Colin Sheridan: Where is the outrage about the 2026 World Cup?
Palestinians inspect the rubble of a structure hit by an Israeli bombardment in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip on Saturday, March 22, 2025. Pic: AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana
Indulge me. Imagine the Kerry footballers travelled up to Galway yesterday against the backdrop of the Tribesmen committing a genocide in neighboring Mayo. Imagine that Galway militias, directed by their local government, had slaughtered roughly 5% of the population of the Heather County (about 7,000 people), and forcibly displaced practically all of them. Imagine that its army and their generals had made no secret of their war crimes, even doubled down by publicly expressing their desire to eradicate everybody from Ballindine to Ballycroy off the face of the earth. Imagine that we all saw the images of towns and villages being destroyed, of babies' mangled bodies being picked up and put into plastic bags by traumatised parents. Imagine they targeted Mayo’s writers, poets and artists for their dissent, killing them, then posting about it. Local press, too. Mayo News journalists. Western People. Connaught Telegraph. Each day, another targeted and killed for having the temerity to pull on their press vests and report to the world what's happening. Imagine all of that, then imagine 10,000 people in Salthill watching the Galway footballers - many of whom had served in these militias - play Kerry in the National League.
If that example is much too absurd for you (and it really is absurd), just pop across the Irish sea. Apply the same formula to England invading Scotland, killing over 100,000 of its people, wiping its towns and villages off the map. Imagine the scotch distilleries being bombed and Celtic Park collapsing under aerial bombardment, all on live television. Imagine explosives being planted in Edinburgh Castle, and some English soldiers posting a video to Tik Tok of them detonating the cultural landmark, dancing a wee Scottish jig as the castle walls crumble in the background. Imagine, as all of this is going on, Wembley is packed to watch England play Latvia in a World Cup Qualifier, and that English team was made up of players who had willingly served in their murderous army and continue to openly express support for their Genocidal campaign in the highlands.
Last one. Imagine the government of Spain grew tired of rumblings on Catalonian independence and just rolled into Barcelona in their tanks and armoured vehicles. Imagine they blew up La Sagrada Família Basilica (with people inside it), bulldozed the Nou Camp to the ground and turned Las Ramblas into rubble. Imagine they did all of this, slaughtering 5% of the population (roughly 400,000 people) while publicly promising to slaughter every other one who dared stay and - not even resist - just stay. Imagine they did this against the backdrop of being European Champions?
You don’t have to imagine any of it. It’s happening. And has been happening for 18 months in Gaza, and for decades before that, as Israel continues to occupy, ethnically cleanse and attempt to systemically eradicate the Palestinian state, people and way of life. They are the only country in the world considered by Amnesty International to officially be an apartheid state. Yet, tomorrow night their international footballers will continue their World Cup qualifying campaign with a match against Norway. The only asterisk on their involvement is the game will be played in Hungary - not as a punishment for Israel - but as a safety measure for its players for whom Tel Aviv is deemed too dangerous. Over 600 people - more than 200 of them children - have been killed in Gaza by Israel since last Tuesday. The number of people killed in Tel Aviv by Hamas rockets since October 7 2023 wouldn’t fill a phonebox.
As for the tournament for which they are trying to qualify? Well, the next World Cup takes place in the United States, Mexico and Canada in 2026. Let us pause for a moment to consider the moral ignominy of that. You can ignore the fact that of the host countries - the US - are currently not on speaking terms with the other two due to a petty trade war initiated by Donald Trump, for that is nothing but a comical sidebar when compared to the fact the America is a full on partner in Israels genocide in Gaza, as well as it’s wider wars in the Occupied Territories, Lebanon, Yemen and Syria.
Remember the justifiable outrage many expressed when lambasting FIFA for awarding the last World Cup to Qatar and the 2034 iteration to Saudi Arabia, given both countries highly dubious human rights records? Well, where now is that outrage for America, a country that is not just complicit in the worst cases of genocide witnessed since World War II, but actively leading the charge to continue it. All the while violently suppressing free speech of its own citizens on its streets and college campuses.
Players, fans, journalists will flock to Disneyland next summer and literally enjoy the ride. Longform opinion pieces will be written about the world's greatest sporting event happening against the backdrop of the dystopian Trumpian wasteland of a once great democracy.
Bullshit.
We know what has been happening, what is happening, and what will happen. The Olympic Games have been boycotted for much, much less than America’s murderous partnership with Israel.
"Gaza,” said Colombian president Gustavo Petro, “is just the first experiment in considering us all disposable."
We can stay in our lane, stick to sports, and not get hurt. Or we can open our eyes and at the very least acknowledge that, if it were happening to our own, we would not tolerate it. So why then stay quiet and accept it’s ok for others?
So, now the dust has settled on a sub-par Six Nations for the men's Irish Rugby team, we can finally acknowledge what is really behind our patchy slow decline since the All Blacks sent us packing from RWC 2023: Jacques Nienaber as a Trojan Horse. How can we have been so utterly stupid? Rassie Erasmus’s sidekick, his right hand bloody man leaving a job with the world champions South Africa - where he was feted as a national hero - to come and play second fiddle to Leo Cullen at perennial European Cup final losers Leinster? What a ruse! How do we think that conversation went?
Rassie: “Please, Jacques, stay. Stay and we can make more history by winning a hat-trick of World Cups together.”
Nienaber: “Sorry Ras, no. It’s always been my dream to be an assistant coach and help lead my team to Rodney Parade on a bleak Friday night in November and consider anything other than a 20 point victory a failure. Please Rassie, if you love me, set me free.”
Or, did it go this way: Rassie: “I worry about Ireland. In four years' time I think it’s them that could have our number. I want you to go there, Jacques, I want you to go there as a peace offering and destroy them from within.”
Given Erasmus’s expertise in mind games, this would be his most epic stunt yet. The Irish team is practically Leinster, plus a couple of positive discrimination picks from Connacht and Munster. Nienaber, so effective as a defensive coach in South Africa, has been markedly less so in Dublin, and though he has no direct involvement in Andy Farrells national setup, you can imagine him chuckling as he sips a full bodied Pinotage from the Stellenbosch as James Lowe bolts out the line, causing defensive disaster. Beware Springboks bearing gifts. We’ve been had.
The Indian Premier League has long been the hottest ticket in cricket, and this season the sport may well be bidding farewell to one of its brightest stars: MS Dhoni. The CSK superstar retired from international cricket in 2020, and while the 44 year old has not declared this to be his swansong, the infrequency of his appearances in the last two seasons suggest 2025 it may well be.
In his prime, Dhoni was one of the game's most prolific and captivating batsmen, while his reflexes as a wicketkeeper were legendary. If this is in fact his last season, the IPL will be worth watching if only to witness the love Indian fans have for a man they consider one of the true cricketing Gods.
It takes little encouragement to revisit When We Were Kings, as it is arguably the greatest sports documentary of all time, but news of George Foreman's passing will undoubtedly inspire another rewatch. In a lot of respects that movie humanised Foreman who was often cast as a stone-faced villain opposite Ali’s loveable warrior poet. Foreman’s death also serves as a reminder of how great a metaphor the sport of heavyweight boxing once was, and how tragically far it’s fallen.
