France's leading sports publication L'Équipe seem devastated for Irish football fans after Qatar confirmed an alcohol ban for all areas in and around stadiums ahead of the 2022 World Cup.
Hassan al-Thawadi, Secretary General of Qatar's organising committee announced that, in spite of the tournament's sponsorship arrangement with Budweiser, alcohol will not be available for sale within an ass's roar of any World Cup stadium.
L'Équipe's short article on the subject reads as follows:
The organisers of the 2022 World Cup, to be held in Qatar, betting on sobriety, the side of the fans who will travel at least. Indeed, "there will be no drinking in the streets, parks and public spaces is final. (...) We are against the sale of alcohol in stadiums and their surroundings " said Hassan al-Thawadi, the secretary general of the organising committee, in an interview with daily newspaper al-Sharq. Its positioning could create a stir on the side of the International Federation (FIFA), one of the main sponsors is none other than the US brewer Budweiser. At the 2014 World Cup, a Brazilian law prohibiting the sale of alcoholic beverages in sports arenas was suspended for the duration of the competition.
However, both the featured image for the article and the caption beneath it suggest France's sympathies lie squarely with the hoards of Irish fans who'll travel to the Middle East should Ireland qualify for Qatar 2022.
Translated to English, the caption reads:
Even the Irish, if they qualify, will have to stay sober...
EVEN US!
Announced officially midweek, the ban on booze is but the latest atrocity to befall the most controversial World Cup in history; the other two key issues being the flagrant endorsement of human slavery, and the subsequent deaths of hundreds of workers - many of them immigrants from Nepal and India - having endeavoured, under incomprehensibly poor working conditions, to build World Cup-ready stadiums.
But a drinking ban?!? Sure FIFA and the World Cup can feck off, so. In fact, if we do qualify, it'd be advisable that John Delaney - yes he'll still be there - ask that the tournament instead consists of just 31 teams.
[L'Équipe]
