I’m going to try not to watch it. Not sure how successful I’ll be, but can’t say I have any sense of excitement or even interest yet. Every country has something to be ashamed about but Qatar is pretty extreme and the manner of them being awarded the tournament was just sickening. It’s not a matter of principle, more just of disgust. Like you I have invested time and money following England at international tournaments in the past. I feel more detached from the team nowadays, but not to watch at all would be a pretty big thing for me.
All I’m saying is that if you wanna get upset about football being hosted in nations which don’t match up to how you feel standards for equality and human rights, it would be odd to start here. I’ll probably give it a miss, although not all that bothered about internationals these days and know full well it’ll make **** all difference, but would I say the same if I was more interested or even playing… I suspect I’d be a hypocrite there.
But why “odd to start here” when it’s linking to the upcoming WC and the abuses in Qatar have been widely reported for over a year now ? In my view, we are all hypocrites and willing to ignore things that go on when it suits us personally….just many of us won’t admit it.
Might be worth getting the views of our man in the spot, @WBA2_QPR3 , do you think low viewing figures, discreet and indiscreet protests, boycotts etc will have any impact on the Qataris Wubba? No criticism of you for earning your crust out there intended or implied by the way.
Give Peter Tatchell his fair dues…….the fella is always willing to make his point and often puts himself in danger.
Okay...some one explain this to me...genuine question...not a wind up. I have just seen a spokesman defending the leaving migrants at London? Victoria Station. The reason was that they said they had family and friends in London who they were going to stay with ...but some of them didn't and so had nowhere to go. Right....so these were " migrants"... not going into whether they were illegal or not here...who had not been " processed", who were let out of the detention centre because they said they had somewhere to go ( and a number didn't (? were lying?) This is worst than useless surely. Or am I missing something here
My point being is there wasn’t the level of questions raised on a similar basis 4 years back. I think we’re all hypocrites to a degree, and like I mentioned me not bothering watching won’t make a bit of difference, it won’t change a thing. The only way change would happen is if people and groups were to have stepped away, which would have needed to be several big teams/nations stepping away. if I were an international player I doubt I’d have given up my dream to play at a World Cup and I expect would have struggled even if that had been part of a bigger group.