Graeme Souness used the actions of Britain in parts of the world, including Ireland, as an example of some hypocrisy over the World Cup taking place in Qatar as debate continues to rage over whether the tournament should have gone to the country due to its human rights record.
The Rangers and Scotland legend said the UK are “not perfect” as he weighed into the row of the World Cup taking place in the Middle East given the thousands of deaths of migrant workers and anti-gay laws. Working for ITV alongside Irishman Roy Keane, Souness said when quizzed on the matter: “Can I just say we’re not perfect as well in our history. We’re not perfect," said the Scot. You know the British haven’t been perfect in many parts of the world and including in Roy’s country. We’ve been far from perfect.”
Souness was speaking before Saudi Arabia pulled off one of the greatest shocks in World Cup history with a win over Argentina, who are among the favourites to lift the trophy in Doha on December 18. And he said: "They'll be praying that the football will make it a great tournament and people won't be talking about (sportswashing and human rights issues) going forward.
"But I'm afraid, you know, there are so many activists out there that they will forever be talking about Qatar and their human rights record.”
Manchester United legend Keane was adamant that the World Cup shouldn’t be taking place in Qatar, who have been dogged by allegations of bribery to win the right to stage it. He said: “The World Cup shouldn’t be here. It’s been mentioned about the corruption regarding FIFA. But the way they have treated migrant workers and gay people.
“That needs to be brought up. They shouldn’t have the World Cup; you can’t treat people like that… We all love football and we’re on about spreading the game, but to just dismiss human rights like this is not right. It shouldn’t be here.”
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