“Enjoy yourself, darling, but I can’t say I approve of you going.” Those were my mother’s parting words as I set off for a four-day, two-match stint at the World Cup.
I have been to every World Cup, bar one, since 1994. But I have never experienced the wave of disapproval that accompanied my trip to Qatar. In the past, when I told people that I had tickets for the greatest football show on earth, I was met with excited congratulations. When I mentioned to friends that I was going to Qatar, I was more often met with a raised eyebrow and a “really?”.
