[Football] Tme to scrap Russia 2018

[Brovion]

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.

Yeah, that's a possibility. You've still got to ask what will it achieve though? The WC will still take place - as did the 1980 Olympics when the USA pulled out. That was more damaging to the prestige of the event and it had **** all effect on Soviet foreign policy. Plus for us they'll be consequences. FIFA and UEFA have never particularly liked the English FA (and a 100% Remain vote wouldn't have changed that) and would gleefully take the opportunity to impose sanctions on us for boycotting one of their competitions. We'd end up losing far more than the Russians would, which would simply increase the smile on Putin's face.

I've never been a fan of gesture politics or virtue signalling, and this proposed boycott is both. The best solution (although an admittedly impossible one) would be to win it, and snub the presentation ceremony, or all wear shirts with Skripal's face on it*. Yes, that would bring some sanctions (like the Poppy affair), but not as severe as say being banned from competing.


*Yes I know that's gesture politics as well, but it's only a small one. I can live with the contradiction!

 

[Brovion]

Wooooosh!

FFS

Eh? I said I knew you were joking. I was just using your post as the starting base for my point.

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

If we can't boycott Putin's Party, we should send the U21s which wouldn't result in any fines or bans, but would make a talking point when we played, and embarrass Uncle Vova.

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

Keep politics out of sport as some have suggested? If this were the case, the boycott of South Africa should not have happened. Two people targeted by the Russian authorities, why use a chemical agent in a crowded Restaurant/Pub endangering the lives of others? Is a football tournament more important than human lives? This was a chemical attack and chemical weapons are illegal under international law. Russia has supported the use of chemical weapons in Syria. Can one honestly say that they believe Russia when it denies that it was behind the attack in Salisbury? It's record on telling the truth is hardly commendable. It's denial of State sponsored doping is just one example. It's certainly not too late to cancel the World Cup in Russia. Yes there may be financial losses incurred by others apart from Russia, but it's a price worth paying. The tournament could be held elsewhere.

Easy to say when it’s not you who will be paying the price.

 

[Half Time Pies]

Sometimes spies are bumped visually to make a statement drones nerve gas etc other times it would look like suicide/ natural causes if they prefer it that way. I dont see why we need to get pissy when its the former when its not just the russians doing this and we will never know the full facts.

Have a little think about what you are saying. These days only the most ruthless of dictatorships use nerve agents, they are the most gruesome of weapons, totally indiscriminate, they cause a slow and painful death to anyone who comes in to contact with them in even the smallest amounts. This is why they are banned for use under the chemical conventions convention of which Russia is a signatory.

We now have a innocent police officer fighting for his life but its worth considering that anyone could have approached this couple. We have even found traces in Zizzi on a Sunday where while families go out for a meal together, the possible consequences of this substance spreading doesn't bear thinking about.

Apart from the likes of North Korea it IS just the Russians doing this so there is a very good reason to be 'pissy' to be honest.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

If we can't boycott Putin's Party, we should send the U21s which wouldn't result in any fines or bans, but would make a talking point when we played, and embarrass Uncle Vova.

They'd do better than the rubbish we have in the first team anyway. It would be a massive relief were there to be an English withdrawal. It would stop the painful expectation.

 

[Dave the OAP]

Eh? I said I knew you were joking. I was just using your post as the starting base for my point.

Fairy muff

 

[Renegade1]

According to Sky News a poll of 1000 football fans returned 48% as thinking we should not go to the World Cup.

( I don't know if they were mainly Scottish and Welsh fans)

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

I'm reading Goldfinger at the moment. Bond poked one in the eye of the Smersh banker by cheating at golf better than him. Perhaps we should cheat our way to a WC win?

Is Zaha available, or did he pledge his allegiance to Ivor and his coastal engines?

 

[GT49er]

According to Sky News a poll of 1000 football fans returned 48% as thinking we should not go to the World Cup.

( I don't know if they were mainly Scottish and Welsh fans)

I doubt if they were.

 

[Eeyore]

According to Sky News a poll of 1000 football fans returned 48% as thinking we should not go to the World Cup.

( I don't know if they were mainly Scottish and Welsh fans)

Why bother, it'll be over in a couple of weeks.

 

[GT49er]

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

No, of course we can't. Silly question. We can boycott it though. And I think we should (I think we should anyway, and the poxy one in Qatar).

And we certainly have the facilities and infrastructure to hold an attractive mini-tournament with the likes of Italy, The Netherlands and one or two South American or African teams who failed to qualify - and who knows, there may be one or two others who decide to boycott the WC too.

 

[dejavuatbtn]

No, of course we can't. Silly question. We can boycott it though. And I think we should (I think we should anyway, and the poxy one in Qatar).

And we certainly have the facilities and infrastructure to hold an attractive mini-tournament with the likes of Italy, The Netherlands and one or two South American or African teams who failed to qualify - and who knows, there may be one or two others who decide to boycott the WC too.

With the additional bonus that it won’t be run by FIFA!

 

[GT49er]

With the additional bonus that it won’t be run by FIFA!

Yep, I'd buy into that.