BBC condemned for not broadcasting World Cup opening ceremony

The BBC refused to broadcast the opening ceremony World Cup on television on Sunday, instead broadcasting a monologue critical of Qatar.

Gary Lineker opened the televised coverage of the tournament with an introduction that mentioned the rights of migrant workers, LGBT people and women, which are hotly debated in the host country.

This segment has since aired on BBC One opening ceremony is still running, but the corporation decided not to air the show on its main terrestrial channel, even though it held the rights to the next match between Qatar and Ecuador. The BBC appears to have broken recent broadcasting convention by having ITV broadcast the opening ceremony and the first game immediately afterwards for the recent tournaments in Russia and Brazil.

Lineker instead opened the coverage in the Qatar studio by saying: “This is the most controversial World Cup in history and the ball hasn’t even been kicked.

“Since Fifa chose Qatar in 2010, the smallest country to host football’s biggest competition has faced some big issues – from allegations of corruption in the bidding process to the treatment of migrant workers who built stadiums where many lost life.

“Homosexuality is illegal here. Women’s rights and freedom of expression are in the spotlight.”

He also mentioned the decision to host the tournament in the small Gulf state, which forced the summer finish to be moved to winter to deal with the temperatures.

The ceremony itself featured camels, Hollywood actor Morgan Freeman and a performance of the tournament’s new song ‘Dreamers’, featuring singer Jungkook of K-pop boy band BTS, alongside Qatari singer Fahad Al-Kubaisi.

The decision to skip the Doha exhibition drew criticism from some quarters, with Conservative MP Scott Benton questioning the decision, complaining that “30 minutes of the BBC’s coverage of the World Cup and football was not mentioned”, suggesting that the BBC “could save thousands and report from the UK” instead of sending critical presenters around the world.

Mehrdad Ghodoussi, a partner at PCP Capital Partners and one of the main faces at Newcastle United following the Saudi Arabian takeover, wrote on Twitter that it was a “shame” that BBC One did not cover the event live.

Others on social media were much more direct, describing the lack of coverage as “disrespectful”, “disgraceful” and “disgraceful”.

BBC insiders suggested there was no intention to boycott the ceremony on moral grounds. The show was broadcast on the corporation’s websites but not on BBC One, confusing many terrestrial viewers.

BBC One instead broadcast the Women’s Super Cup, which clashed with the opening ceremony, before going straight to the studio team led by Lineker.

On Sunday night, Lineker hit back at allegations that the BBC had decided to ignore the ceremony. He wrote on Twitter: “It was shown live in its entirety on @BBCiplayer, the BBC Sport website and the red button. The opening ceremony time has recently been changed to an earlier time and the WSL has already been confirmed on @bbcone. If you wanted to I would watch it, I could.”