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

[Pint of Ale and a Burger]

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.

Yes I agree and the use of migrant labour is a difficult issue to navigate.
Yes,to our eyes the ones working on ships, restaurants,hotels etc are being exploited but at the same time it gives them valuable income and they could be in a far worse situation if we boycotted those industries and generally the workers in those situations would want to keep their jobs so and they have a reasonable level of safety so rather than boycott we can certainly
as individuals make sure we treat those workers as human beings with respect and dignity whilst they are going about their jobs which goes a long way to help.but this clearly isn't the case with the world cup preparations so as a fan of the sport im all for boycotting that.

 

[drew]

A bit of perspective. Assuming Qatar have taken say 6 years to build the stadia, that's 1100 deaths per year. They've got 8 stadia (I know there might be other buildings but let's just stick with the venues) so that's nearly 140 deaths per stadium per year, ie roughly 1 every 2.5 days!! So comparisons with the UK are plainly daft. Yes, we're not perfect but we are far from as cavalier about welfare.

 

[andy1980]

Does anyone know what Derek Chapman did while he was out there and why he only worked there for 2 years ?

 

[drew]

Apparently the Scottish FA have stated categorically that their national team will not be playing at the 2022 World Cup Finals.

There's not much to admire about the Scots but you have to admire the way they regularly boycott tournaments for political reasons.

 

[Wozza]

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

Would make waves, for sure, but wouldn't stop the World Cup being held in Qatar and wouldn't even hurt FIFA finanically, given contracts are all in place.

 

[hoof hearted]

A bit of perspective. Assuming Qatar have taken say 6 years to build the stadia, that's 1100 deaths per year. They've got 8 stadia (I know there might be other buildings but let's just stick with the venues) so that's nearly 140 deaths per stadium per year, ie roughly 1 every 2.5 days!! So comparisons with the UK are plainly daft. Yes, we're not perfect but we are far from as cavalier about welfare.

And most of those stadiums will just get demolished afterwards anyway.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

I have skimmed through this thread and would like to add a few comments in the same spirit as many others on here: without reading or learning from the wise comments of informed people and, instead, piling in with a bit of whimsy based on what 'my mate' told me.

Actually, no, I won't do that.

Look, if Qatar are entitled to enter a team into the world cup qualifiers, they are entitled to host the competition. FFS

It is no good whining about human rights abuses now. If anyone has concerns about allowing any nation to engage with FIFA and field a team they need to speak up sooner and more loudly. Personally I'd welcome a code of conduct that requires that a nation treat its women, ethnic minoities and LBGTQ+ citizens equally to the ruling hetero males before they are allowed to enter a team into a competition. But these are not the current rules.

However, the elephant in the room is that Qatar won their bid through bribery and corruption, not because it was the most appropriate bid.

The whole thing needs to be binned and reconstituted, in my view. But in the mean time, I shall look forward to the world cup, and will start moaning about how shit, corrupt and wrong it all is only after England are knocked out in the quarter finals.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

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.

Sorry, yes, you beat me to it. Excellent post

I love the notion of disruptive change. If I were planning to travel to watch Ingerland at this world cup I would not modify my behaviour.
Making a racket on the stroll to the stadium, tick.
Noisy beers aftwerwards, tick.
Arrested and chained to a radiator soaked in my own piss, tick.
Released after 2 days (along with 500 others in the same predicament) owing to international pressure, tick.
Qatar either shits itself and scrabbles to become different or retreats back into its stone-age shell, tick.

Except none of this will happen because number 1 priority will be to make it all look good. This means collusion between the state and foreign police, with carefully regulated breaking of local laws out of the sight of the local public. And a smashing PR job for the host nation. Everyone's a winner.

 

[vegster]

I have skimmed through this thread and would like to add a few comments in the same spirit as many others on here: without reading or learning from the wise comments of informed people and, instead, piling in with a bit of whimsy based on what 'my mate' told me.

Actually, no, I won't do that.

Look, if Qatar are entitled to enter a team into the world cup qualifiers, they are entitled to host the competition. FFS

It is no good whining about human rights abuses now. If anyone has concerns about allowing any nation to engage with FIFA and field a team they need to speak up sooner and more loudly. Personally I'd welcome a code of conduct that requires that a nation treat its women, ethnic minoities and LBGTQ+ citizens equally to the ruling hetero males before they are allowed to enter a team into a competition. But these are not the current rules.

However, the elephant in the room is that Qatar won their bid through bribery and corruption, not because it was the most appropriate bid.

The whole thing needs to be binned and reconstituted, in my view. But in the mean time, I shall look forward to the world cup, and will start moaning about how shit, corrupt and wrong it all is only after England are knocked out in the quarter finals.

I think many people did complain at the time but not enough. The marketing boys were all on board with sponsors no doubt and the tv schedules were probably drawn up in anticipation.... heaven forbid a match would be played at 4am if two European teams were involved. It's utterly corrupt now and will be for the foreseeable as its all about the money. Sadly HWT, this is the world we live in now, no amount of moaning or pointing out moral justification will sway the authorities now, it is what it is and it's shite.

