Boycott The Qatar World Cup?

Such a travesty this is going ahead.

No realistic way for the everyman to attend. No drink. Environmentally ridiculous. Caused the deaths of thousands of migrant workers. Ruining football schedules the world over.

All so a few pricks, who were already insanely rich, could get more rich.

Hope it's a complete and total failure.
 
Mshafeek said:
In the present context, the european 'human rights' warriors advocating boycott of the WC have got to be the biggest hypocrites around. I mean, many European nations are literally scrambling out deals with Qatar to replace Russian energy. I wonder why these people are not advocating against these deals so that they can really hurt Qatar. Oh, I forgot.. keyboard warriors are averse to sacrificing luxury for their cause, aren't they?
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I'm getting really bored with the whataboutery in this thread. Argue the points in hand or make another thread about perceived attacks on Qatar, and earlier in the thread perceived attacks on Islam FFS. Baseless accusations with nothing to back them up. This nonsense wouldn't be tolerated in any other thread on these boards about human rights. This is an Internet forum, having a go at people using their keyboards to undermine their opinions is the most obvious hypocrisy at play.
 
Reapersoul20 said:
Such a travesty this is going ahead.

No realistic way for the everyman to attend. No drink. Environmentally ridiculous. Caused the deaths of thousands of migrant workers. Ruining football schedules the world over.

All so a few pricks, who were already insanely rich, could get more rich.

Hope it's a complete and total failure.
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Totally agree with posts like this, but they’re also doing it to stage the FIFA World Cup which is why it won’t be a total failure.
 
Offside said:
Totally agree with posts like this, but they’re also doing it to stage the FIFA World Cup which is why it won’t be a total failure.
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Yep, unless there is huge public outcry prior to the event...mass strikes/demonstrations making it impossible to go ahead with it. But even then, it's probably too far gone and looking unlikely now.

A shame though, a normal WC untainted by all this bollocks would be great.
 
Reapersoul20 said:
Yep, unless there is huge public outcry prior to the event...mass strikes/demonstrations making it impossible to go ahead with it. But even then, it's probably too far gone and looking unlikely now.

A shame though, a normal WC untainted by all this bollocks would be great.
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Yeah I love world cups, and the last few have been tainted but I think this one is just too far over the line for me to engage.
 
hasanejaz88 said:
Would be great to see similar investigation of the environment impact of other stadiums, but ofcourse there won't be.
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Market dynamics in capitalism don't provide incentives to prevent environmental impact. You normally require non-market intervention by state or by social organizations. The advantage for democratic countries is that social forces and social activists and environmentalists have more freedom and influence to pressure the state to impose certain regulations to conduct activities that are less harmful to the environment. In many democratic European countries, environmental impact assessments are mandatory before starting major industrial and construction projects and regulations are relatively strict.

Since Qatar is not a democracy and many people don't live there, their way to influence changes is to boycott the event as fans, which is within their range of action and seems fair to me.
 
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Am I the only one skeptical that this is just the beginning of such Arab countries getting a strangle hold on football events much like they are trying with golf, boxing, horse racing etc.. all these man City and Newcastle fans jumping up and down with headscarves on will not be so excited if they see premier league, champions league, more world cup matches being dragged off to be played in Saudi Arabia in ten years time.

As I said maybe I am being overly skeptical but it feels naive to think they don't want to be become the mecca of sporting events and what is bigger globally than football?
 
Lee565 said:
Am I the only one skeptical that this is just the beginning of such Arab countries getting a strangle hold on football events much like they are trying with golf, boxing, horse racing etc.. all these man City and Newcastle fans jumping up and down with headscarves on will not be so excited if they see premier league, champions league, more world cup matches being dragged off to be played in Saudi Arabia in ten years time.

As I said maybe I am being overly skeptical but it feels naive to think they don't want to be become the mecca of sporting events and what is bigger globally than football?
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I don't think it's geographical as much as financial. As the world stands, if you have enough money, you can buy anything. That's pretty much taken as a given. The extra dimension here is the obvious human rights issues, and in my opinion the only positive with Qatar getting the world cup is that those social issues are being brought into focus.
 
moses said:
I'm getting really bored with the whataboutery in this thread. Argue the points in hand or make another thread about perceived attacks on Qatar, and earlier in the thread perceived attacks on Islam FFS. Baseless accusations with nothing to back them up. This nonsense wouldn't be tolerated in any other thread on these boards about human rights. This is an Internet forum, having a go at people using their keyboards to undermine their opinions is the most obvious hypocrisy at play.
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Pointing out hypocrisy in general attitude - not against specific individuals - is not good? Why so? Any exposition of hypocrisy can be characterized as whataboutery - it doesn't negate the point or merit. How can it be 'baseless' when what I pointed out was a specific instance - was there an outcry over nations trying to cut deals with Qatar to offset russian dependence? Why not? Human rights don't matter if it meant sacrificing something? Another - people repeatedly quoting 'thousands of deaths' in the construction of stadia - will such an outrageous lie be tolerated - in 'reputed' media like guradian no less - against secular nations? Why not? Can you suggest any other reason other than that it falls in the same category of lies that resulted in the invasion of Iraq - that which rides on the gullibility of the public in the west and their readiness to accept any outrageous lie if it's against muslim countries?
 
