That was some game!

[First_Lexus]

11 minutes ago, doog442 said:

The press will go into overdrive over human rights Issues and the deaths of migrant workers. There's already talk of players boycotting. What an absolutely appalling decision to award them a World Cup. I guess we will never really get to the bottom of how much was handed out in backhanders as I understand Investigations are still ongoing.     

To be fair, the last World Cup was in Russia and the one before that in Brazil - neither of which are exactly known for human rights and democracy! 

If events such as this are to be held in places other than Western Europe, US, Australia or Japan then they have to choose some slightly dubious locations. Argentina 1978 anybody?

I think the organisers believe - corruption aside - that this sort of event can act as an enabler for better behaviour. I do tend to agree, but only if there are agreements in place for the future. When it comes to a country like Putin’s Russia (as an example) we can point out the flaws and our concerns, but we also need to understand that he won’t be in power forever and that sometimes the diplomatic approach can be beneficial. It’s tough to penalise the ordinary people for the actions of their leadership. Mind you, if I was Ukrainian living in Crimea I might not exactly agree with that!!!

[doog442]

26 minutes ago, First_Lexus said:

To be fair, the last World Cup was in Russia and the one before that in Brazil - neither of which are exactly known for human rights and democracy! 

If events such as this are to be held in places other than Western Europe, US, Australia or Japan then they have to choose some slightly dubious locations. Argentina 1978 anybody?

I think the organisers believe - corruption aside - that this sort of event can act as an enabler for better behaviour. I do tend to agree, but only if there are agreements in place for the future. When it comes to a country like Putin’s Russia (as an example) we can point out the flaws and our concerns, but we also need to understand that he won’t be in power forever and that sometimes the diplomatic approach can be beneficial. It’s tough to penalise the ordinary people for the actions of their leadership. Mind you, if I was Ukrainian living in Crimea I might not exactly agree with that!!!

Yep I understand the ethos of awarding these tournaments to countries that might benefit from the exposure, the money and the idea that it may bring improvements to society, plus the diverse nature of it happening in various places that ordinarily miss out on the circus that follows it. 

A little like the Olympics. When it was held in the UK the sailing venue was Portland down here in Dorset. Apparently Weymouth and Portland would suddenly morph into the Monaco of the south coast as a result of being on the world stage, Investment and new jobs would follow etc. They got a new road and that was it, Portland is still one of the most deprived areas down here.

I think as a football fan this grates quite a bit. No history of football, however it ticked a diversity box as the first Muslim / Arab nation to host a finals which isn't a bad thing of course but we have the alleged corruption, mistreatment of migrant workers with 6500 deaths over the last decade. One may ask how or why they deserve to hold such a prestigious tournament. 

The beauty for England fans are the excellent transport links, with numerous daily flights from  Birmingham, Heathrow, London and to be fair a very good airline to boot. That's really about it as far as I'm concerned but hey ho we never have a say in these things.  Now its on the horizon I wonder how things will play out for the actual fans ie accommodation, hospitality etc with strict rules on alcohol. I don't doubt for a minute Qatar will manage the tournament exceptionally well. 

[royoftherovers]

1 hour ago, doog442 said:

The press will go into overdrive over human rights Issues and the deaths of migrant workers. There's already talk of players boycotting. What an absolutely appalling decision to award them a World Cup. I guess we will never really get to the bottom of how much was handed out in backhanders as I understand Investigations are still ongoing.     

Ask Mr Blatter ?

[ALAW]

On 7/12/2021 at 1:07 PM, dutchie01 said:

Congratulations with the second spot and i mean that without irony. I found the game entertaining but not high quality football. The whole tournament was a bit like that really. Holland, Spain, France, Germany all fell through. Strong individual players ( especially France) but no team. Belgium was slightly above that but Denmark and Switzerland i really liked. more team spirit than talent but it can reach far in a tournament. And i miss the player of the tournament, the one everybody wants to see, the new kid on the block that all of a sudden is in the spotlights. All a bit bland really.

Anyway here's to Qatar next year, the country with an exciting football league of its own!

In November

[Las Palmas]

4 hours ago, First_Lexus said:

To be fair, the last World Cup was in Russia and the one before that in Brazil - neither of which are exactly known for human rights and democracy! 

If events such as this are to be held in places other than Western Europe, US, Australia or Japan then they have to choose some slightly dubious locations. Argentina 1978 anybody?

I think the organisers believe - corruption aside - that this sort of event can act as an enabler for better behaviour. I do tend to agree, but only if there are agreements in place for the future. When it comes to a country like Putin’s Russia (as an example) we can point out the flaws and our concerns, but we also need to understand that he won’t be in power forever and that sometimes the diplomatic approach can be beneficial. It’s tough to penalise the ordinary people for the actions of their leadership. Mind you, if I was Ukrainian living in Crimea I might not exactly agree with that!!!

Better behaviour is something to wish for in all countries in the world. UK hooligans are not exactly known for being open-minded people. Some call a lot of them racists and bullying is standard as well as fighting. Putin has his own motorbike gang; pretty sure it is more or less the same many places. Believing in better behaviour and diplomatic communication is nice but believing will hardly help the ones suffering from not so good behaviour.

Long live corruption. It is everywhere. Some places it is called lobbying, but it is the same. What can we do? Nothing.

[Las Palmas]

3 hours ago, royoftherovers said:

Ask Mr Blatter ?

He will surely answer honest as usual.

[dutchie01]

FIFA is all about honesty. here we have Mr Blatter in the underground boardroom in the FIFA headquarters in Switzerland. A building straight out of a Bond movie.

Annual turnover FIFA around 5 billion USD. They make their money through the sale of television, marketing and licensing rights and have very low expenses as all infrastructure costs are left to the host countries. They are registered as a charity organization thus pay no taxes in swiss. In organizing events they demand a tax free bubble so NO taxes are paid at all in the host countries. Qatar total cost for the home country estimated at 140 billion sterling.

What could possibly go wrong?

 

 

[Malc]

5 minutes ago, dutchie01 said:

Qatar total cost for the home country estimated at 140 billion sterling.

What could possibly go wrong?

not financially methinks ......  an oil rich state with little to really spend it's money on otherwise .........  and a close family business that can and does spend what it wants on whatever it wants, secretively or not, to please or not to please whomsoever it wishes to whatever degree 

Malc