 

[Insel affe]

I see Germany wore some rather make shift t-shirts in their half arsed way of showing solidarity against migrant worker abuse in Qatar.
As did Belgium last night including our very own Trossard ( I think hes far right (no pun intended) looking familiarly uninterested)
Time to make a statement ourselves I think.

 

[essbee1]

I have skimmed through this thread and would like to add a few comments in the same spirit as many others on here: without reading or learning from the wise comments of informed people and, instead, piling in with a bit of whimsy based on what 'my mate' told me.

Actually, no, I won't do that.

Look, if Qatar are entitled to enter a team into the world cup qualifiers, they are entitled to host the competition. FFS

It is no good whining about human rights abuses now. If anyone has concerns about allowing any nation to engage with FIFA and field a team they need to speak up sooner and more loudly. Personally I'd welcome a code of conduct that requires that a nation treat its women, ethnic minoities and LBGTQ+ citizens equally to the ruling hetero males before they are allowed to enter a team into a competition. But these are not the current rules.

However, the elephant in the room is that Qatar won their bid through bribery and corruption, not because it was the most appropriate bid.

The whole thing needs to be binned and reconstituted, in my view. But in the mean time, I shall look forward to the world cup, and will start moaning about how shit, corrupt and wrong it all is only after England are knocked out in the quarter finals.

Harry - don't you mean "knocked out in the group stages"?

 

[Seasider78]

See Germany wore some rather make shift t-shirts in their half arsed way of showing solidarity against migrant worker abuse in Qatar.
As did Belgium last night including our very own Trossard.
Time to make a statement ourselves I think.

Footballs answer to all of the worlds ills is always a warm up T-shirt

 

[rippleman]

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 have no experience of living in any of the Arab States so will accept your friend's conclusion that it is the most "liberal" of the Arab States.

Qatar imprisons those from the LGBTQ+ community. Just because other less "liberal" Arab States might have worse punishments doesn't make it right though does it? Qatar's not such a "liberal" country if you are gay or a woman or a migrant worker.

 

[Bry Nylon]

Footballs answer to all of the worlds ills is always a warm up T-shirt

Yup, that's about the size of it, isn't it? It truly is pathetic. If that is the best they (football in general and footballers specifically) can do, then frankly they'd be better off doing nothing.

 

[NooBHA]

I have no experience of living in any of the Arab States so will accept your friend's conclusion that it is the most "liberal" of the Arab States.

Qatar imprisons those from the LGBTQ+ community. Just because other less "liberal" Arab States might have worse punishments doesn't make it right though does it? Qatar's not such a "liberal" country if you are gay or a woman or a migrant worker.

My friend who lives out in Qatar is in fact a Gay Man. He seems to think it is safer to live there than the other States that he has to move out to every few years whilst his Visa is being renewed.

he has lived there since 2006 and he seems to think it is fine and enjoys his life out there, I don't question him too much on how he manages to live an open life there because that would be intrusive but he obviously must enjoy living there to have stayed so long.

 

[Bakero]

My friend who lives out in Qatar is in fact a Gay Man. He seems to think it is safer to live there than the other States that he has to move out to every few years whilst his Visa is being renewed.

he has lived there since 2006 and he seems to think it is fine and enjoys his life out there, I don't question him too much on how he manages to live an open life there because that would be intrusive but he obviously must enjoy living there to have stayed so long.

Why doesn't go somewhere more interesting for his visa run?

 

[NooBHA]

Why doesn't go somewhere more interesting for his visa run?

Not 100% sure but his Partner lives in Qatar too so maybe so that it isn't a long flight for his Partner to visit him when he is out of the country but I am only guessing

 

[The Fifth Column]

Imagine for a moment that the 2022 had been awarded to England. Now imagine if over 6000 migrant workers employed in often slave like conditions had died building stadiums in England for a football tournament. The next world cup has not only been financially and politically corrupt it is morally corrupt to even consider supporting it, I'll have no part in watching or supporting it.

 

[portlock seagull]

Imagine for a moment that the 2022 had been awarded to England. Now imagine if over 6000 migrant workers employed in often slave like conditions had died building stadiums in England for a football tournament. The next world cup has not only been financially and politically corrupt it is morally corrupt to even consider supporting it, I'll have no part in watching or supporting it.

Watch it without guilt and try to enjoy. You can’t control corruption in football, it’s beyond redemption and besides it’s not sport but a form of fixed entertainment these days. Think if it like an exciting form of escapism, which it is, and try not to mix up with morality. That’s completely out of fashion and besides it’s on the politicians, not likes of you and me. Billions will watch it whether you choose to or not. And always will, regardless of a mere 6000 deaths. The price of football eh? If I tell you a secret, promise not to say anything? Because, and don’t be shocked when I say this, but many don’t give a stuff providing it’s game ON! It’s football, nothing else matters you see. Cures all known ailments and generates loads more much needed CASH! How else does FIFA pay for those troughs it’s executives all seem to permanently have their noses in?

 

[Questions]

Let’s see if the players wear the T shirts and take a knee at the World Cup.......... because cripes that would tell them wouldn’t it ?