Kristjan Byfield: 'Why I'm boycotting the World Cup'

It hurts! I have loved the ups (and inevitable downs) of supporting England in the Euros and World Cup every two years. 

It's a chance to lay down our club allegiances for a couple of weeks and unite behind our country as we endeavour to emulate the glory days of 1966. 

2022 presents probably England's best chance to regain the title since we won it, although we often say that.

But whilst I will no doubt read about our endeavours on the news and will likely be unable to escape it on social media- I won't be watching a single game, buying a single piece of memorabilia....and I think you should consider joining me and many others around the world.

There are two primary reasons for this:

Death camp slave trade

Do your research, and what you will find will horrify you - or it should. 

An estimated 6,500 migrants have died in Qatar since it was awarded the World Cup by FIFA. 

There have been documented incidents of heat exhaustion, malnutrition, labour camp conditions and pay that would make a slave blush. 

Whilst the Qatar royals pledge that change is happening and change takes time, it's 2022 and treating any human being as a disposable commodity is not OK.

Conditions have, at least to some degree, been hidden from FIFA during its inspection with talk of alarms and signals upon which workers had to hide. 

Football is, for many, a religion. Well, I don't know any religion that is legitimately OK with the death of many for the financial benefit of the few.

They're LGBTQ and they're fabulous

Qatar's position on homosexuality and the LGBTQ community as a whole is nothing new. 

However, when you bid to host (and win) a truly global event if you are stuck in the dark ages, then you'd better modernise attitudes PDQ! 

No one was expecting a cultural awakening following their successful bid, but I think many of us hoped for a more restrained and respectful rhetoric. 

It is terrifying that just days ago Khalid Salman, a 2022 FIFA Qatar World Cup Ambassador, described homosexuality as “damage in the mind.”

Homosexuality is illegal in Qatar and LGBTQ people have been arbitrarily arrested or mistreated by authorities as recently as September, according to Human Rights Watch. 

Meanwhile, back here in the UK, in October our own Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said on LBC that LGBTQ fans attending the World Cup should "show a little bit of flex and compromise.”

Very simply, in a world where we are trying to achieve a greater harmony and acceptance- we have chosen a country where homosexuality can be punishable by death.

I have so many incredible LGBTQ friends, both in and out of this industry, and I don't think I could support this event and ever look them in the eye again.

Whilst I hope England can relive the glory days of 1966 the World has moved on a LONG way since then and a country's eligibility to even bid to host such a global event should, first of all, require them to meet specific working condition standards during construction and should also pass certain Human Rights requirements before even being considered.

Such vile disdain for our fellow human must surely receive more than a tut and a sigh and a 'how awful!’

We need to tell Qatar and FIFA that this is not OK and will not be forgiven or ignored. 

This cannot be allowed to happen again.