Barca show their true colours

I was going to respond to this thread, but I thought better of it, and eZe^ said pretty much everything that needs to be said anyway. So I'll leave my contribution to this:

Warper

Pro. F wrote: »

No it hasn't.

Bodhisopha brought up a good point about UNICEF withdrawing their logo if they're unhappy but other than that most posters have just ignored the arguments or repeated the same stuff that's already been shown to be wrong.

This talk of bitterness is nonsense. I like Barca a lot, but that doesn't mean I can't criticise something that looks like hypocrisy.


There is a lot of stuff around that I don't like. If you want to start a thread about some morally dubious sponsors of some team I'll be interested. The interesting thing in this case, and it's an obvious difference if you manage to think about it for a second, is the hypocrisy of promoting UNICEF and Qatar at the same time on the same shirt. I would guess that the majority of big clubs do charity work while also having harmful organisations sponsoring them. It's still worth looking at Barca when it is being done so blatantly.



The supposed hatred of Barca is well over exaggerated. I, for one, like Barca and like seeing them beat Real. So you might want to re-assess your 10 fold increase in hatred that you think you've observed.

Please tell me what harmful acts the Qatar Foundation has done. Last I read it was a non-profit organisation promoting education etc.

Pro. F

Warper wrote: »

Please tell me what harmful acts the Qatar Foundation has done. Last I read it was a non-profit organisation promoting education etc.

Read the thread, just read a few posts back. That argument has been addressed.

Deleted User wrote: »

I was going to respond to this thread, but I thought better of it, and eZe^ said pretty much everything that needs to be said anyway. So I'll leave my contribution to this:

Yeah well done. Another shíte contribution from a poster who can't actually carry on the discussion.

Warper

Pro. F wrote: »

Read the thread, just read a few posts back. That argument has been addressed.



Yeah well done. Another shíte contribution from a poster who can't actually carry on the discussion.

The Qatari Foundation was set up by, and is run and funded by, the Royal family. If Qatar really wants to do some good then they should stop doing harm first. The foundation is just a vehicle for promoting Qatar in a good light and it seems most of the work it actually does is for the benefit of Qatari nationals (it's the none nationals that suffer in Qatar because of the states' turning a blind eye to trafficking).

Is this what you call addressing the matter? It sounds like conjecture to me.

lordgoat

Jesus Pro-F get out your spoon cos you're going to need it to feed some of these.

Have a look around on the internet the facts are there and it's pretty easy to find the links between Qatari govvernment and the charty(ies) it runs.

Pro. F

Pro. F wrote: »

Yeah well done. Another shíte contribution from a poster who can't actually carry on the discussion.

The point. You missed it.

THAT'S BECAUSE THERE'S NOTHING TO CARRY ON. All you have to do is look at the sheer volume of people who have decided that "Mes que un club" is some kind of pretentious slogan to be translated to mean "We're better than you".

I have a rule, never argue with an idiot, they will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience. As such, I'm not going to get into a row about it as most people seem to have ignored eZe^'s contribution and continued to bask in ignorance.

invinciblePRSTV

eZe^ wrote: »

Firstly, people thinking Barca are 'more than a club' because of how they try to conduct themselves on and off the pitch are just misinformed. Barcelona are 'mes que un club' because during the fascist movement in Spain, the Catalan people were banned from displaying any ideals of the Catalan culture. The language was banned, and people were at times shot for speaking Catalan in the streets.

The Camp Nou was the only place in Catalunya where it was safe for Catalan's to congregate and practice their beliefs. For that reason the club was seem as the only real symbol of the Catalan people during Franco's regime. That's the reason why it's seen as 'more than a club'. It's nothing to do with Barca having delusions of grandeur and thinking they are the only pure angels in a sport that has become commercialised. If sky or any other outlet speak about the 'mes que un club' as anything other than what I wrote above then they are hugely misinformed.

