The FIFA World Cup of Football (soccer to North Americans) begins today in this country, and isn't Canada lucky to be one of the host countries for the largest sporting event on the planet? You may or may not support that question and maybe our answers would be influenced by our appreciation of "the beautiful game."
The World Cup will also rival the Olympics as having the largest carbon footprint of any sporting event. And it will provide the biggest betting spree of any event. Hmm.
Still, lots of cities in Mexico, the United States, and Canada got on board with hosting the World Cup including Toronto and Vancouver. As the tournament drew closer lots of those venues began to realize that the promise of packed stadiums may not be fulfilled. One reason is that the FIFA tickets are incredibly expensive and in Canada there are a number of meh match-ups. Hoteliers and restaurateurs are frustrated that bookings aren't what they were hoping for.
We've learned that about a billion dollars in federal funding has gone into the World Cup and given the cost to fans we have to wonder why. Methinks there are lots of people benefitting from the event and they aren't regular folk.
At the risk of making shallow "either/or" comparisons, how far would a billion bucks go toward fulfilling Canada's commitments to Indigenous communities to bring safe drinking water? We know that the federal government has spent lots of money on lawyers to fight payouts for Indigenous education and reparations to certain groups of school survivors. Of course doing so wouldn't make us "world class" as a nation, supposedly, even though these would be steps toward Truth and Reconciliation. As a Christian and member of the United Church I want these commitments to be fulfilled.
How do we get hornswoggled into financing activities such as these with public money and then exclude the vast majority of taxpayers from participating?
We have four grandchildren and all of them have played soccer, the most popular sport for children in Canada. It's a great activity and one of the least expensive for kids. So far none of them has expressed excitement over the World Cup but maybe that will come.
I would be happy for a miracle where Canada won a game.
1 comment:
A huge expenditure, for sure. And when the environment seems to be taking a back seat to everything else, that money could be used to deal with the climate crisis.
That being said, with these insane times(thanks to you know who), the more distractions the better. I've immersed myself in the Blue Jays partly for that reason. But he better not show up at a game, although if he's greeted with a deafening chorus of boos, I'm definitely okay with that. I'd like to thank the fans in NYC who came through with giving him the welcome he deserves - although like everything else, he spins it into something completely different.
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