Qatar World Cup

no football fan really cares about the protests, aren't 1 in 4 of the countries participating against homosexuality, what country has a clean record ? I see Usa was mentioned above, they dropped nukes on cities killing hundreds of thousands of innocent people ! I see they have banned booze from all the matches now, that'll be interesting when the brits play there could be many arrests followed by more sob stories

Yes - and thats exactly my point - every country has flaws, but for some reason for the first time ever thats its being held in a muslim country is when the football public in Europe (and not particularly anywhere else) decrees that the World Cup should not be played, or should be boycotted.

Again, I dont think Qatar is perfect by any stance - but there are arguments for and against it, the 'for' has been completely ignored and I think its been held to a level of scrutiny and criticism that no European country ever received, notably including Russia in 2018.

The 'for' being

(i) Its the first time a muslim country has ever hosted it. Thats a good thing, in my view - if we want a so-called World Cup to represent and be available to 'the World'

(ii) It can afford it - unlike for example Turkey that you mentioned, or Brazil or South Africa.

and arguably

(iii) The world cup has put a massive spotlight on very real human rights abuses that are prevalent not just in Qatar but in many Muslim and non-Muslim nations, and has challenged these in a way that they were never challenged when Football Stadia werent involved.

It’s not so much the banning as it is the late stage of the decision. People heading over would have been well aware that it would not be a typical World Cup when it comes to alcohol but they would have expected to be able to get a pint at the game based on everything FIFA was saying. And Qatar would have been well aware that Budweiser being a major sponsor would expect to be able to sell beer at the games.

I feel like this is a reaction to some of the negative stories around journalists on social media over the last couple of days, and the Qatari government wanting as much control over the fans as possible to limit any further incidents.

This is only off the top of my head stuff but I really don't think they have the same restrictions on alcohol.

Turkey is very much a Muslim country with secular law so would be surprised.

Its not just the law anyway. The whole World Cup in 1 city with no real soccer fans is a big killer as far as I am concerned.

But this is boards in recent years I have noted the trend of people putting ‘they/Them/theirs’ in their signature for example.

I have often thought why stop there? As that only covers a tiny percentage of the worlds population. How many ‘causes’ could you fit in a boards signature without leaving any out?

Many on boards love the latest bandwagon ‘cause’ be it Ukraine or whatever - which was very quiet on Ukraine until last Feb. No uproar in 2014 for example. No real ‘boards horror’ then. Same with Syria where is/was the active trend on that?

You are spot on about America you only have to Google ‘CIA coups’. Or Iraq invasion of which Britain and others participated against ‘International law’ under a false pretext.

Plus many of Britains big banks have links to the Slave trade. It is where they made their money. Bristol and Liverpool boomed because of it indirectly:indirectly. The wealth created remains.

So where does the Western Moral Outrage line stop? Only where it is convenient and at a ‘safe distance’ historically?

I predict the Qatar WC will go ahead grand - there might be a few half assed empty gestures from players and the like. But that will be about it.

I don’t know do people know another Muslim country Saudi Arabia is manoeuvring for a 2030 WC bid. So boards has plenty of time to gear up for that.

They're free to leave the UN at any time if they don't like its values.

what i really, really hope for, is to get a good team in the sweepstake in my local ! :)

Not surprising at all.

In 2014, Brazil had a ban on selling alcohol in stadiums to combat violence that would occur during games. FIFA successfully pressured Brazil into overturning that law for the World Cup(presumably with pressure from their sponsors), arguing that Brazil knew that having alcohol available at the ground was considered a requirement of hosting.

So it’s strange to see them meekly back down on the same thing this time.

of course it will be finished

" Those in corporate areas of stadiums at the tournament will still be able to purchase alcohol. "

So if you are rich, you can drink anything you want..

But for the real fans in the cheap seats,, No soup for you !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVm1KcrHM6s

It is worse it is going to get. That Infantino fella wants an expanded World Cup and make it every two years. A completely diluted competition/prestige but more moolah.

But Infantino is the same fella who is calling for politics to be kept out of football. But only recently attended a G20 summit!

So I don’t know what to make of it all.

Yeah I remember the British media was stoking up ‘racism fears’ 10 years ago. When the Euros were in Poland/Ukraine.

But I can’t remember any major problems materialising.

The impression I get for this tournament is that such media outlets are hoping for trouble in Qatar. As it will get clicks and sell.

There is still a gouger element that follows England. But this time it will likely be spun by the British that the Qatari’s were ‘heavy handed’ ‘Draconian’ if there is trouble.

Not a very good comparison.

It would be more like Croke Park telling the Aussies the can have booze years in advance and then saying no 2 days out when the deals are signed.

90% of the stadia I go to have no bar at all and barely a shop so drinking at a match is not my thing. But this is just bad faith from the 2 faced Qataris hiding behind a religion they are happy to shoot with loopholes.

Ireland's not big enough and doesn't have the infrastructure. We're putting in a joint bid for the Euro 2028 and that;s as good as we can get.

You can't judge decisions made 40 and 60 years ago by today's standards.

FIFA is the boss here and needs to lay down rules to application: and if one of them needs to be "be inclusive or don't apply" then so be it.