RIP Grant Wahl

Notable soccer journalist Grant Wahl died in Qatar, according to an Instagram post from his brother.

Wahl was covering the World Cup and apparently detained for wearing a shirt that supported LGBT+.

Here’s his post on IG:

eewahl on Instagram

 

Sorry, I didn't check here. Mods please delete my thread on S/N.

This is awful. He was Tweeting just five hours ago. Awfully suspicious at the very very very least.

 

Oh my God. That video. My heart breaks.

If he died in custody it’s a far bigger deal than Griner was.

 

US Soccer just released a statement on it:

 

My heart goes out to his wife, who is a public figure in her own right and now has to grieve publicly. I think they had kids. The more I think about this, the more disturbing it is. I hope the State Department uses whatever power it has to get answers, and fast.

 

His wife’s tweet:

 

He died at the game and had written earlier in the week about being sick.

Soccer writer Grant Wahl dies at World Cup match in Qatar

As a total non-soccer guy, he was a soccer writer I loved reading. Terribly sad.

 

This is just one example of why a place like Qatar had no business hosting an event of this magnitude. A decade ago, many venues in this tournament were desert. FIFA didn't care if a theocratic government hostile to the West would have to build facilities and roads from scratch. Terrible place to require emergency medical care. You don't know if the attending physicians are going to be qualified. You don't know if they're going to be downright hostile. And you don't know if they're going to be able to get you to a trauma center of any worldwide standard even if they want to do so.

 

Wahl’s brother has taken his post down that alleged he was killed, FWIW.

 

Probably just a coincidence, too.

 

Grant Wahl was one of the first writers I followed as I was getting into soccer many years back