With all this in mind, and considering Catalunya's historically difficult relationship with the concept of the Spanish state, the royal family which presides over it and the absolutist rule which both of these elements imposed on Catalunya in decades and centuries gone by. Then surely it must stick in the craw of at least some of the more politically aware members of Barcelona (the football club) supporters that a royal family, who rule a state in an absolutist manner, now sponsor the primary club in a region which you would consider to embody the kind of ideals that the Qatari Royal family definitely do not hold.

eZe^ wrote: »

Secondly, looking at the sponsorship deal as objectively as possible, I'm feeling very mixed. It would be naive for me to think that in the modern game where Barca are hundreds of millions of euro in debt that they can continue without one. So it's good that at least there is another financial outlet to help the club financially. The club is heavily sponsored as it is, you only have to go to the Camp Nou to see how much we have been from the likes of herbalife, audi, and estrella damm. It's just the nature of the sport right now. I just hope for the life of me that the Qatar money isn't from some dodgy source, they hardly have a sparkling liberalism and altruistic reputation.

The Qatari money comes from a state which has a royal family which essentially controls all aspects of civil, political & commercial activity within their country. This is more characteristic of banana republics, and isn't the same as accepting sponsorship monies from companies which operate under the normal, well regulated, guise of commercial enterprises within western society.

Every penny the Qatar foundation gives Barca, just like the Sheikhs money given to Man City, is a penny which belongs to and should be spent by the actual citizens of those countries.

eZe^ wrote: »

Obviously I'm very proud of the club with the unicef deal. It's not just an advertising deal, they also donate large sums of money to the organisation every year. This deal also remains in place despite taking up the Qatar sponsorship. So it's hardly like they are dropping unicef on their ass while they money grab. Also, how dare some of you villify a team for donating to charity. At the end of the day, who gives a sh*t what the clubs intentions are when donating money to charity, the money is still going to help save lives, it's not like a euro from a crook is worth less than a euro from a saint. Serious moral high horses among some of yous.

Bit of a strawman really, we give some of the money to kids, but we take money from a country ran as a fiefdom and personal piggy bank.

Ask yourself this, if the Qatari people were actually allowed to have a say in where their petro dollars go, do y'think they'd really like it if was spent to sponsor some sports team in a different continent?.

eZe^ wrote: »

tl;dr version - Barca are super dooper good at footballz.

I too enjoy their purty football.

Pro. F

Warper wrote: »

Is this what you call addressing the matter? It sounds like conjecture to me.

Well I went and did a fair bit of research to inform myself. I read through the Foundation's own website and some of their sub-websites, read what Amnesty International had to say about the place. Went and found the US State Department's latest report on people trafficking and what it had to say about Qatar. Then read around to find out how reliable the State Department's report is viewed.

So the Qatari Foundation: a state organisation that mostly improves education and science for the benefit of Qatari citizens - eh like a part of their welfare state then (woop-di-doo, go charity). As I said it's the non nationals that really suffer in that country. The only evidence of actual real overseas charitable work that I've been able to find is the Reach Out to Asia program, which so far has raised a grand total of US$35m. So that would cover the Barca sponsorship deal for about a year then.

This charity is set up and run by the Qatari state. A state that abuses human rights*. Which is currently on a massive publicity drive. This charity's work mostly benefits Qatari citizens and this charity is spending €30m a year to promote itself. The evidence that this so called charity is actually just a national investment funnel and promotion tool for Qatar seems pretty clear to me.

If you've got any evidence or argument to the contrary I would be interested, it takes all different opinions and sources to get closer to the truth. But to try to just dismiss it all out of hand is weak.

(*I just want to point out that I'm not saying Qatar should be completely written off. They've done some work to improve their record, but they've got a way to go yet.)

Deleted User wrote: »

The point. You missed it.

THAT'S BECAUSE THERE'S NOTHING TO CARRY ON. All you have to do is look at the sheer volume of people who have decided that "Mes que un club" is some kind of pretentious slogan to be translated to mean "We're better than you".

I have a rule, never argue with an idiot, they will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience. As such, I'm not going to get into a row about it as most people seem to have ignored eZe^'s contribution and continued to bask in ignorance.

There's more going on in this discussion than the ''mes que un club'' argument. You've just chosen to ignore the rest. The ''most people'' general sweeping bollocks is very convenient for you I'm sure, but it just shows that you are not actually interested in discussing the topic at all.

Edit: I didn't even think of invinsiblePRSTV's point about the conflict between Barca's ideals and Qatar's general carry on. Interesting.

bruschi

Pro. F wrote: »

(*I just want to point out that I'm not saying Qatar should be completely written off. They've done some work to improve their record, but they've got a way to go yet.)

would part of the way to go include forming an organisation that promotes education and integrating themselves more with the western world? I wonder how they could promote such activities on a global scale to try improve things in their country?

