By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent, in Doha
November 19 – Almost three years after steering Qatar towards arguably the greatest upset in World Cup bidding history, Hassan Al Thawadi is still a driven man. Whilst hardly a week goes by without some new development raising questions over Qatar’s suitability to stage the 2022 tournament, the organising chief bullishly refuses to let himself get distracted, tackling the negativism head-on whilst remaining focussed on the job at hand.
The fast-talking, canny, legally-trained Al Thawadi knows there are issues that have to be addressed in the next nine years, notably workers’ rights. It’s just that having talked a good game – which he still does incidentally – he now has to deliver.
If last weekend’s announcement of the first stadium design at Al Wakrah was highly significant in terms of Qatar showing the world it was actually starting the operational process on the ground, not least its commitment to renewable energy, Al Thawadi appreciates that for the global public at large, there are other more pressing topics of interest.
One of those is Qatar’s promise to cool stadiums, training sites and walkways. Having just experienced four days in the country in mid-November – precisely the time Sepp Blatter wants to hold the World Cup – it seemed an ideal time for football. Daytime temperatures were up around the 28 degree mark and a few degrees cooler at night. So why will the highly expensive cooling mechanisms be needed if the timing is switched?
“We’ve always said from the beginning we’re moving ahead with our plans whether it’s summer or winter because of the legacy that it will leave behind and for ourselves,” says Al Thawadi who wants to be able to pass on the technology to other countries post-2022 who might be in a similar position.
He recognises that workers’ rights, an issue even taken up by Blatter, is the hottest topic right now, especially after the recent release of a scathing Amnesty Intermational report. Al Thawadi, whose actual title is general secretary of the the Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee, was at pains, during a series of media interviews, to stress that his team would not shirk from its responsibilities and was actually keen to embrace the debate.
“If you look at the way we’re engaging NGO’s like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and so on, engaging different stakeholders … you can see for a fact that there are results on the ground, steps being taken.”
Such steps include tackling the controversial kafala employment restricting workers’ movements as well as enforcing strict auditing to make sure contractors on World Cup sites treat employees reasonably.
He admits current laws are past their sell-by date and need modifying. “The fact that the kafala system is under review by the council of ministers is a simple example of the fact that there are systems that need to be changed.”
“Some of these systems were developed in a different lifetime, at a different time in Qatar’s life. Today, like any law, any legal system anywhere in the world, as circumstances change and as events change the law develops and evolves itself.”
“Kafala system was developed at a certain point in time, now there is a review of it to see how to move forward and improve it. I can’t tell you the details because it’s under the council of ministers and under the legislators. What I can tell you is, as far as I’m aware and what I’ve been exposed to, is there is a focus on strengthening the contractual relationships between the employer and employee.”
Switching to the old issue of winter versus summer, Al Thawadi says he genuinely doesn’t know why Blatter grabbed the initiative about moving the tournament from summer after originally saying such a request could only come from the Qataris themselves.
“That is a question for president Blatter. Is November-December now a fait accompli? I don’t think so. Keep in mind that there’s a consultation period going on. If I’m not mistaken President Blatter said in his press conference here that if at the end of the consultation period it turns out we can’t do it then we’ll go back to summer. If there’s any change we are more than happy to accommodate it. My plans are moving ahead regardless of what happens. I don’t have to be held hostage to anything.”
And sharing the tournament with its neighbours? Again, Al Thawadi is keen to put that one to bed. “Our plans are based on staging the World Cup in Qatar with the entire Middle East benefiting.”
In other words, no. Al Thawadi explains why.
“The reality is that when you win a bid you start developing tangible plans with stakeholders on the ground in terms of projects and tenders. Changing that all of a sudden creates an upheaval, a chaotic situation. But honestly the discussion never arose internally. Every time we meet our brothers and family members in the Middle East they always provide unwavering support. They recognise the opportunities that this World Cup will provide to them without necessarily hosting games.”
To be fair, there are not many subjects Al Thawadi avoids but he’s clearly getting weary of the corruption issue. Has he yet heard from FIFA’s chief investigator Michael Garcia who is supposedly conducting a investigation of all 2018 and 2022 bidding countries?
“No I have received no notification so far. If and when I speak to him that will be left to him and me to discuss whatever he wants. But the great thing about it – and hopefully this will go some way towards changing peoples’ perception – is that whether we are talking about Garcia or summer and winter, neither is a significant issue for us to worry about.”
Al-Thawadi could be forgiven for breathing a sigh of relief whenever Brazil and Russia, hosts of the next two World Cups, become targets of criticism instead than Qatar. He doesn’t see it that way.
“Let’s be very clear about this. I will never take any satisfaction out of anyone else’s misfortune regardless of what other people might think. I take no comfort that Brazil is facing issues, likewise Russia. That’s not what good sportsmanship is meant to be.”
Sportsmanship is an issue al-Thawadi takes extremely seriously. It helps define him, he says, as do his hobbies: reading (his literary hero is the late best-selling British author of heroic fantasy, David Gemmell), films, playing squash and, in the rare moments he has time, just “hanging out.”
Having met with princes, presidents and no end of celebrities, he could easily let it all go to his head. The fact he tries to stay grounded, he says, is all part of preparing to welcome the world to his tiny country half the size of Wales in just under a decade. “I’m just an average normal guy. No more, no different.”
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