Research Paper First Draft

Andrew Oyler

English 102-59        

Professor Paudel

3/2/2015

World Cup 2022

            According to FIFA’s official website, “Opening matches set new audience high’s for 2014 all over the world as fans watched in record numbers in nations such as Brazil, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, Argentina, France, the Netherlands, Croatia and Italy. An all-time high was set in French-speaking part of Belgium.” Being one of the most viewed and popular sporting event in the world, the FIFA World Cup is going to bring a lot of talk and controversy no matter where it is, but the awarding of the World Cup to Qatar to host has seemed to bring about more conflict than any tournament before. Due to the scorching hot temperatures during the summer months in Qatar, which on average can be anywhere between 35 to 45 degree Celsius, according to Aljazeera, a Qatar based broadcaster, there have been questions raised as to whether the tournament should be held in the traditional summer months, or moved to a period when the weather is cooler. Moving a tournament of this popularity, which would break a 92-year tradition of the tournament being played in the summer of course, does not sit well with everyone in the footballing world.  The 2022 World Cup that is to be hosted by Qatar should not be played in the summer due to the extreme temperatures that Qatar face in the summer months. These temperatures are unsafe for players, spectators or tourists, and could affect the amount of people that come to support the event.

            During the 2008 Olympics in Beijing there were some cautions with athletes performing based on the high temperatures there, averaging 30 degree Celsius. “The average maximum temperature in August is around 30oC (Table 1) which, according to the WBGT index, increases the risk of heat illness due to environment stress to very high levels.” (Borresen 50) With the average temperature in Qatar well above the temperatures that were posing a threat to athletes during the 2008 Olympics, these conditions are not ideal and are a serious health risk for any professional athlete, let alone one that runs on average 7 miles a match. (Fox) An article written in the California Western International Law Journal states that, “The award to Qatar was particularly controversial, as FIFA’s own technical report stated the high temperatures in Qatar could pose a health risk to not only players but to officials and spectators as well.” FIFA itself has said these conditions can cause health risks, so without an adequate fix to the issue; it would be impractical to stage a tournament during months when the temperature can cause harm.

            To deal with this heat at the event, Qatar has proposed the idea of stadium cooling technology during matches. CNN reporter Mark Tutton states, “But football's governing body seems to have been swayed by Qatar's plans to overcome the sweltering heat by building nine new fully air-conditioned open-air stadiums that work using solar power.” Tutton also says, “It will be used to chill water, which in turn will cool air before it is blown through the stadium, keeping pitch temperatures below 27 C (80 F).” This technology would provide a safe environment for the athletes to compete in during matches. The same cooling system would also be used to cool the training facilities used by the teams. (Tutton) There have been some doubts as to if this new technology will work as planned. Mark Hansford, editor for NCE.co.uk, a civil engineering news site, has said, “But Aecom design principal Graham Goymour warned that at this stage it was unknown whether the designs would work.” If this technology is sure to work, it would solve a huge problem, but there are still doubts over whether this will be an effective method of controlling the temperature.

            Not only does this temperature pose a threat to the players, but also to the fans of the event. During 2010, there were heat waves moving through Northern Europe that impacted the tourism industry and “tourists experienced thermo-physiological discomfort which could be observed in increased hospital admissions and fatalities”(Becken 7) Some of these temperatures that occurred during these heat waves were lower or around the same temperatures as the average summers in Qatar. (Heidorn) If these temperatures could cause heat related problems to tourists in Europe during that summer, then the same types of problems can occur in Qatar if the World Cup is staged in the summer. According to Becken, “The 2003 heatwave was responsible for 15,000 deaths in France and major shifts in traditional tourist flows for this year away from the traditional resorts in the Mediterranean and towards Northern or Western beach locations.” Although it is the world cup, the heat could still affect the number of spectators that could make the trip to attend the event, as these high temperatures has proven to cause changes in tourist trends in other places in the world. Arsene Wenger, the current Arsenal manager who has been involved in playing and coaching professionally for the past 46 years has recently said in an interview, "It's impossible to play in the summer and I think it makes sense, if you want people to survive there, its the only way to have it in a comfortable way for the supporters.

            Although the temperatures will be very hot, fans too will be cooled in the World Cup stadiums during the matches. The bid book director for the 2022 Qatar world cup has said, "The same air will also be projected from the back and neck area of the seats, ensuring that each seating row of each stadium provides maximum comfort and enjoyment to fans," Spectators will also be provided with transportation to and from the stadium that will be using cooling technology to keep them comfortable. (Hansford) This will only be provided to the spectators as they are attended a match, but a majority of the time spent at the event the spectators or tourists will be elsewhere because one can only attend so many matches.

