The Soccer World Cup is supposed to be a festival of joy where the world meets in celebration. The agreements on how the events would go down in Qatar had been years in the making. The last-minute decision to pull beer from the stadiums for everyday fans is an ugly power move by religious authorities. In their Tweet, FIFA is trying to play nice with host nation authorities, but it was clearly a unilateral decision by Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, as NBC News confirms. Religion won a pyrrhic victory here. The sports world will hopefully more considerate when picking host nations for the next major event. A good guiding question would be: Is the diversity of the entire world truly welcome here?

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