Jordan Henderson has described Qatar’s record of human rights abuses as “shocking, disappointing and horrendous” after he and his fellow England players received a detailed briefing on the situation in the Gulf state.
It seems certain that Gareth Southgate’s squad will issue a collective message challenging the stance taken by this year’s World Cup host country towards the rights of women, the LGBTQ+ community and the migrant workers responsible for building the stadiums on show at Qatar 2022 among much other infrastructure.
“When we were given the briefing, which was really important, it was quite shocking and disappointing,” said the Liverpool captain as he prepared for a role in Southgate’s midfield against Switzerland at Wembley on Saturday. “It’s horrendous really when you look at some of the issues that are currently happening and have been happening over there.
“As a team we’re just sort of digesting that, coming up with ideas of what we want to do going forward because it’s an opportunity to maybe shine a light on the issues and use our platforms to make change for the better.”
Southgate was joined by Mark Bullingham, the FA’s chief executive, and Edleen John, its director of international relations, on Tuesday as they spent 30 minutes relaying detailed information from, among other sources, Amnesty to the squad at St George’s Park. “It’s provoked a lot of conversations among the players,” England’s manager said. “The FA have never stopped anybody speaking about these matters … And it would be dangerous for us to be telling them what to do on something like this; they have their own thoughts, their own minds, they’re bright people.”
Despite his evident concerns about the human rights landscape in Doha and beyond, Southgate is adamant that boycotting the Middle East’s first World Cup would have been pointless. “I don’t really know what that achieves,” he said. “It would be a big story but the tournament would go ahead.
“There are some things that are religious and cultural that are going to be very difficult to change but there’s still an opportunity to use our voices and our platform in a positive way.”
In contrast, an England boycott would have achieved nothing, he said. “Unfortunately the biggest issue that’s non-religious and non-cultural is what happened with the building of the stadiums,” said Southgate. “There’s nothing we can do about that either, sadly.”
Globalisation and geopolitical reality also come into play. “Is the stance against Qatar as a country?” he queried. “Should we protest against a country or a specific issue? If it’s Qatar as a country we’re intertwined. Are we going to stop shopping at Sainsbury’s [whose largest shareholder is Qatar Holdings LLC] as a protest? Then there’s the Shard; there’s all sorts of Qatari property investment here. We’re in such a complex world of deals, as we’ve seen with Saudi Arabia.
“On one hand people are questioning their investment in Newcastle and on the other hand we’re going to Saudi and asking them to reduce the oil prices so we can get our petrol cheaper. It’s extremely complicated.”
After pointing out that the time to talk potential boycotts was the moment Qatar was awarded the tournament in 2010, Southgate advocated the benefits of engagement. “It [a boycott] is possible,” he said. “But that’s not a decision the players and myself can make. I hear various versions of this but my understanding is the discussions the FA had with organisations like Amnesty is that they feel there would be more change if we go and these things are highlighted.”
England’s manager knows he cannot please everybody. “Whatever we do we’re going to be criticised,” he said. “But we’re going to do our best. There’s power in us being able to do something – and maybe even with other European nations. Conversations are going on all the time.”
Henderson is at the heart of many such chats with teammates and international counterparts. “As a senior player I do take a lot of responsibility and I’ll speak to as many lads as I can, as will other senior members of the team, and come up with something we all think’s right,” he said. “And, as the gaffer said, there’s the possibility of doing something with other European countries.
“Whatever we decide to do will be criticised and will never be enough but we do it to try and make a difference in the world. I think everybody knows we stand for no discrimination. Football’s for everyone.”
