Qatar World Cup 2022 - Good Idea

First of all, I don't want to talk about 'brown paper bags' or corruption. FIFA is a dodgy enterprise at best, and I'm sure there have been many less than transparent decisions made throughout the years..

I actually grew up in the city of Doha, and have spent over 10 years living in Qatar in two separate stints, so I would say I'm far more informed than most to be able to make these comments. The point I want to make is that surely one of the points of the world cup (or football in general) is to try and help to unite people through sport. Having read this BBC article (http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23640800) and some of the comments on there it seems to me that there are a lot of incorrect and xenophobic preconceptions. People are saying things such as "Single men aren't allowed into shopping malls" and "there are no pubs". These sort of things are patently untrue and ridiculous.

I think that actually having the World Cup there will help to break down some of the barriers we have with Islam and help to create a much better understanding for the ill-informed masses. The only problem for most westerners is that you will have to adapt to the culture which is very different from our own. At the same time they will undoubtedly make allowances and adapt to meet the needs of the masses in order to not hinder the experience. People seem to think that they will be walking around all day in 50C heat, but that's just ridiculous. People that live in these countries know that you don't spend your time outside, you just go inside where there's air conditioning etc. Admittedly Qatar isn't the most interesting place on earth, but you can't always just give World Cups to places with a rich history.

The amount of money that Qatar have to waste on this, I foresee them making every effort to cater for visitors... if anything the facilities will be fantastic and luxurious. They will most likely have large air conditioned temporary venues where alcohol can be purchased (much like they already do in more liberal places like Dubai/ Abu Dhabi and possibly in Doha already) and hotels/ restaurants are al 5* and great quality. It's possible that it might be a more expensive destination for a lot of people however, but world cups are rarely cheap)

The only difference is that you can't just go and get legless and walk around the streets mouthing off at people. It's called observing the local culture, and if people only want to go to see the best players in the world if they can have a drink, then frankly I don't think they should be there anywhere (lack of alcohol has been one of the main complaints i've seen). I'm sure that cultural guidelines will be given out beforehand to minimise trouble, and with the whole world looking on, I doubt the police will be particularly harsh in their treatment of foreigners.

To me it just seems like all the Brits are just scared of a bit of hot weather and the thought that it might be a bit harder to get blind drunk and stumble around making the sort of mess that British tourists are famed for.

Another stick used to beat them with is the fact that Homosexuality is illegal. It's actually fairly widespread if ignored in local populations. Maybe the massive influx of people from around the world and the media spotlight will encourage them to modernise their views in some way.

So what i'd like to ask you is do you really think it's such a bad idea?

EDIT: Bid presentation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gjt7rv3fmwk