[Football] Time to boycott the world cup in Qatar...

[FatSuperman]

Countries boycotting the Qatar WC would have a major impact for sure. But, would probably have limited impact. In this social media age the biggest impact would be a concerted campaign against the major commercial sponsors of the thing shirley? These guys are very easily spooked nowadays

That would be amazing. Imagine if every company to advertise at the stadiums or TV ads during the WC started to get tons of abuse on Twitter etc. I really hope that happens

 

[GT49er]

Hyundai was a surprise to me and we have one.

Visa is less easy to boycott.

True. My only option for a debit card is Visa - my bank doesn't deal with anybody else, but as I've been with that bank (through various name changes and takeovers) for over 50 years I don't think I'll change.
I'd be happy to get rid of my poxy little Hyundai though; sluggish performance, poor performance and thirst for petrol - yep, I'll happily boycott Hyundai!

 

[BBassic]

I don't understand the "the UK does terrible shit too so it's hypocritical to boycott Qatar" argument. Can we not be outraged about both?

I do my best to affect change in the UK by voting when called on to do so, protesting and letter writing. The best I can do re: Qatar is not watch it, not contribute to it and to try and convince others to do the same.

 

[Silverhatch]

We should send an LGBTQ team in a rainbow strip

 

[Smirko]

Would you still watch if England refused to send a team. (Albeit very unlikely)

Yes, it's the World Cup!

 

[maltaseagull]

Guess the Maltese FA must have even MORE integrity then

I think they may have won one World Cup Qualifier!

 

[Doonhamer7]

I have a hard copy of their World Cup bid document (just the technical one not the o e with hard cash attached) - it is very polished and sells a strong message as they will have paid a very strong proposal team to write it. If I remember right I think 4 of the stadiums getting packed up and shipped to Africa after the tournament.

As well as building the stadiums they have done the equivalent of build the m25 whilst widening the m23, m3, m2, m1, m4. Some phenomenal engineering and project management has gone into this. Then there is the hotel construction, airport expansion etc

I had a friend who wrote the report to Qatar on creating a world class workers camps for construction workforce similar to which was done at the large hydrocarbon projects, Aim was to have alll contractors use this camp to house this workforce in good facilities, feed them, wash, social, pastoral care etc. Result too expensive so not implemented let them sleep on construction site in crappy conditions. Result of this has been higher deaths on site, I bet suicides (which are phenomenally high in construction) aren’t recorded as no post mortem for subcontinent workers which are high and the death wasn’t on site. You also here deaths from drinking aftershave (alcohol is too expensive so that’s what some peopl result to).

Construction can be delivered safely in Qatar, on the Shell Pearl GTL project there was over 75milion man hours with no loss time incident and safety stats which were so good they made some western countries to shame.

 

[portlock seagull]

The World Cup is way more important than a paltry 6,500 poor ******** dying whilst constructing the stadiums.

As the viewing figures and huge profits made will demonstrate ie no one gives a...

Remember, if you’ve a moral compass, football and much of the world doesn’t. You’re better off watching it and raising a glass to their memories.

 

[NooBHA]

It's quite strange how many of us have differing views on Qatar - Obviously no country is perfect and I don't really have enough knowledge on the variables on Middle Eastern Countries to comment on the with any knowledgeable authority.

However I have a friend who has been teaching out there in Qatar for close to 20 years now. He claims that it is one of the most " Liberal " of all the Arab States in that region to live in.

Apparently the stipulations on his Work Visa means that every couple of years he has to leave the country for 3 months minimum before a new Visa is granted.

Each time he has to leave he goes and lives in one of the other States in the region before returning. He claims that Qatar is far better and more tolerant place out of all of them to reside.

So I don't know how I feel about Qatar hosting the WC but I think that it is about time that at least one country from that region was allowed to hold it. Otherwise we can't really claim that the Tournament is truly Global and inclusive.

 

[FatSuperman]

It's quite strange how many of us have differing views on Qatar - Obviously no country is perfect and I don't really have enough knowledge on the variables on Middle Eastern Countries to comment on the with any knowledgeable authority.

However I have a friend who has been teaching out there in Qatar for close to 20 years now. He claims that it is one of the most " Liberal " of all the Arab States in that region to live in.

Apparently the stipulations on his Work Visa means that every couple of years he has to leave the country for 3 months minimum before a new Visa is granted.

Each time he has to leave he goes and lives in one of the other States in the region before returning. He claims that Qatar is far better and more tolerant place out of all of them to reside.

So I don't know how I feel about Qatar hosting the WC but I think that it is about time that at least one country from that region was allowed to hold it. Otherwise we can't really claim that the Tournament is truly Global and inclusive.

I don't feel well qualified to make much comment about Qatar and it's place in the region, but isn't there a risk that your friend is comparing lots of backward, intolerant countries and calling Qatar the winner - could be a fairly low bar?

And to the organisers, the tournament has never really been about inclusivity, it's just about money. There surely has to be some line we won't cross? I mean, we aren't going to let ISIS host if they get their caliphate back, are we?

 

[essbee1]

It's quite strange how many of us have differing views on Qatar - Obviously no country is perfect and I don't really have enough knowledge on the variables on Middle Eastern Countries to comment on the with any knowledgeable authority.

However I have a friend who has been teaching out there in Qatar for close to 20 years now. He claims that it is one of the most " Liberal " of all the Arab States in that region to live in.

Apparently the stipulations on his Work Visa means that every couple of years he has to leave the country for 3 months minimum before a new Visa is granted.

