Hello and welcome to Tifo Talks. This is the final episode in the current mini-series,

a podcast in which usually John McKenzie gets to speak to someone from or around the game of football.

But today, I've stolen the hot seat in order to speak to David Goldblatt, John.

Yes, David Goldblatt, friend of the podcast.

Friend of the podcast, David Goldblatt, friend of the podcast.

Friend of the podcast.

David Goldblatt, a scriptwriter for Tifa upon occasion too, and probably most famous for being an incredible author and, I guess, kind of historian of football as well.

He wrote The Ball is Round, which is maybe, I suppose, would be described as his seminal

work.

And more recently, he's also written The Age of Football, which came out just a couple of years ago,

the global game in the 21st century.

Both of those are excellent, and of course, there are many others in between as well.

But today, we speak specifically, I hear you ask John, about Qatar, because, of course, the World Cup starts on Sunday. If you're listening to

this on the day of release, this is a Thursday, the World Cup starts on Sunday and it's, you know,

one of the more controversial World Cups in history. There've been a handful. I think we've all

heard about those before. But today we speak specifically about what those controversial problems are

as it relates to

Qatar and what kind of response that should engender among ordinary people who are seeking

to watch the game. I begin by saying to David that I know a couple of people who,

for personal reasons, have decided probably not to watch the World Cup or maybe to engage with it less than they might have otherwise done.

And we talk about whether that can be like the right response. Obviously, personally, it's fine.

But whether that can be a sort of a broader response or what other sort of responses one might have to a complicated situation like this.

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