The Wall_Spring 2023_Issue 9

Artwork: Ava Thomas, S9

Klaudia Jedlecka (she/her), LVI, explores the connections between sport (football) and attitudes of avid supporters at home after a loss for their team.

TheWorld Cup is the most celebrated event of all sports.As it rolls around, every four years, fans are riled up and pubs fill with fans itching to watch the game and support their respective teams. It’s an excellent example of community. However, FIFA has been known to turn a blind eye to issues surrounding their events and shift the responsibility when they are called up on this. Recently the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) reported that domestic abuse cases rise by 26% every time the men’s England football team plays a match.This figure rises by 38% if they lose and 11% the day after a match regardless of the outcome of it. In a country where 1 in 3 women have experienced some form of abuse from a partner, event organisers’ ignorance to this fact is appalling. Sporting events are an opportunity for people to come together in celebration and not an opportunity to inflict fear and pain onto women or spouses at home. A common thread that connects domestic violence and sports is the consumption of alcohol.The publicity gained by sports matches has a certain kind of atmosphere around it which could be classified as ‘lad culture’. This includes the stereotype and reality of spending an evening down at the pub, beer in hand, watching the game, shouting obnoxiously.That’s not to say there is anything wrong with this kind of night out, but it is known that alcohol can and does act as a catalyst for domestic violence and these kinds of nights out on a routinely basis only enhance a woman’s odds of being subject to abuse. That’s not to say football is

the only sport that’s weighted with this dark shadow, but it is the sport that gains the most publicity both nationally and internationally, subsequently impacting the most lives, and by causal relationship the lives of those who suffer from domestic abuse by their spouses. In 2022 FIFA expected 5 billion people to tune into the world cup over its course, and they were correct. A record breaking 5.4 billion viewers were recorded and this just amplifies the importance for the event organisers to address stigma and issues surrounding their events. A discussion paper was written in July 2021 by the Centre for Economic Performance suggested a theory that “perpetrators may be sufficiently distracted by the game or are away from their partners, and therefore, not committing abuse” however further discussions showed that this theory had fallen through were also shown in the paper, with statistics from a variety of studies to support the failure of this hypothesis. Moreover, this past year FIFA was faced with the controversy of hosting in Qatar.While FIFA has acknowledged the issue of domestic abuse surrounding theWorld Cup, they decided to allow Qatar – a country which legally limits its women to be objectively owned by their husbands and to be limited in life up to the age of 30 – to host the 2022 footballWorld Cup. FIFA are contradicting themselves and, with every step they take to making their events safe and inclusive, they take three steps back.

In November 2019 FIFA organised a 16-day campaign to raise awareness against domestic violence but it simply wasn’t a good enough attempt. If FIFA was to actually raise awareness on the topic the campaign should have got much more publicity.There wasn’t a single Instagram post, tweet, or any visible attempt to promote FIFA’s attempt to tackle the issue.The lack of advertisement isn’t the only sign of ignorance on the matter from FIFA, during England’s opening game in Qatar, Mason Greenwood found himself in court due to domestic abuse allegations against him.The former England player will not be returning to the team, but it has been said he has the option of returning to training under a different nation. This is only a fraction of the corruption that stands beneath these big event organisers, not limited to FIFA or women.A large number of these cases we are aware of, but the trouble lies in the fact that these companies do not do enough nor care enough to take on these issues.The unfortunate circumstance that we are faced with is difficult to tackle with something other than highlighting the issues in the media and creating enough of an impact to get through to these big companies.

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