Each time he has to leave he goes and lives in one of the other States in the region before returning. He claims that Qatar is far better and more tolerant place out of all of them to reside.

So I don't know how I feel about Qatar hosting the WC but I think that it is about time that at least one country from that region was allowed to hold it. Otherwise we can't really claim that the Tournament is truly Global and inclusive.

So what did Australia do so bl*ody wrong not to get it?

 

[GT49er]

You could also add the appalling way we treat migrants and refugees. Which is about to get worse. The UK has a pretty shameful recent (and past) history of treating those with humanitarian need.

Compared to what's been going on in the 21st. century in Qatar? Compared to the existing slave trade in Africa? Compared to human rights in the middle east and parts of the far east?

Oh do f*** off. And don't f*** around on social media apologising on my behalf. You are as much to blame as I am for all that stuff; and I'm not.

 

[GT49er]

Would you still watch if England refused to send a team. (Albeit very unlikely)

No I wouldn't. And I'd be bloody proud to be English.

 

[NooBHA]

The exploitation of Indians and phillipines people has been allowed to go on for far to long in the Arab states.
The world cup in Qatar is the peak of this modern slavery over there and to see so many poor people risking their lives simply to feed their families or not returning home to their families because they have died just so the rich can get richer and the planets football fans can sit on their arses in front of their TVs getting fat on takeaways and beer is a
Disgrace.
I will be boycotting it and the FA should too.

You only have to board any Luxury Liner Cruise Ship sailing on the high seas to see the exact same thing.

Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Philipino young men and women running around serving Westerners. Shining their shoes. Pressing their clothes. Making their beds. Cleaning their rooms and running around after them with a " Yes Sir - No Sir " attitude.

I took my elderly father on one of those Cruises. He loved it . Solely because he is I'll now and doesn't like trekking on and off flights. He loved the Cruise for its convenience and ease and he is desperate to go on another after Covid Lockdown ends.

I can't bring myself to tell him I don't want to do it again because I found the " Racial Hierarchy " disturbing.

 

[NooBHA]

So what did Australia do so bl*ody wrong not to get it?

I think Australia should be awarded the chance of hosting it at some point too.

 

[NooBHA]

I don't feel well qualified to make much comment about Qatar and it's place in the region, but isn't there a risk that your friend is comparing lots of backward, intolerant countries and calling Qatar the winner - could be a fairly low bar?

And to the organisers, the tournament has never really been about inclusivity, it's just about money. There surely has to be some line we won't cross? I mean, we aren't going to let ISIS host if they get their caliphate back, are we?

My point is that I think that region should host it at some point. It's not my job to do the " Due Diligence "

All I said was that I know someone who claims they are the most tolerant in that region. I don't know the region well enough personally to answer your questions in any detail.

 

[Eeyore]

I've boycotted MANY a World Cup because Scotland refused to send a team

Yes, but Scotland can still boast of having won the tournament more recently than England.

1978 was a wonderful brand of football when they shook us up and won it. Mind you, they did tell us it would happen so it wasn't worth watching it.

Can't find the presentation in YouTube though.

Joking aside, 1978 was one tournament that should never have gone ahead if human rights was to be a considered issue.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Yes, but Scotland can still boast of having won the tournament more recently than England.

1978 was a wonderful brand of football when they shook us up and won it. Mind you, they did tell us it would happen so it wasn't worth watching it.

Can't find the presentation in YouTube though.

Joking aside, 1978 was one tournament that should never hsave gone ahead if human rights was to be a considered issue.

Result was such a foregone conclusion that we even got the stamps printed in advance

 

[Brovion]

I don't understand the "the UK does terrible shit too so it's hypocritical to boycott Qatar" argument. Can we not be outraged about both?

I do my best to affect change in the UK by voting when called on to do so, protesting and letter writing. The best I can do re: Qatar is not watch it, not contribute to it and to try and convince others to do the same.

Correct. There is an awful lot of 'whataboutery' on this thread, but mentioning Qatar and the UK in the same breath with regards to Human Rights and treatment of migrants is absurd.

However with regard to the 'Well other countries do bad things as well" argument, obviously that's true and historically a lot of blind eyes have been turned when it comes to hosting sporting events. In this 'woke' era of BLM etc etc etc there's no reason why that should continue of course - but it will if for no other reason than otherwise the only countries that would be deemed fit to host Olympics and World Cups would be a handful of self-righteous Western democracies - and as we've seen on this thread for some even the UK wouldn't pass muster in this regard.

I think one of the reasons why Qatar is regarded as a step too far is because not only is it a bog-standard repressive, homophobic, anti-Semitic state but because of the way the tournament was awarded. We all know it was done corruptly, and even the people who acknowledge that try and justify it by saying 'but the Middle East has never held a World Cup', Well true, and it also hasn't hosted the Winter Olympics and for a very good reason. (Australia hasn't held a W.C. either and it has far more of a football culture that Qatar).

So this time we have the combination of repressive state with no football culture being corruptly awarded the event. It adds insult to injury, it's the equivalent of pissing through someone's letterbox and then knocking on the door to ask how far its gone down the hallway.

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

You could also add the appalling way we treat migrants and refugees. Which is about to get worse. The UK has a pretty shameful recent (and past) history of treating those with humanitarian need.

I think you would need to have lived in Asia to realize what a ludicrous claim you have made. The systematic exploitation of migrant workers in both the Far and Middle East is probably beyond the comprehension of most well meaning English Guardian readers.