Joe Ramage: The impact of heavy EFL schedule for Hartlepool United & Co represents another blunder for Qatar World Cup

It seems another lifetime ago when former FIFA president Sepp Blatter unveiled ‘Qatar’ from an envelope to award the Middle East nation the most prestigious tournament in football. But 12-years on, as we finally prepare for the first ever winter World Cup, the reality of its confusion and its debilitating pressure on domestic football has been laid bare for all to see.

With English football’s top two divisions taking a hiatus while the tournament is staged, we have seen a gross, gruelling, schedule in the opening three months of the season. By close of play this weekend, those in the Championship will have played almost half of their season's fixtures, with the Premier League over a third of its domestic campaign in just 15 weeks after the summer was cut short for a premature start to the 2022-23 season.

And while League’s One and Two will continue on as normal during the World Cup, they, too, have suffered a heavy workload this season. Hartlepool United travel to Stevenage at the weekend in what will be their 23rd game of the season in all competitions, two more than they will have played by the same date 12 months ago.

But if League’s One and Two are to continue, why has their schedule been so heavy? Hartlepool will have played 18 of their 46 league fixtures as well as one League Cup tie, which would have been more had they progressed beyond the first round, three Papa Johns Trophy ties and an FA Cup tie. Although it’s the same for every other team in the division, the question remains: why?

Could those extra two or three fixtures shoehorned into a pre-World Cup schedule not have been dispersed a little more evenly given that teams at this level don’t even get the luxury of a short break? As Hartlepool, in particular, could attest to, a slightly reduced workload in the opening months of the campaign may have led to a less populated treatment room with the the club very much entrenched in an injury crisis.

The disruption and lack of continuity to domestic football is just another blunder for a World Cup which, righteously, continues to be scrutinised. The tournament has already jeopardised itself owning to the poor scheduling in its lead up with several of the world’s star players set to miss the competition through injury - who would have guessed? And with FIFA’s ex-president Blatter now openly admitting to Qatar being awarded the tournament as ‘a mistake’ you do wonder just how much credibility this World Cup holds.

The World Cup is often relatable in so many ways. It’s pints in the sun with your mates. It’s World In Motion and Three Lions. It’s the retro shirts. It’s the hope. It’s the anguish. It’s the penalties.

Maybe this time we can all cradle around an outside heater in our thermals, that is if we aren’t at a league fixture given, you know, how football will continue during this particular variation of the greatest show on Earth. Do me a favour.