NEW YORK – I have watched about 8,000 minutes of this World Cup – and that is probably a conservative estimate. Very little has shocked me in that time, except on a late-night trip to Times Square.
It is easy to be dazzled by the glare, whether of the billboards themselves or a tournament of noise and excess. Above the city, an advert had been taken out urging Americans to “protect our Judeo-Christian heritage”. Many Jews and Christians recognise that term for what is at worst, a euphemism for “white” – at best a dog-whistle to the extreme religious right.
You would need to perform some remarkable mental gymnastics to wholly differentiate the United States of the World Cup from the United States of Trump, Hegseth and Rubio. But we have all managed to do so to some extent, or we wouldn’t be here.
I have loved every minute of those 8,000; then I have the sobering reality check that I have probably just been sportswashed.
In Qatar, this newspaper covered the story of an LGBT+ fan who was told not to bring a rainbow flag into a stadium; if there have been none of those tales four years on, it is worth remembering that many LGBT+ people – including the largest England fans’ group – decided not to come. Even while the World Cup has been taking place, in West Virginia and Idaho the Supreme Court have passed legislation to prevent transwomen and trans girls playing women’s football.
