Double Irish Olympian David Matthews says that holding the World Athletic Championships in Doha, Qatar was a "disgrace" due to the lack of local interest in the sport.
Matthews, who also holds the Irish 800m and 1000m records, says this prestigious event should be staged in athletics "strongholds," and argues that this year's edition of the World Championships "doesn't live up to London 2017."
"To bring it to a country that's in a desert is like maybe bringing Ladies Football to the valleys of South Wales. It just doesn't work, nobody's gonna see it," said Matthews on RTÉ's Saturday Sport.
"Two-and-a-half million people living in Qatar, one million of them are migrant workers so the stands were empty. It was a disgrace that the women's 100m final was on with a couple of thousand people in the stand.
"To grow the sport and bringing it around the world is not the correct strategy in my opinion."
The 2021 World Championships will be held in the United States before heading to Budapest in 2023. Matthews, who competed at the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games, added that Kenya might be the destination for the event in 2025 before reiterating his point that it should be staged in European venues.
"My opinion on it would be to stay around the strongholds like in Europe and that kind of thing. You're not going to kick too many wides by doing that.
"I'd give it a C (grade), it doesn't live up to London 2017. There's a very knowledgeable base in Europe and in Japan and areas like that. To bring it to the desert, it doesn't work. I think they were too far down the road to turn this Juggernaut around at the time it was flagged."
He concluded: "It doesn't take away from the excitement and quality that's on offer and the performances that were given. It's from that side of things and an entertainment value that it's been really good. But from a spectator point of view and review of how many people were at it, it was a disgrace."
