Representative: Reja Irfa Widodo /
Red: Gilang Akbar Prambadi
Photo EPA-EFE/NOSHAD THEKKAYIL/EPA-EFE
A number of people accused of being paid actors took part in the parade welcoming the 2022 World Cup in Doha, Qatar, midweek.
Qatar are accused of paying off a number of actors to make the 2022 World Cup look busy.
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, DOHA – It seems the 2022 World Cup was never without controversy and controversy. From the spotlight on alleged human rights (HAM) violations by migrant workers, the banning of groups of different sexual orientations, to the pressure to drop the Iranian national team due to the socio situation. -politics of the country.
A controversy has also erupted over the presence of fans at the inaugural edition of the World Cup in the Middle East region. This controversy stems from an account, Qatar Living, uploaded to a social media platform last week. The account is known to be the official authority account Qatar on these platforms.
The upload shows a parade of supporters of the teams participating in the 2022 World Cup, from England, Argentina, Portugal, Brazil, Cameroon, Ghana, to Tunisia. Hundreds of people were seen in the waterfront streets of Doha, the capital of Qatar. Accompanied by drums and trumpets, the fans looked so happy and sang along.
From this posting, Qatar seemed to want to show the enthusiasm for the World Cup which was beginning to strike one of the Arab countries. However, the upload actually sparked suspicion and negative comments in the social media world.
These supporters are not considered to be true supporters of these teams. In fact, these supporters are seen as spectators or people paid to restore a positive image of Qatar by hosting the 2022 World Cup.
Naturally, the fan parade took place a week before the opening game of the 2022 World Cup or when most of the participating teams’ supporters were still in their respective countries. Not only that, in the video, most of the supporters are not native citizens of those countries.
Instead, the group of supporters was dominated by people from South Asia, such as India and Pakistan. Many people from South Asia are known to be migrant workers in Qatar. Additionally, the same person was seen supporting two different teams during the fan parade. As a result, the organizers of Qatar 2022 were accused of having mobilized migrant workers to get involved in the fan parade.
”Paid actor,” wrote an account on the social media platform. “Maybe they are supporters of the Kerala branch of the British national team, in India,” wrote another account on the platform while commenting on the video of the England fan parade.
Not only from social media users, this accusation has also been voiced by a number of European media outlets. UK outlet The Sun referred to fans in the fan parade as plastic fans, referring to fake fans who support a team.
Local organizers of the 2022 World Cup reacted strongly to these accusations. The Qatar 2022 Highest Organizing Committee emphasized that the fans in the fan parade were genuine supporters of each bidding team who were and had settled in Qatar.
“A number of journalists and social media users wondered if they were ‘real’ supporters. We totally deny these accusations. This accusation is truly disappointing and quite surprising,” writes the official statement of the Supreme Committee of Qatar 2022 reported by the Antara news agency. The gardiansThursday (17/11/2022).
Football fans are considered to have different traditions in different parts of the world, and Qatar is no exception. They have different ways and traditions of welcoming and supporting their favorite team.
”It may be different from Europe or South America. However, that doesn’t mean the passion and love for football isn’t genuine,’ the official statement continued.
Regarding the presence of fans at the 2022 World Cup, local organizers have published a rather controversial program. Qatar will invite more than 1,600 fans from the 32 teams competing for the 2022 World Cup to attend the opening ceremony this weekend. Later, fans will sing a special theme song which was prepared by the committee during the opening ceremony. Under the “Fan Leader” program, Qatar is ready to pay for return tickets and accommodation for these fans for at least two weeks to host the 2022 World Cup.
Each fan would receive a cash installment of £60 per day as part of the activity. “Not only that, these fans should also be able to post positive messages about the 2022 World Cup on social media,” the Associated Press report wrote some time ago. This is not the first time that Qatar has been embroiled in the controversy over paid supporters at a sporting event.
In 2014, specifically during the international beach volleyball championship, the Qatar Open, the organizers were known to have given a number of funds to migrant workers to come and fill the empty places in the spectator seats of the match arena. It is hoped that the presence of paying spectators can enhance the positive image of Qatar and its success in organizing sports tournaments, especially in terms of the enthusiasm of local residents.
