Boycott Qatar 2022

Sepp Blatter has expressed concern about the safety of the players playing in 50 degree heat. There has also been concern about the shady way Qatar - one of the World's richest countries - has obtained the right to host the world cup.

But no-one seems to have expressed concern that there are already over 1200 dead migrant workers building the British designed stadiums that we are all supposed to be enjoying in 8 years time.

This is not on.

There are reports that workers, who have travelled from India, Nepal and Sri Lanka, are living in slave like conditions and earning as little as 45p an hour.

The ITUC has based the estimate on current mortality figures for Nepalese and Indian workers who form the bulk of Qatar's 1.2 million-strong migrant workforce, the large majority of whom are builders.

While it admits that the cause of death is not clear for many of the deceased – with autopsies often not being conducted and routine attribution to heart failure – it believes harsh and dangerous conditions at work and cramped and squalid living quarters are to blame.

Workers described forced labour in 50C heat, employers who retain salaries for several months and passports making it impossible for them to leave and being denied free drinking water. The investigation found sickness is endemic among workers living in overcrowded and insanitary conditions and hunger has been reported. Thirty Nepalese construction workers took refuge in the their country's embassy and subsequently left the country, after they claimed they received no pay.

It it simply an affront to humanity that Qatar is to host the world cup and an utter disgrace that no-one in the world of football seems to care.

We need to show the FA and FIFA and their sponsers that we the people care about these issues and this is not OK. It is not Ok that there are already 1200 dead workers building the stadiums. We need to show that we care about these workers and their families and that what once was a beautiful tournament is fast becoming a giant corporate money machine that has no regard for even the very people that make it happen.

That number again, 1200 dead workers.

And there's 8 years to go.