OhNoYouDidn't

You would swear Spain is a paragon of human rights from the way some are talking here.

They ran death squads against their own civilians even after they joined the EU ffs.

Pro. F

bruschi wrote: »

would part of the way to go include forming an organisation that promotes education and integrating themselves more with the western world? I wonder how they could promote such activities on a global scale to try improve things in their country?

The way to go is for the Qatari state to stop abusing human rights. This foundation does nothing to that end.

OhNoYouDidn't wrote: »

You would swear Spain is a paragon of human rights from the way some are talking here.

They ran death squads against their own civilians even after they joined the EU ffs.

1. That's in the past.
2. Barca would have opposed all that surely.

LuckyLloyd

This debate thus far is basically boiling down to one side making points and asking interesting questions; and the other sticking their fingers in their ears and shouting "I CAN'T HEAR YOU" as loud as they can.

Cool.

Zebra3

Pro. F wrote: »

Went and found the US State Department's latest report

Yeah, cos the Americans have the right to judge others on human rights.... :rolleyes:

OhNoYouDidn't

Pro. F wrote: »

1. That's in the past.
2. Barca would have opposed all that surely.

1: As may be, but its still a crime to 'refuse to condemn terrorism' and terrorism has a very wide definition. Thought crime in other words.

2: Maybe they did, who knows, but thats not the point. EVERY country has something that we can point at, saying that a charity that is part run by the local royals is complicit in human rights violations is iffy. Its like saying that Shamrock Rovers shouldn't support the Red Cross because its run by the Minister for Defence in an Irish state that Amnesty accuse of discriminating against Travellers.

flahavaj

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

This debate thus far is basically boiling down to one side making points and asking interesting questions; and the other sticking their fingers in their ears and shouting "I CAN'T HEAR YOU" as loud as they can.

Cool.

Some Barca fans take this appproach a bit too often for my liking.

Pro. F

OhNoYouDidn't wrote: »

1: As may be, but its still a crime to 'refuse to condemn terrorism' and terrorism has a very wide definition. Thought crime in other words.

Spain and Qatar are miles apart in terms of civil rights like that. And if they weren't, so what? If you can point to some additional hypocrisy then fire away, it doesn't diminish this particular one.

OhNoYouDidn't wrote: »

2: Maybe they did, who knows, but thats not the point. EVERY country has something that we can point at, saying that a charity that is part run by the local royals is complicit in human rights violations is iffy.

Of course it's the point. If some country was a totalitarian and abusive state and an organisation within that country (Barca in this case) opposed that, then it's ridiculous to charge the organisation with the crimes of the state they were opposing. Seriously, how retarded is that?!

The Qatari foundation isn't part run by the royals. It's wholly run by them. It is a part of the Qatari state. That's what all the evidence I've found shows. If you've got any proof otherwise then let's see it.

A so called charity, set up and run by the powers in a totalitarian state, which actually functions as an arm of that state's welfare system and people are saying it is an independent charity? Come off it! People need to show some cop on here.

OhNoYouDidn't wrote: »

Its like saying that Shamrock Rovers shouldn't support the Red Cross because its run by the Minister for Defence in an Irish state that Amnesty accuse of discriminating against Travellers.

No it's nothing like that. Ireland is Tier 1 in the latest report on human trafficking, Qatar is Tier 2 Watch-list, so worlds apart.

And, in your comparison, you are ignoring the fact that Barca aren't supporting the Qatar Foundation, it's the other way round. The Qatar Foundation is paying Barca €30m a year for promotion.

Zebra3 wrote: »

Yeah, cos the Americans have the right to judge others on human rights.... :rolleyes:

Whether the Americans have the right to judge others doesn't take away from the usefulness of this report. As I said, I read up to see if the report can be trusted. It is a respected authority.

.......................................
I'm still open to correction on any information that I have that may be wrong. I'm no expert and maybe I've missed something.

lordgoat

Mother of god it's like trying to have a discussion with children. Thanks for the info Pro, i wasn't half aware of all that.

Also cracking reply to eze's post again informative and to the actual point. No one is disputing the fact that barca are not a great football team. In this particular scenario i think it goes beyond the game though.

dfx-

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

This debate thus far is basically boiling down to one side making points and asking interesting questions; and the other sticking their fingers in their ears and shouting "I CAN'T HEAR YOU" as loud as they can.

