[Football] Tme to scrap Russia 2018

[Brovion]

With the rhetoric being flung about, especially that Tory who said this morning that nothing was off the table, presumably the nukes are being sharpened as we speak and that will solve the problem about going to the WC.

Shame that putin announced last week that they had developed cruise missiles that the western defences wouldn't even spot!

I blame brexit and thatcher in equal measure

I appreciate that is tongue-in-cheek, but how anyone can blame Brexit for this, or say we could have mounted a successful boycott but for Brexit, is beyond me. (Unless of course you write for the Independent whereby you can shoehorn a negative Brexit comment into a weather report). We have exactly the same number of international friends and allies, and we have exactly the same amount of real world influence as we had before the referendum. Nothing has changed, except perhaps some pretences have been dropped and some countries no longer have to pretend to like or support us.

 

[Perfidious Albion]

Scrap the World Cup? Way too late. Anyway why should other nations care about our complaints?

We have to keep politics out of sport. The age of boycotts should be over. Our players have sweated blood to qualify ... don't deny them

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

Our players have sweated blood to qualify ...

Really?

 

[A1X]

I think we should just use it as a chance to rescind the travel bans for the various banned wrong 'uns from previous tournaments. See how they fancy taking on the Russian hooligans in their own back yard, rather than hurling patio furniture across a square in sunny Bruges at some bemused tourists.

 

[Notters]

WE invented the game - can't we take it back as part of our retreat behind our borders? (Brexit)

Fooxit

 

[Greavsey]

I think we should just use it as a chance to rescind the travel bans for the various banned wrong 'uns from previous tournaments. See how they fancy taking on the Russian hooligans in their own back yard, rather than hurling patio furniture across a square in sunny Bruges at some bemused tourists.

Completely this. Throw them to the lions - starting with the nobs from West Ham on Saturday.

Will at least provide some entertainment for us whilst enduring Glenn Murray and Ashley Barnes up front for England with Jordan Henderson providing the ammunition...

 

[Raleigh Chopper]

I never thought I'd hear myself say this, but maybe we should just lose all three group games and get out of there. No one wants to be there - not the FA, the fans, even the free-loading dignitaries and politicians might be giving the five-star trough a swerve after the spy poisoning.

On the other hand, the idea of someone English lifting the World Cup and saying "This one is for Sergei Skripal and Alexander Litvinenko" is quite appealing.

Nice idea but we was going to do that anyway.
Need a plan B.

 

[dejavuatbtn]

Save money and a lot of disappointment - withdraw now and use the money on grass roots football.

 

[Papa Lazarou]

I think we should just use it as a chance to rescind the travel bans for the various banned wrong 'uns from previous tournaments. See how they fancy taking on the Russian hooligans in their own back yard, rather than hurling patio furniture across a square in sunny Bruges at some bemused tourists.

Not just rescind - we could trial the post Brexit repatriation powers to force them all to travel to Russia for the tournament.

 

[Eddiespearritt]

Look - they haven't really done much wrong recently - apart from annexing the Crimean peninsula, causing (allegedly) a devastating war in Eastern Ukraine, bombed the hell (allegedly) out of all kinds of civilians in Syria, helped Trump into the White House, run a state sponsored sports cheating campaign and continually denied it until the evidence was too damning to ignore, and poisoned the odd former spy risking the health of the citizens of Salisbury. Oh and state sponsored (allegedly) Marseille mayhem in the Euros, crippling fans with iron bars and other run of the mill football supporters weapons - oh and they've recently been warmly accepted back into the Olympic family by that paragon of virtue, the IOC.

What do you expect FIFA and the English FA to do actually ?

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

Another thread contaminated by EU Referendum obsession.

 

[Triggaaar]

We didn't really invent football though

Yeah, we did.

... the Chinese did.

No.

All we did was write standardised rules down so a bunch of public schoolboys could play each other.

We standardised the rules so that the game resembled what we call football. What the Chinese had was more akin to warfare. There wasn't even a pitch or battleground, it was fought in the land between villages.

 

[Triggaaar]

The last thing we should do is boycott it. What will it do? They'll just invite another nation, Italy say, to take our place. Even if the Italians (or the Dutch) turn it down out of some notion of European solidarity (no I'm not holding my breath either) someone will take the slot.

How about we announce the boycott just before the game is due to kick off? They're going to have to have meetings to decide who should be invited, then get them all to stop drinking and get themselves ready for a WC and fly to Russia. Nah, they'll just have a group with 1 less team.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

I’m sure UK pubs will be delighted if we pull out!

 

[The Birdman]

We can't cancel it, but we can withdraw... and hopefully some of our friends would too. It is a possibility - they certainly wouldn't like it.

Scotland would step in our place.

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

The problem with boycotts is that someone has to use their subjective judgement to make the decision. I would imagine that all countries execute enemy spies and there has been collateral damage in many such incidents. A good example is American drone strikes in the Middle East. The world is imperfect and if you look hard enough you will find reason to boycott just about anybody. I think that as football fans we should not let our sport be used as a pawn in a political battle.

 

[symyjym]

We should go there and throw in the towel early as a protest.

 

[essbee1]

Just have the European heavyweights boycott the tournament, just will do the trick

This.

 

[Pavilionaire]

There are arguments for and against but one thing I do know is that if we DID decide to boycott the tournament I really wouldn't be bothered, and that's the first time in my 49 years I've ever said that about a World Cup.

Russia doesn't deserve to host the tournament, their record on doping is abysmal, I don't believe our fans will be safe there, the chances of violence occurring are high.

Does Putin intend to keep killing spies and using nerve agents in the UK while the tournament is underway, or is he going to grant us a six-week amnesty?

 

[Dave the OAP]

I appreciate that is tongue-in-cheek, but how anyone can blame Brexit for this, or say we could have mounted a successful boycott but for Brexit, is beyond me. (Unless of course you write for the Independent whereby you can shoehorn a negative Brexit comment into a weather report). We have exactly the same number of international friends and allies, and we have exactly the same amount of real world influence as we had before the referendum. Nothing has changed, except perhaps some pretences have been dropped and some countries no longer have to pretend to like or support us.

Wooooosh!

FFS