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English >> Real life soccer
World Cup Qatar (34)
I agree with Stephen, the majority of the normal footbal loving fans will tune in and support their team no matter what. I don't think a construction worker from the Netherlands, Engeland or anywhere else on the world will take the problems of their far away coworkers in mind when flippping on the television to watch football.
Unfortunately that's most likely what will happen.
Setting aside what other people will do or think, what do you guys think yourselves? Do you think it should go through? And would you watch?
I would be interested to know what the families themselves think. Most likely they wouldn't all agree.
Some would probably take the view that if the tournament was cancelled then their loved one died in vain.
My personal view is that without me investigating further most of the evidence seems circumstantial and isn't strong enough to support an accusation of major crimes. This isn't state sponsored murder or terrorism, or anything of that kind of gravity.
I don't see how pulling out would actually achieve anything. It's not a case of turning a blind eye but cancelling or re-arranging the tournament would probably cause more problems than it solves.
Worker's rights is really a political problem best addressed through the normal diplomatic channels rather then using football - and the world cup - as a stick to beat them with.
Nothing will bring back those who have died and it's a case of making the best of the situation that you are in.
So if I was personally in charge, I would probably let the tournament go ahead. But insist there was an independent inquiry into each alleged death and Qatar had to pay compensation out of their profits to each of the families where they were found to be at fault based on the balance of probabilities. That is the standard used in civil law and not criminal law.
FIFA is an organisation full of corruption (not sure UEFA isn't far behind), it's been proven on more than one occasion with arrests and prosecutions. It won't change and, as mentioned, the power of those reprastentives from smaller footballing nations to have influence in where a world cup is held gives massive oppotunity for corruption.
It goes hand in hand with politics, you just have to look at the Jack Warner to see that https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Warner_(football_executive)
Governments get involved in bids to host events like the Olympics and the World Cup as a matter of national prestige. Even when some of those events - the Olympics has lost money many times - that the tax payer in the country has to pick up.
Just look at the way they try to outdo each other with Olympic opening and closing ceremonies.
There are dozens of articles on the BBC website about the Qatar world cup, from corruption in the bidding process to workers not being paid, health and safety problems and human rights abuse. The thing stinks from top to bottom.
Will people boycott it? Very few. The human race is, in general, a selfish species. Very few will actually care. Some might think about it, some will tut and say it's all terrible but when push comes to shove, they'll watch it.
The Qatar world cup is the tip of a very large iceberg humanity as a whole will turn a blind eye to.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_FIFA_World_Cup_controversies
Very good point, Dragontao, the problem runs much deeper than this. It's more of a symptom than an actual outlier. When huge sums of money are involved, human beings fade into the background.
"There are dozens of articles on the BBC website about the Qatar world cup ..."
And, of course, the BBC will be at the front of the queue for broadcasting rights. If they were really bothered then they wouldn't put it on the TV. The BBC likes to take the moral high ground when it suits them but in reality they are just as duplicitous as anyone else.
I certainly wouldn't exhonerate the BBC. I was merely stating a fact that there are plenty of articles and they did do some investigative journalism, but don't get me started on the BBC as a whole.
Yes, agreed. I was simply commenting on the BBC aspect without the intention of any other implied meaning. They have their own agenda and push their own beliefs and politics whilst claiming that they are independent and completely without any bias. The beliefs and values of any news organisation will largely determine what they consider to be newsworthy and also what they decide to investigate. They use their position to influence public opinion and this gives them great power over hearts and minds.
That said they also produce some top quality programmes.
I'd still rather choose to pay for the few things I bother with on the BBC through a subscription service, rather than being forced to pay them just so I can watch ANY other live TV, including content you might choose to pay for separately such as Sky sports.
Imagine shopping in Sainsbury's and being told you've got to pay Tesco £160 a year for the privilege.
They have the nerve to advertise Freeview on our TVs when it actually costs £159 a year to watch. Get Neflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+ for just over £100 more than that. Plenty of radio options available withthout the BBC. I have not discovered a new band through the BBC's bland radio stations for at least 20 years.
Dammit, I said don't get me started on the BBC.
You won't find any disagreement with me there.
The BBC license is an anachronism that dates back to the days of only having 2 or 3 channels. With so much now being available on the internet many people are choosing to go legally license free and not watch live TV. Most stuff can still be watched using catch-up services.
I wouldn't mind paying the license fee so much if they were genuinely a public service broadcaster and entirely without bias. But they're not. I object strongly to being forced to pay to support an organisation where I disagree with many of their views.
@Numpty - no one at all on the world is without bias. We all have our prejudices, whether conscious or unconscious. It's part of what makes us human. Therefore no broadcaster is going to be impartial either, whether public service or otherwise.
Anywho, back on topic...
Will I be boycotting watching the tournament? Good question. Probably not, being completely honest. If one or more major nations pulled out, then I might think about it
Football, in my opinion, is, like a lot of sports, quite dull if you're not invested in the outcome. I have as much interest in watching say Paraguay v Algeria as I do in watching Cardiff City take on Barnsley. That is to say, very little!
What I'm saying is that if some major nations took the decision to boycott, then I'd be much less likely to tune in.
(And no offence to anyone who cares about the football clubs or countries mentioned above. They are purely examples of things I am not invested in rather than the result of some agenda I have against them!)
Absolutely Stephen. No problem with that at all. In most countries the broadcaster clearly take sides on various issues and everyone knows that. The problem is the Beeb actually trumpet their impartiality, fairness and truthfulness and go to great lengths to say 'we can be trusted', when the reality is there is a lot of bias.
FIFA could be a useful tool to promote democracy or human rights since it is so powerful but on the contrary, it's a faithful ally of the worst regimes on our planet.
I have been watching WCs with passion since I was a child. I was 16 when I watched the WC in Argentina which was organized by one of the worst military junta ever to exist.
I did not know/did not care to learn about what happened there at that time. But I read many years later that political prisoners who sat in a jail not far from the Monumental stadium could hear the cheers of the crowd during the final. Between two torture sessions.
There is no doubt Argentina's victory helped the colonels legitimate and promote their regime.
I will boycott the Qatar WC (human rights are a joke there), as I boycotted the WC in Russia (state organized doping, human rights abuse, and last but not least being on the verge of provoking WWIII every now and then by invading neighbouring countries was a "no go" for me).
No country is pure and perfect, but at some point I had to draw a line.
Every dude who watches a WC match on his TV gives a bit more weight to FIFA and to the sad countries who have bought them.
The fact only 4 or 5 people post messages in this thread probably means most football fans don't bother at all as long as the pop corn is ready and the TV works so I expect business to go on as usual this winter, sadly.