Cool.

The bit in bold depends on your point of view. The guts of the thread is not making interesting points but digging at Barcelona from a preset opinion, right from the nature of the title. It's only missing a Messi or Ronaldo argument.

mormank

smokedeels wrote: »

It's interesting if you compare football to athletics and the Olympic Project for Human Rights in the 60's, I'd love to see a similar movement in football, I'd be proud if, for instance, Ireland qualified for the 2022 world cup and the team refused to play in a country with such a poor record of human rights. I know a lot of people wouldn't, but I'd support action like that.

Maybe we could convine the national team to just play so badly that we dont qualify and then claim the higher ground anyway.....oh wait...

Interesting thought you put forward about the voluntarily exclusion of our nation...would divide the country's opinion even moreso than Saipan I reckon if they did that! :eek:

Warper

Who really gives a fcuk in all fairness. The main problem I have is that it is only €25m a year for 6 years. They should have gotten more as they are the No. 1 brand in World football and also the No. 1 team in World football. I know it is currently the highest yearly sponsorship figure but wont be in a few years time as other clubs have €20m a year sponsorship as it is. Bad marketing fella there, should have been at least €30m a year for the privilege of being Barca's first sponsor.

Paparazzo

Barca fly over to support that club in Uzbekistan that's run by a dictator. Far from whiter than white

lordgoat

Warper wrote: »

Who really gives a fcuk in all fairness. The main problem I have is that it is only €25m a year for 6 years. They should have gotten more as they are the No. 1 brand in World football and also the No. 1 team in World football. I know it is currently the highest yearly sponsorship figure but wont be in a few years time as other clubs have €20m a year sponsorship as it is. Bad marketing fella there, should have been at least €30m a year for the privilege of being Barca's first sponsor.

See Qatar can only stone so much money out of their women each year, any more would be excessive. But ya, sure as long as no one is getting hurt what's the big deal?

dfx-

lordgoat wrote: »

See Qatar can only stone so much money out of their women each year, any more would be excessive. But ya, sure as long as no one is getting hurt what's the big deal?

Surely you're not naive enough to think that this deal or non-deal affects that..

Warper

lordgoat wrote: »

See Qatar can only stone so much money out of their women each year, any more would be excessive. But ya, sure as long as no one is getting hurt what's the big deal?

I disagree, I think they could get more money out of the non-nationals, gays and women. That is why I think Barca got a bad deal. If they can pay off FIFA for a WC, then Barca should have gotten way more than €25m a year. I still Barca were too easy on them.

lordgoat

dfx- wrote: »

Surely you're not naive enough to think that this deal or non-deal affects that..

Of course, not it was sarcasm aimed at the aimless post i quoted.

steo87

The Sparrow wrote: »

So basically Barcelona are just like every other club and willing to take money from anywhere, no matter how morally dubious

Are you serious?

As has already been mentioned numerous times in this thread, throughout their history they have never had a sponsor. The past few seasons they have sponsored a charity, Unicef, and actually paid them over a million Euro for this.

So, like a lot of teams currently, they are struggling with debt, and had no choice but to get a sponsor. At least they had the decency to do that for Unicef. It's a far cry from the likes of Man Utd, who it seems would sell their jersey to anyone so long as the money is plenty.

And whatever about Qatar, leave that political shít out of football - it does no good.

steo87

Paparazzo wrote: »

Barca fly over to support that club in Uzbekistan that's run by a dictator. Far from whiter than white

What's this? Interesting...care to elaborate?

Pro. F

Warper wrote: »

Who really gives a fcuk in all fairness.

You did in your previous three posts in this thread. Remember? When you were trying to argue that Barca aren't being hypocritical? I wonder why you've all of a sudden stopped caring...

dfx- wrote: »

The bit in bold depends on your point of view. The guts of the thread is not making interesting points but digging at Barcelona from a preset opinion, right from the nature of the title. It's only missing a Messi or Ronaldo argument.

There have been plenty of valid points and interesting arguments put forward in this thread. You're just trying to ignore them by generalising with bulshít like ''the guts of the thread''.

Dolph Starbeam

steo87 wrote: »

What's this? Interesting...care to elaborate?

I'm guessing he's talking about this http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/mar/15/bunyodkor-uzbekistan-rivaldo-craig-murray

Pro. F

steo87 wrote: »

And whatever about Qatar, leave that political shít out of football - it does no good.