Mshafeek said:
Pointing out hypocrisy in general attitude - not against specific individuals - is not good? Why so? Any exposition of hypocrisy can be characterized as whataboutery - it doesn't negate the point or merit. How can it be 'baseless' when what I pointed out was a specific instance - was there an outcry over nations trying to cut deals with Qatar to offset russian dependence? Why not? Human rights don't matter if it meant sacrificing something? Another - people repeatedly quoting 'thousands of deaths' in the construction of stadia - will such an outrageous lie be tolerated - in 'reputed' media like guradian no less - against secular nations? Why not? Can you suggest any other reason other than that it falls in the same category of lies that resulted in the invasion of Iraq - that which rides on the gullibility of the public in the west and their readiness to accept any outrageous lie if it's against muslim countries?
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How do you know the figure is a lie? It's taken from government records of migrants from Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh etc who went to Qatar to work on the stadiums. That 6,500 figure is definitely lower than the actual number given it was taken up to October 2020 and doesn't include deaths after that date. It's completely sickening. I won't be paying much mind to this world cup. I hope to the heavens it's a complete and utter wet fart of a tournament. The football world should hang it's head in shame.
 
Mshafeek said:
Pointing out hypocrisy in general attitude - not against specific individuals - is not good? Why so? Any exposition of hypocrisy can be characterized as whataboutery - it doesn't negate the point or merit. How can it be 'baseless' when what I pointed out was a specific instance - was there an outcry over nations trying to cut deals with Qatar to offset russian dependence? Why not? Human rights don't matter if it meant sacrificing something? Another - people repeatedly quoting 'thousands of deaths' in the construction of stadia - will such an outrageous lie be tolerated - in 'reputed' media like guradian no less - against secular nations? Why not? Can you suggest any other reason other than that it falls in the same category of lies that resulted in the invasion of Iraq - that which rides on the gullibility of the public in the west and their readiness to accept any outrageous lie if it's against muslim countries?
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Well for a start, pointing out hypocrisy without acknowledging the issues in hand is blurring the message, and purposely or not it is siding with the oppressor. Vague accusations of hypocrisy is whataboutery, specific contradictions are not, there is a huge difference and you should learn it. And your example is not specific, it's uniformed and fueled by your ignorance and paranoia. There is huge push back from countries over both Russian and Qatari fuel, from probably the same sections of those societies that have issues with this world cup, so it is therefore consistency and integrity. Media sensationalism is a thing, and it does have an agenda whether it's to sell newspapers or to please an authoritarian regime. The Guardian have at length qualified that number with how hard it is to get a proper number because of the lack of transparency in Qatar. But none of these tangential issues deal with the human rights issues at hand. Does the media spotlight the plight of women in certain countries to push a political agenda? Yes? Should we ignore them because of this? Not a chance.

You are doing your best to turn this into a West v Islam issue and that says as much about you as anybody else in the whole discussion. Whatever made up version of a god or unicorn or whatever people choose to worship doesn't bother me as long as you don't use it to oppress as almost all have at one point or another. You and other posters are teetering around the lines of calling for human rights a brand of racism and it's not sitting comfortably with me.
 
Ticket sales for the soccer World Cup are approaching the three-million mark ahead of the tournament kicking off in Qatar on Nov. 20, FIFA’s president Gianni Infantino and event organisers said on Monday.

The top three purchasing countries of the 2.89 million tickets sold are Qatar, the United States and Saudi Arabia, World Cup Chief Operating Officer Colin Smith told a news conference in Doha.

Infantino, addressing the conference in a recorded video, said 240,000 hospitality packages had been sold for the month-long tournament, the first to be held in a Middle Eastern country.

Qatar, the smallest country to have hosted soccer’s global showpiece tournament, is preparing to receive an estimated 1.2 million visitors during the World Cup.
 




If I were going, I'd be taking a clean burner phone in.
 
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This world cup should have been cancelled the moment the corruption was discovered. I will not watch a single game. We shouldn't allow this kind of things to happen in the world we want to live in.
 
I'm a football fan. Therefore I will definitely watch as many games as possible and will even travel to Qatar to watch the switzerland-brasil and switzerland-serbia games.

We live in a corrupt world where the riches exploit the poor for ages. I will not be able to change anything if I boycott the Worldcup and won't be able to enjoy the biggest tournament of my passion.

I respect and understand everyone's decision to boycott it though.
 
Grylte said:
I'm sure it will be fun going there to watch it live.
No alcohol, profanity, loud music and sounds, and not taking pictures inside the stadium without asking everyone for permission.

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No dating? wtf.
 
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tenpoless said:
Not dating? wtf.
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This is what you get with GCC countries. Lots of restrictions on paper. Then you go to Qatar or UAE and realise that everyday life is not much different to the western world… obviously, I’m talking about the life of expat/tourist. Everyday life of workers is a completely separate story that was discussed at length in this and other threads.
 
