By Samindra Kunti in Sydney
August 15 – Former Socceroo and human rights activist Craig Foster has criticised FIFA and Women’s World Cup organisers for failing to take the lead in the fight against climate change.
The Women’s World Cup has taken co-hosts Australia by storm with bumper crowds and the Matildas vying for a place in the final against England on Wednesday, but amid all the hype and hysteria Foster said that the world federation as well as Football Australia should have used the tournament to take a stand in the fight against climate change.
“It’s sad that at a time when the world needs urgent action more than ever, the world’s biggest sport had an opportunity to say in front of the world, this World Cup is about climate action and we’re calling on every government to act now to save the planet, because, without that, it’s useless arguing about indigenous rights, gender equality, or, you know, whether Qatar are going to reverse their migrant worker rights,” said Foster.
Three years ago, Australia won the hosting rights to the tournament and the then-conservative government underwrote the tournament to the tune of $100 million, but Football Australia and World Cup organisers, with a limited voice in the domestic sporting landscape, never committed to a climate campaign in a country that derives much of its wealth from the mining industry.
“True to form, FIFA are signatories to the UN Sport for Climate Action Framework, which compels them not just to create sustainable events, but actually to advocate for climate action in the Paris Agreement,” said Foster.
“They have not, of course, they have not done that. They don’t want to upset Saudi Arabia and Qatar, who are two of their biggest funders, and funding and purchasing football clubs all around the world.”
Foster’s criticism comes at a time when FIFA president Gianni Infantino faced criticism over a never-ending tour of the Pacific region during the Women’s World Cup on a private jet.
The FIFA supremo has clocked up more than 40,000 kilometres – or the equivalent of a lap around the planet – during the tournament to attend matches and visit member associations in Oceania.
On Monday night, he flew from the Solomon Islands to New Caledonia on a private jet operated by Qatar Executive, according to a flight tracking website. The FIFA boss will be expected in New Zealand’s capital Auckland by Tuesday night for the first semi-final of the tournament between Spain and Sweden.
Ahead of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, FIFA and Infantino rolled out the ‘green card’ to draw attention to the protection of the environment, but Infantino’s own jetting around the planet, in particular during the Covid-19 pandemic, seemed to suggest this was no more than a simple gimmick.
FIFA and Qatar 2022 World Cup organisers were also heavily criticized for claims of staging a carbon-neutral World Cup after they announced that a huge number of charter flights will be organized from neighbouring countries to shuttle fans to Doha to attend matches.
Six months on from Qatar and Foster laments the 2023 Women’s World Cup as a missed opportunity.
“There are close to 2 billion people watching this World Cup and this was an opportunity to say to all of them, football globally stands for climate action in a bright, courageous way – we want to see the planet saved because ultimately, there’s not going to be a lot of kicking the balls in floods, in bushfires, and in low-lying areas that are going to be an ocean,” concluded Foster.
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