Watford have performed a U-turn and scrapped a proposed friendly against the Qatari national team.
It emerged over the weekend that the freshly-relegated Hornets had pencilled in an exhibition side against Qatar, who will later this year be the host nation for the first-ever winter World Cup.
The decision drew plenty of criticism, given that the country's views on human rights, homosexuality and women's rights have come under huge scrutiny since the winning bid in 2010 was confirmed. Representatives from Watford's LGBT+ supporters' group and the women’s supporters group were quick to slam the decision for their club to arrange the bounce game.
A joint statement by Proud Hornets and Women of Watford (WOW) had said: “WOW and Proud Hornets are very disappointed that Watford FC will play the Qatar national team at its training camp. We urge our team to display its support for all human rights, the LGBT+ community & women's rights at the game and will discuss this directly with the club.”
The club have now heeded that message and binned the proposed July 10 match from their tour of Austria.
A club spokesman told the Athletic : “The game was never finalised and it became abundantly clear this was a game not to play; as such, the schedule was revised.”
This year's tournament will be Qatar's first time at a World Cup and their group contains Ecaudor, the Netherlands and Senegal.
Watford, who were relegated from the Premier League last season, begin life back in the second tier with a home game against Sheffield United on August 1. The new campaign also brings yet another new manager after Rob Edwards was poached from Forest Green Rovers, who he led to the League Two title last season.
Speaking about the club's hire-and-fire policy, Edwards says he is looking forward to the challenge and that the club's penchant for sacking managers does not faze him. "Maybe this is wrong of me to say, I don’t know, but I feel that’s why I’m here," he said.
"I think the club has seen it a different way. The club are thinking, ‘Hang on, we’ve got an opportunity here. We want to go down this route. We’ve identified Rob as a person that can help us build something’. It’s been a funny couple of weeks. I’m looking forward to working with the players and I’m pretty confident that I’ll be able to have an influence at this football club on the pitch, as well as off it."
It is unclear whether the club will schedule another game in place of the Qatar match. Edwards' side are also due to face League One duo Bolton and Wycombe in July before rounding off pre-season with a game against Premier League side Southampton. That match will take place at Wealdstone FC's ground owing to Vicarage Road needing maintenance work following concerts by Elton John this summer.