Swiss_Red89 said:
I'm a football fan. Therefore I will definitely watch as many games as possible and will even travel to Qatar to watch the switzerland-brasil and switzerland-serbia games.

We live in a corrupt world where the riches exploit the poor for ages. I will not be able to change anything if I boycott the Worldcup and won't be able to enjoy the biggest tournament of my passion.

I respect and understand everyone's decision to boycott it though.
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So basically, corruption and exploitation exists so let's just accept it. What a ridiculous statement.
 
Biggins said:
This is what you get with GCC countries. Lots of restrictions on paper. Then you go to Qatar or UAE and realise that everyday life is not much different to the western world… obviously, I’m talking about the life of expat/tourist. Everyday life of workers is a completely separate story that was discussed at length in this and other threads.
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My experience in Dubai has been that westerners are generally allowed a lot of leeway to do as they please (within reason of course).
 
Raoul said:
My experience in Dubai has been that westerners are generally allowed a lot of leeway to do as they please (within reason of course).
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Essentially, it is the same in Doha. However, Dubai is the most liberal place in GCC (in my opinion).
 
Biggins said:
This is what you get with GCC countries. Lots of restrictions on paper. Then you go to Qatar or UAE and realise that everyday life is not much different to the western world… obviously, I’m talking about the life of expat/tourist. Everyday life of workers is a completely separate story that was discussed at length in this and other threads.
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Not much different, until you upset the wrong local. There will be Westerners ending up with punitive punishments for stupid and outdated crimes, even though the vast majority will get away with doing the exact same thing all month long.
 
The holy trinity 68 said:
So basically, corruption and exploitation exists so let's just accept it. What a ridiculous statement.
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Liz Truss is going to get a fat pay check for failure, the system is corrupt everywhere why don't we start at home first. We are one of the biggest exporters of arms to Saudi Arabia that kill people in Yemen why don`t you work on the governments in the UK to stop that and if they don`t we should stop voting a government that supports corruption. And all our UK nationals working in these countries should be called back and not work in countries where the manual workers are treated poorly. By the way manual workers die in India and many other countries where they are working in poor conditions lets not forget them too. Sports and entertainment bring people together and for that brief period if someone once to enjoy a game football so be it, changing the world will take a lot more than boycotting games. Ask the Palestinians, with all the boycotts that people who support their cause it hasn`t really changed their condition much at least not whilst they receive unconditional support from the USA.
 
11101 said:
Not much different, until you upset the wrong local. There will be Westerners ending up with punitive punishments for stupid and outdated crimes, even though the vast majority will get away with doing the exact same thing all month long.
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Save for occasional stories in the news, I cannot testify to that I’m afraid! Lived in Central Europe, London, now UAE and can’t say I see much difference between any of these places in terms of day-to-day life (the latter actually having one big tax benefit). In my opinion, UAE likes to plant stories about the severe punishments to keep people in check, however, haven’t personally witnessed or heard from anyone I know over here any story of someone being locked up for something that would be considered ridiculous or extraordinary in Europe.

Again, I’m not talking about the issue of workers as this is a completely separate story.
 
The holy trinity 68 said:
So basically, corruption and exploitation exists so let's just accept it. What a ridiculous statement.
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Going by that logic you should boycott every ManCity, PSG or Newcastle game.

I just think I will not help the global community one bit by boycotting the football world cup.
 
Probably the least enthused I've ever been about a world cup.

Hate the timing and where it's being played. Sums things up I'm more interested in the Women's world cup next summer in Australia/New Zealand. Australia bid for the mens tournament so what could've been in a developing football continent.

That said all the wallcharts and previews are coming out now so I'm genuinely intrigued how people are attempting to boycott it?

World cup games are on in majority of establishments compared to domestic matches, terrestrial TV always show the games so again harder not to watch especially if England have another good run.

Only good thing is it remains at 32 teams. Next edition with 48 teams is going to be a farce for first two weeks.

One thing I will do is go and watch Walsall live a few times during tournament as leagues 1 and 2 continue during the break so will be watching live domestic football instead of watching whichever matches are on in the afternoon slots in late November. Saying that they'll probably lose as usual in 1st round of FA cup so will themselves have a free weekend at start of December. :lol:
 
Agree with the sentiment. Very unenthusiastic about it. But I'm getting into football stickers and bought the album sooo.....
 
Gringo said:
Agree with the sentiment. Very unenthusiastic about it. But I'm getting into football stickers and bought the album sooo.....
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That's gonna cost you a fecking fortune and you'll never complete it.
 
I will financially boycott it, won't spend anything for it.

Will watch it for free though.
 
I wont spend a cent, but I wont look away either.

I read a good article from a human rights worker who said that while Qatar disgusts him, boycotting makes no difference if you're already subscribed to the channel that broadcasts the games or if you're lucky enough to have it on public TV in your country. At best it sends a message when the low viewership numbers are published. The damage is unfortunately already done. I also think these things should not be down to the individual.

It's also important to not forget what the world cup represents at its core, behind all the money, corruption and human suffering. It is also arguably the most beautiful international event there is. For me that is the second biggest tragedy with this world cup. Talk about tainting one of the few good things we have in this world!
 
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