You yourself are praising Barca for supporting UNICEF, so you've already made a moral judgement on that. Demanding that others don't make a moral judgement about something else that Barca is doing is silly.

steo87

Pro. F wrote: »

You yourself are praising Barca for supporting UNICEF, so you've already made a moral judgement on that. Demanding that others don't make a moral judgement about something else that Barca is doing is silly.

I see what you mean, but I'm talking about charity not politics.
There is a big difference.

Some clubs, for example Celtic, have been founded based on charity and improving the lives of its supporters.

Do you see what I mean?

dfx-

Pro. F wrote: »

There have been plenty of valid points and interesting arguments put forward in this thread. You're just trying to ignore them by generalising with bulshít like ''the guts of the thread''.

There's nothing interesting about a club getting a shirt sponsor.

Pro. F

steo87 wrote: »

I see what you mean, but I'm talking about charity not politics.
There is a big difference.

Some clubs, for example Celtic, have been founded based on charity and improving the lives of its supporters.

Do you see what I mean?

I know what you mean. The term politics can easily confuse the issue though.

You're saying that Barca's support of UNICEF is a good thing. That's a moral judgement by you. Some people are saying that Barca promoting Qatar runs contrary to that and is hypocritical.

Pro. F

dfx- wrote: »

There's nothing interesting about a club getting a shirt sponsor.

Then why did you enter the discussion?

dfx-

I find the reasons for the discussion revealing, if not the discussion itself.

Pro. F

dfx- wrote: »

I find the reasons for the discussion revealing, if not the discussion itself.

But you took part in the discussion itself

dfx- wrote: »

Unicef should be more than happy with Barcelona paying them to have Unicef on their shirt and be prominent forever more in some of the greatest moments in the football club with the achievements of the past 5 years on a world scale.

You found it interesting enough to post your opinion on it there. You obviously think that Barca aren't being hypocritical and you were interested enough to post about it. But now you're just trying to pretend that anyone with a different view hates Barca. Pathetic.

dfx-

It's a comment on the exposure Unicef have received. It's no comment whether the Qatar Foundation or indeed Unicef is a good or bad thing for Barcelona. At no point have I invoked how good Unicef are or how bad Qatar is to try to score a point.

Pro. F

dfx- wrote: »

It's a comment on the exposure Unicef have received. It's no comment whether the Qatar Foundation or indeed Unicef is a good or bad thing for Barcelona. At no point have I invoked how good Unicef are or how bad Qatar is to try to score a point.

I maintain Barcelona swapping sponsors is of no interest.

It's a comment posted in the context of a thread where people were criticising Barca for hypocrisy. You were obviously trying to portray the situation as if Barca have only done good.

I don't know what you're talking about with the point scoring bit.

Of course you maintain that the new sponsor is of no interest. Because now you want to just ignore the hypocrisy of the new deal and try to pretend that all arguments that highlight it are irrational.

dfx-

My posts really should be taken at face value and with no interpretations being foisted upon them.

I said Unicef did well out of being the shirt sponsor of Barcelona, nothing more and I'm sure the Qatar Foundation will as well.

Opinions on whether Unicef are all good and Qatar all bad are of no consequence.

Pro. F

dfx- wrote: »

My posts really should be taken at face value and with no interpretations being foisted upon them.

I said Unicef did well out of being the shirt sponsor of Barcelona, nothing more and I'm sure the Qatar Foundation will as well.

Opinions on whether Unicef are all good and Qatar all bad are of no consequence.

lol Oh OK, I must have misunderstood what that post was about then. I suppose we'll never know whether you think Barca are being hypocritical or not. Watching you dodging the issue of Barca's hypocrisy like you are is funny though.

You say that you are sure the Qatar Foundation will do well out of this sponsorship. How is that exactly? Let's not forget that they are spending €30m a year on this sponsorship. Compare that to the $35m entire amount that they have fund raised for their overseas charity work (the only actual real charity work that they do). The people who do well out of this sponsorship are the Qatari royal family who get some positive exposure for their country and help cover up the human rights abuses that they have going on there.

lordgoat

Pro. F wrote: »

You say that you are sure the Qatar Foundation will do well out of this sponsorship. How is that exactly? Let's not forget that they are spending €30m a year on this sponsorship. Compare that to the $35m entire amount that they have fund raised for their overseas charity work (the only actual real charity work that they do). The people who do well out of this sponsorship are the Qatari royal family who get some positive exposure for their country and help cover up the human rights abuses that they have going on there.

