• The forums will be unavailable for a few hours on Saturday 6th June, when they do return they will initially be in a degraded state with some features missing, but normal posting/reading will be possible. The main website will not be affected by these updates.
    New user registrations are currently disabled.
    Some other features of the forum are also currently disabled.

Boycott Qatar


Genuine question.
Those who are boycotting Qatar (respect to you all), what‘s your stance on the Beijing Olympics?
Whilst the politics in Qatar and China are questionable I prefer to keep it out of the game. My dislike of the Qatar decision is down to the corrupt process and the individuals involved.it was supposed to be a fair competition between nominated countries............ Qatar was clearly not the best choice and the fact that they won with a summer bid and fifa had to change it to winter supports this. Do comparing Beijing with Qatar is false as Beijing were eminimrntly able to put on the Olympics and Qatar CV could only do tho with maximum disruption and apost hoc reamajoning of their bid.
 
No butt hurt here, I just find it a bit ridiculous that grown men have to post that they are boycotting the world cup, like they need a pat on the back for dsaying so, for me that should be something you do instead of needing gratification for doing so.
Though I doubt many of the people who say this actually will.
I think it was a fair presumption to make in regards to post #92.
What is the thread about Rob?
 
Maybe worth a more indirect approach. Boycott the companies that advertise/sponsor the tournament. Let them know you are doing so. If you use social media, tweet or whatever how appalled you are that _____ is associating its brand with Qatar given the stadium workers and oppression.

No idea if this would help, but it just seems to me that in the past it's losing sponsorship/advertising that causes sports organisations to rethink.
 
Excellent post, though I disagree somewhat with your point about taking the knee. I think it’s entirely relevant to point out the hypocrisy of spending a few seconds taking the knee, which costs footballers SFA, while being prepared to play in countries run by murderous, barbaric regimes.

It‘s easy to take the knee in front of the cameras and show the world how righteous you are, even if you’re not. However, it’s a massive sacrifice to boycott a tournament and miss out on the chance of a lifetime.
It‘ll be interesting to see which players are genuinely concerned about the terrible injustices in the world, and which players are just virtue signalling. I’ll wager not one of them will be brave and selfless enough to make the sacrifice.
Disagree on this on two points.

1. I don't think only morally pure people are allowed to campaign against injustice (this is something that has been particularly exposed by the recent Rafiq debate in cricket).
2. I don't think you can say "ah, but do you care about X which is more important" every time somebody puts their hand up about something. You're probably right if we're carrying out an absurd exercise in weighing injustice: Qatar migrants do have it worse than BAME people in this country. But I don't think that's a sensible way to approach campaigning, otherwise we'd all only be able to campaign on one thing at a time. And only then if we were morally pure individuals.

It's whataboutery. A high functioning whataboutery maybe, but whataboutery all the same.

Anyway: this thread isn't about the knee, even if we disagree whether its irrelevant to Qatar debate. Plenty of places to debate that one, so maybe best to leave it.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Sid
😂 What does this even mean??
The only one woth issues is yourself, so much so you are not going to watch the world cup because of them.
Give me 5 minutes. I'm popping over to the score predictions thread to have a go at people for predicting the score atm.
Well most of the people on here are just saying it for a bit of self gratification, when in reality they will watch it.
 
Last edited:
The only one woth issues is yourself, so much so you are not going to watch the world cup because of them.

Well most of the people on here are just saying it for a bit of self gratification, when in reality they will watch it.
:lol: :lol: :lol: 👍🏻
 
People don’t really care if it benefits there interests do they ? Like nufc with the Saudis or the boxing or F1, they can say oh this isn’t right and we don’t agree with it but still roll up and pick up the pile of cash or in footballs case players and teams won’t miss out in the prestige of a World Cup
 
Will us not watching it make any difference really though?

Viewing numbers may be down on this tournament, but will that make the corrupt official at FIFA refuse a brown envelope in the future? And will the reduced viewing numbers make countries less likely to hand over brown envelopes?

I suspect the answer to both questions is ‘no’.

I want to protest against it, but I feel voiceless, and like not watching only hurts me.
It won't make any difference in that people who are bbeibg exploited will be exploited, people who died because of it ate still dead etc

But morality isn't transactional. Things that are right are just right, thibgs thst are wrong are just wrong it's not about what they accomplish or otherwise.

But I think people also kid themselves on in these situations. The conscience is like anything else, you need to train it.

If you know something is wrong and it will cost you literally nothing to oppose it, and you still don't, what are the chances you'll be able to oppose something that's glaringly wrong in a situation where it does cost you?
 
Genuine question.
Those who are boycotting Qatar (respect to you all), what‘s your stance on the Beijing Olympics?

I'm not watching that either. Though tbf not watching the world Cup in Qatar is much more of a sacrifice than the winter Olympics for what I actually enjoy
Will us not watching it make any difference really though?

Viewing numbers may be down on this tournament, but will that make the corrupt official at FIFA refuse a brown envelope in the future? And will the reduced viewing numbers make countries less likely to hand over brown envelopes?

I suspect the answer to both questions is ‘no’.

I want to protest against it, but I feel voiceless, and like not watching only hurts me.

You're probably right. However for me I wouldn't be able to enjoy it anyway


Knowing my luck england will win the fucker and I won't even know for a while
 
Last edited:
It won't make any difference in that people who are bbeibg exploited will be exploited, people who died because of it ate still dead etc

But morality isn't transactional. Things that are right are just right, thibgs thst are wrong are just wrong it's not about what they accomplish or otherwise.

But I think people also kid themselves on in these situations. The conscience is like anything else, you need to train it.

If you know something is wrong and it will cost you literally nothing to oppose it, and you still don't, what are the chances you'll be able to oppose something that's glaringly wrong in a situation where it does cost you?
The thing for me though is that choosing not to watch it doesn't really oppose it at all. It won't affect the viewing figures, no one will know about it, the only thing it does is make me miss one of the few world cups in my lifetime. If you were going to go to Qatar, spend a load of money there etc, then you're actively supporting it, that's different. Sitting in the house watching or not watching a match does nowt though. What should have happened was an organised boycott / pressure on the sponsors. Make it toxic, make them pull out, criticise the TV channels that are going to show it. Make it so negatively perceived that sponsors would be saying "next time have it somewhere we aren't going to get a load of shit and lost sales for our money". That might have been slightly effective.

Like I say, fair play to anyone who is so opposed that they genuinely can't bear to even watch it on TV, but I don't really see it as any sort of a protest. Far as I'm concerned I won't go to the tournament, I won't buy any world cup Qatar merchandise, that's as far as I'd go, not giving them a penny of my money. I'll still watch on TV
 
England won’t be taking the knee against Qatar- because in Gareth’s words we need to educate ourselves blah blah, cultural differences blah, and we do a lot of business with them. Unbelievable. The one time it matters when you can protest against human rights abuses and modern day slavery England turn a blind eye because of money and business- absolutely reeks of hypocrisy.
 
Back
Top