World Cup Riots

The World Cup has kicked off- have you got into the spirit of things yet? Have you got your wall chart and sticker book, flag and face paints on the go? While the World Cup is taking over on all forms of adverting and press, with the assumption that everyone is interested, that is obviously not always the case. Recent riots and protests in Brazil have particularly proved this. Where do you stand on the World Cup debate?

Protests and riots have been kicking off in Brazil for a while now, but why? Well there is much dispute and disagreement over the amount of money that has been put into the World Cup, as well as the planning, or lack of, and organisation, of Brazil as host country. Things have got a bit out of hand, it would be fair to say, and it has got the point before the opening match, of police using teargas and batons to break up protests.


The cost of the games has been huge, the stadiums alone have cost around £2.4bn, which is three times the amount quoted, and the estimated total spend on the games rising to around £7bn. With the lack of long-term purpose for the stadiums, private money was not secured, and rather than downsizing or adapting plans, the public's money was spent. In a country where so many have so little, it it understandable to see why people are upset about the amount of money being spent on one-time use football stadiums, while their hospitals and schools remain untouched.

At the same time, however, there still seems to be a strong support for the Brazilian football team, and so it seems the issue lies more with Fifa and the money being spent on the World Cup than it does with the football team themselves. Whether these riots and protests will disrupt much of the games it is unclear, but for the safety of all it is obviously hoped they will die down. The fear is that these people are not being heard any other way, and yet through these protests have made their point clear on news channels around the world.

Let's hope things calm down to enable the World Cup to go smoothly, and somehow these people's voices are heard in the right way and by the right people. All dramas set aside, the World Cup is set to be great (let's hope so with the amount of money gone into it!) and we'll have to wait and see what happens after the event has ended. Hopefully, good use can be made from the stadiums, and the football will be good enough to help take people's minds off it...we can but hope!