This.

dfx-

Pro. F wrote: »

The people who do well out of this sponsorship are the Qatari royal family who get some positive exposure for their country and help cover up the human rights abuses that they have going on there.

I don't doubt that's the case.

How Qatar use the exposure is up to them, just as how Unicef used the exposure and donations is up to them. Neither has anything to do with Barcelona. Nike may use very cheap labour in the Far East, should they change gear supplier? Or has that nothing to do with Barcelona either?

lordgoat

dfx- wrote: »

I don't doubt that's the case.

How Qatar use the exposure is up to them, just as how Unicef used the exposure and donations is up to them. Neither has anything to do with Barcelona. Nike may use very cheap labour in the Far East, should they change gear supplier? Or has that nothing to do with Barcelona either?

Neither has anything to do with Barca yet both of their logos will be on the jersey.

Ignorance is bliss eh ? Not saying Nike are the best company eva but over the past 5 years they have made huge strides to clean up their act. More so than adidas or some others afaik.


http://www.clrlabor.org/alerts/1997/nikey001.html


Trying actually looking up a fact or two before making another innane post. You're beginning to look like you're just being pig headed and not listening to any reasoned argument being brought before you.

Third_Echelon

I actually decided to read through the last 10 pages to see what hilarity had ensued... I probably shouldn't have as it backed up my theory that the boards soccer forum has deteriorated so much recently....

What a stupid thread this is. The Barca-hating is hilarious... The old Irish thing of knocking someone or something as they are brilliant at something or have more money etc. Bunch of begrudgers....

If you looked at every sponsorship deal in sport, I'm sure there are questionable people bankrolling these sponsorships over the years... Pretty much every major corporation has breached human rights laws in various 2nd and 3rd world countries. Various sports manufacturers having kids stitching footballs in sweat shops for example... My god Barca are really going to hell now! Nike and Qatar Foundation on their shirt! :rolleyes:

If everyone had so much social and moral responsibility and was outraged by these types of things, you wouldn't be able to buy about 50% of the products that you buy on a weekly basis... those nice cheap clothes you buy in various large retail shops... there is a reason they are cheap.

Before slating a club such as Barcelona for taking a sponsorship deal from an organisation from a country that has dubious human rights records, perhaps you should have a think what you buy personally day to day and how you are pedalling cheap labour/encouraging human rights to be breached in developing nations...

Probably a bit too much of a political discussion for this forum, but what the heck...

Anyway.... I love watching them play football. They are the best side to watch by a distance.

Pro. F

dfx- wrote: »

I don't doubt that's the case.

How Qatar use the exposure is up to them, just as how Unicef used the exposure and donations is up to them. Neither has anything to do with Barcelona. Nike may use very cheap labour in the Far East, should they change gear supplier? Or has that nothing to do with Barcelona either?

Of course they are to do with Barcelona.

If Nike were using cheap labour or something like that then how would that make Barca's Qatar promotion any less hypocritical? As I was saying to Warper, I think it was, if you can point out some additional hypocrisies then fire ahead - it doesn't make this Qatar hypocrisy any less of a one.

I thought you weren't interested in discussing Barca's shirt sponsor anyway? Or was that just when you couldn't think of a proper counter argument?

dfx-

Third_Echelon wrote: »

I actually decided to read through the last 10 pages to see what hilarity had ensued... I probably shouldn't have as it backed up my theory that the boards soccer forum has deteriorated so much recently....

What a stupid thread this is. The Barca-hating is hilarious... The old Irish thing of knocking someone or something as they are brilliant at something or have more money etc. Bunch of begrudgers....

If you looked at every sponsorship deal in sport, I'm sure there are questionable people bankrolling these sponsorships over the years... Pretty much every major corporation has breached human rights laws in various 2nd and 3rd world countries. Various sports manufacturers having kids stitching footballs in sweat shops for example... My god Barca are really going to hell now! Nike and Qatar Foundation on their shirt! :rolleyes:

If everyone had so much social and moral responsibility and was outraged by these types of things, you wouldn't be able to buy about 50% of the products that you buy on a weekly basis... those nice cheap clothes you buy in various large retail shops... there is a reason they are cheap.

