious issues and projects—especially if they are related to a foreign country—that might unfavourably impact the achievement of their real objectives?

Now that the Socceroos have entered the human rights arena and have officially criticised the Qatari government for its alleged violations of human rights, it will not be able to count on the sympathies of the Qatari government and the local football federation during the competition.

In a recent article published in The Epoch Times, Rocco Loiacono compellingly argued that a sporting team should only be interested in one thing: fairly winning games.

His argument, of course, does not deny the existence of human rights-related problems but is a reminder that a team’s focus should be on the achievement of the objectives for which it was formed.

If independent observers were to delineate the objectives of Australia’s Socceroos, they would surely conclude that its task is to play a thrilling football game.

In excoriating the human rights record of Qatar, the Socceroos fail to focus on the achievement of their own objectives, which, in themselves, have nothing to do with human rights.

The message from the Socceroos is a well-intentioned but ill-conceived attempt to highlight the plight of migrant workers in Qatar.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.