            Another issue with the proposal of a world cup that is not in the summer is an interference with the domestic leagues in Europeans countries, where the season lasts from about August to May. The European football community has split opinions on this topic with many of them sharing their opinions on the disruptions a non-summer world cup would cause. Representatives for the English Premier League have said that a winter world keep is “neither workable or desirable for European domestic football” (Eurosport) Karl-Heinz Rummeneige, the chairman of the European Clubs’ Association (ECA) has stated "For the football family, the rescheduling of the FIFA World Cup 2022 presents a difficult and challenging task," Although moving the world cup from the traditional summer months would create a daunting task of readjusting a 10 month schedule to accommodate it, it can be done, and there are many people with experience in the field that believe so. The Serbian Football Association supports the movement of the World Cup from the summer months and believes “2022 World Cup is seven years away and I think they have enough time to readjust.” (Eurosport) Reuters, a reporter for the sports website Eurosport, agrees with the Serbian FA, stating, “As for the disruption, is it really beyond the wit of organizers of the richest leagues in the world, with seven years to work with, to come up with a plan to adjust their current seasonal dates to accommodate one winter World Cup?” With seven years to come up with an alternate schedule for just one year, it is hard to think that some of the biggest sports leagues in the world cannot devise a plan that is suitable for all parties. While Europeans football leagues do provide majority of the players playing in the World Cup, it is still a world event. When the event is held in the summer, it is disrupting many domestic leagues in the Americas who have found ways to deal with the interruptions.

            Staging a World Cup in the summer in a country with a place whose temperatures can reach 45 degree Celsius is not ideal for any player or spectator and can pose serious health risks for anyone involved in the event. If the cooling technology is not ready by the time the World Cup is played, the event could be disastrous. This change in tradition does bring up a problem with European domestic leagues, but with time on their side and many intelligent individuals running these associations, a solution can surely be found in the next seven years. All in all, this is the a huge sporting event that occurs only every four years, one year of European domestic football can be altered to accommodate the event. In the words of a two-time World Cup veteran Gary Neville, "Disrupted for a World Cup? You're making the World Cup sound like the Sherpa Vans Trophy. The World Cup's the World Cup, it's hardly a tin-pot competition.”

Works Cited

Becken, Susanne. "HE IMPORTANCE OF CLIMATE AND WEATHER FOR TOURISM." Land Environment and People (2010): 7. Print.

Borresen, Jill. "Environmental Considerations for Athletic Performance at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games." International SportMed Journal 9.2 (2008): 50. Print.

"FIFA Rules out Summer World Cup for Qatar." - Al Jazeera English. Web. 4 Mar. 2015. <http://www.aljazeera.com/sport/2014/01/fifa-rules-out-summer-world-cup-qatar-201418114833263941.html>.

"FIFA World Cup 2022: Why The United States Cannot Successfully Challenge FIFA Awarding The Cup To Qatar and How the Qatar Controversy Shows FIFA Needs Large-Scale Changes." California Western International Law Journal 42.1 (2011): 550. Print.

Fox, Kit. "Distance Run Per Game in Various Sports." Runner's World & Running Times. 10 June 2014. Web. 4 Mar. 2015. http://www.runnersworld.com/fun/distance-run-per-game-in-various-sports

Hansford, Mark. "Qatar World Cup: Will Stadiums Stay Cool?" Qatar World Cup: Will Stadiums Stay Cool? 13 Nov. 2013. Web. 4 Mar. 2015. <http://www.nce.co.uk/news/structures/qatar-world-cup-will-stadiums-stay-cool/8655710.article>.

Heidorn, Keith. "The Northern Hemisphere Heat Wave of 2010." Weather Doctor's Weather People and History:. 15 July 2011. Web. 5 Mar. 2015. <http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/history/2010heatwave-nh.htm>.

Reuters. "ANALYSIS-Attention European Leagues - It's the World Cup." Eurosport. 25 Feb. 2015. Web. 5 Mar. 2015. <http://www.eurosport.com/football/analysis-attention-european-leagues-it-s-the-world-cup_sto4616813/story.shtml>.

Reuters. "Winter World Cup 'unworkable and Undesirable'" Eurosport. 24 Feb. 2015. Web. 5 Mar. 2015. <http://www.eurosport.com/football/world-cup/2014/winter-world-cup-unworkable-and-undesirable_sto4615501/story.shtml>.

Tutton, Mark. "Qatar Promises Air-conditioned World Cup." CNN. Cable News Network, 10 Dec. 2010. Web. 4 Mar. 2015. <http://edition.cnn.com/2010/SPORT/12/03/qatar.world.cup/>.

"TV Viewing Breaks Records in First FIFA World Cup Matches." FIFA.com. 19 June    2014. Web. 4 Mar. 2015. <http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/y=2014/m=6/news=tv-viewing-breaks-records-in-first-fifa-world-cup-matches-2378078.html>.