Before slating a club such as Barcelona for taking a sponsorship deal from an organisation from a country that has dubious human rights records, perhaps you should have a think what you buy personally day to day and how you are pedalling cheap labour/encouraging human rights to be breached in developing nations...

Probably a bit too much of a political discussion for this forum, but what the heck...

Anyway.... I love watching them play football. They are the best side to watch by a distance.

[In lieu of multiple thanks]QFT[/In lieu of multiple thanks]

As ONYD said on the first page, people are digging for dirt where there is none.

lordgoat

Third_Echelon wrote: »

If everyone had so much social and moral responsibility and was outraged by these types of things, you wouldn't be able to buy about 50% of the products that you buy on a weekly basis... those nice cheap clothes you buy in various large retail shops... there is a reason they are cheap.

Before slating a club such as Barcelona for taking a sponsorship deal from an organisation from a country that has dubious human rights records, perhaps you should have a think what you buy personally day to day and how you are pedalling cheap labour/encouraging human rights to be breached in developing nations...

Anyway.... I love watching them play football. They are the best side to watch by a distance.

I agree with the above and it's how i choose to do things on a day to day basis. It's how many of my friends choose to do things as well. I don't own any nike product and i'm not looking for praise. I think there are probably a few other posters on here in the same boat. Again this has very little to do with the topic being debated but again well done on trying to twist things away from the main issue.

The point that is being made time and time again on here is the conflict between two sponsors - irrespective of what team they are sponsoring.

I'd suggest you re-read what you have done as you've missed the main point being made if that post is your best effort.

lordgoat

dfx- wrote: »

[In lieu of multiple thanks]QFT[/In lieu of multiple thanks]

As ONYD said on the first page, people are digging for dirt where there is none.

Double LOL

the dirt will be as plain as the logos on their shirt.

Pro. F

Third_Echelon wrote: »

I actually decided to read through the last 10 pages to see what hilarity had ensued... I probably shouldn't have as it backed up my theory that the boards soccer forum has deteriorated so much recently....

What a stupid thread this is. The Barca-hating is hilarious... The old Irish thing of knocking someone or something as they are brilliant at something or have more money etc. Bunch of begrudgers....

As I've said before, I like Barcelona. How does that fit into your begrudger theory?

Third_Echelon wrote: »

If you looked at every sponsorship deal in sport, I'm sure there are questionable people bankrolling these sponsorships over the years... Pretty much every major corporation has breached human rights laws in various 2nd and 3rd world countries. Various sports manufacturers having kids stitching footballs in sweat shops for example... My god Barca are really going to hell now! Nike and Qatar Foundation on their shirt! :rolleyes:

If everyone had so much social and moral responsibility and was outraged by these types of things, you wouldn't be able to buy about 50% of the products that you buy on a weekly basis... those nice cheap clothes you buy in various large retail shops... there is a reason they are cheap.

Before slating a club such as Barcelona for taking a sponsorship deal from an organisation from a country that has dubious human rights records, perhaps you should have a think what you buy personally day to day and how you are pedalling cheap labour/encouraging human rights to be breached in developing nations...

Probably a bit too much of a political discussion for this forum, but what the heck...

Anyway.... I love watching them play football. They are the best side to watch by a distance.

You think I don't shop ethically? You don't know anything about me. Nor anybody else on this thread. Fwiw I do shop ethically. Maybe if I was to support UNICEF and you were to examine all my actions you could find some contradictions in my choices. But it's easier for a large company to get their house in order. I've worked with a large NGO and seen how, when there's a will, it's possible to run a large company on a consistent ethical basis. Barca clearly lack that will.

If you want to point out the unethical actions of other corporations go ahead. As has been said countless times it doesn't make what Barca are doing any less hypocritical.

So, are you denying that Barca's association with UNICEF is hypocritical considering who they take money from?
Are you denying that Bacra's promotion of states that oppress civil rights (Qatar and Uzbekistan) runs contrary to what they represented during the Franco years? (I'd be especially interested to hear feedback on the second one, maybe it's not as simple as it seems)

Third_Echelon

I wasn't questioning anyone in particular's morals or judgements. I made my comment based on the general feeling across multiple posts and various different posters...

Lordgoat, I hadn't missed the point about the conflict. My point was coming from a completely different angle..