Bidding War

Takku sangka epal menjadi nangka.

I almost choked when I heard the news over the radio. Q won the bid to host 2022 World Cup. Nevermind the drama over who won bid for 2018, I'm more interested in this one. I got mixed feeling on this. Impressed, cynic and a touch of WTF.

Don't get me wrong, I do support their bid. Been there, did that, bought the t-shirt (and magnet) literally. Hmm come to think of it.. where the heck is my 2022 t-shirt. Read more about this here

Getting back to the point:

1. "Macam mana nak main dalam 50 degree in summer months? Gila ke". As my friend said, "Eh, depa banyak duit. Don't be surprised dia boleh buat stadium semua air-cond"

Believe it. They are planning to build 6 climate control stadiums. Oh, and there's someone in FIFA suggested, why don't the games be played in January/ Feb instead. My take on it, climate control stadium might be super cool, but it will be tough to fight the heat waves, sand storm and sudden migraine from the bursting heat outside the stadium and hotel.

Read more here

2. "Got Beer?". Alcohol is only served in hotels in Qatar. Will it be available at the venue? I hope they won't change the law on this. Nasib la kan, siapa nak minum, minum la air mineral ke Oren Rani(serious kuda sedap nak mampus!) ke kan. Even, per say if UK won the bid, I think they should ban alcohol as well. Nanti semua tu encourage orang jadi hooligan.

3. Live telecast - I'm disappointed to say that I did missed a few vital matches because there were no live telecast on TV. Kena subscribe tah channel apa tah. There were a few matches were shown halfway.. then tetiba jadi beach volleyball. Or was it handball. (OMG! Writing this is bringing back my angst!). So I had to resort to go and watch it at (not proud of this) kelab malam. Super sleazy ok. Tapi tak kisah la, ada super big screen, and food sedap.

I truly love what this guy wrote. Kelakar beruk.

Though they suck on the TV live telecast, but they do put a kick ass 'street party' for the games. Well, granted it was part of the 2022 bid, but check out the tent that they put up in Suoq Wakif. TV besar gila complete with tempat lepak. Fully air condition.

4. Tickets - Me and my colleague bought a ticket to watch the local league cup final. Memang la sampai lambat, tapi boleh we were refused addmission sebab stadium dah penuh. WTF? Ada ticket, patut boleh la masuk. It seems that is a norm. Bangsa dia suka hati masuk, ada ticket ke tak. Hamba abdi yang lain ada ticket ke takde ticket ke, boleh la balik rumah aje. How can they manage this during the WC nanti? There's about 10 years yet to educate themselves that the world doesn't revolve around them (try to tell that to the O&G company yang berlumba-lumba datang sujud kat depa, hahah), and other human beings have rights too. Especially if they pay for their tickets damn it!

Sudahnya hari tu, kitaorang posing-posing lemau aje la keliling stadium.



Sighhh... There was a colleague, a Q dude who had serious passion for football. He even wrote a few articles about footie in the local newspaper. I saw the clippings at his desk tapi haram tak paham sebab dalam bahasa Arab. I wonder what he must have felt about this. Most probably he will not be watching WC on his 50 inch 3D TV (kaya gaban!), comes 2022. Tah-tah jadi commentator kat TV. Tah-tah lagi jadi player or coach on Q team. Hahahah.

So will I return on 2022 to watch WC? Hanya Tuhan sahaja yang tahu. Kalau ada rezeki, apa salahnya :)


p/s: adakah ni telah membantu mereka menang bid itu? boleh dapat free flight ticket tak nak pi tengok nanti? :P