The “ match day experience” will be like what some would like to see at the MKM. No alcohol, no rough, noisy people, no swearing as that carries heavy penalties in Qatar, no displays of emotion. And no atmosphere.
First went in the 1960s. Been quite a few times since. Has gone downhill since then, for similar reasons a lot of places have. Though still worth visiting even if you have been a few times. It is the same size as Leeds. How many weekends could you spend in Leeds?
Unfortunately the only word of English this rented mob knows is "England". Totally manufactured sham ****show.
I'm looking forward to it, don't care about England so much, just looking forward to the festival of football as I do for every World Cup. Watching games between two Countries where I would do well to name more than 4 or 5 players on the pitch before Kick Off, enjoying a beer and watching with my 7 year old who has never seen a World Cup before and hopefully seeing some memorable football moments. I am lucky owning my own business and have a TV on the wall in front of my desk so it will not bother me what time games are kicking off, it will make a nice change from watching Challenge TV all day. I also never go to the pub when Engerland are playing anyway as it tends to feel like the friday before Christmas when the arseholes of Hull all decide they are major drinkers on the local scene and annoy the hell out of us proper pub goers so the apparent lack of interest by pubs isn't bothering me either, I've watched football at home for a long time now other than attending games. People are entitled to their views on the host Country and if they feel strongly enough not to go or even not to watch on TV then I suppose who are we to judge them? However I really don't get the beer thing, if there isn't any beer then it is what it is, you're visiting a Country that does not have alcohol widely available. If drinking is that important to you why would you go to an Islamic Country? The first time I went to Pakistan it took me two days before I realised there was a bar inside a hotel room within a different hotel so I simply moved into that hotel and went and drank in there. It was literally a room with the windows blacked out, a bar, some cricket bats on the wall signed by Aussie and English teams and players who have seemingly also found it and full of BA cabin crew and nobody else, bit of a touch really!
Maybe we could hire them? Though the police would quickly pounce as they don’t want people marching along the street chanting and banging drums. Very intimidating.
When I was 8 my first World Cup was a 17 year old Pele’s introduction to the footballing public. Not live transmission, the film was rushed back or delayed viewing. As for Muslim countries, no one is asking for them to drink alcohol. We shouldn’t have awarded it to a country which won’t allow things acceptable elsewhere and dictate what they can drink and what they can wear. Imagine the uproar if the World Cup was in a country that said no to halal food would be allowed and no one could wear flowing robes.
Dictating what can and can't happen is failing to recognise the culture that is an integral part of football. To remove it, removes a part of the game. **** 'em, this farce is not football as it should be experienced, and is just a further ****ing up of the game by people with no soul for it, never mind the hypocrisy after ramming all the political ****e down fans necks for years now. If they don't have the courage to stick by their principles for what should be the biggest viewing audience, they should scrap it here too. We're playing Iran, who are currently raping political prisoners before executing them, so they can't meet their maker as per their rules. Oh aye, let's kneel down.
You make a good point, but it's law there. The reverse would be like a cannibal coming to watch a tournament here and crying victim because they can't nibble Bob's ear off.
More important than any of the political, cultural or religious bollocks, is the television coverage going to pick out fit birds from Scandanavia and South America like always happens when the director chooses?
The law there is that Muslims can’t drink alcohol. No one is asking them to drink it.You can buy it in hotels etc. The fact is that they made certain promises and have reneged on them. Muslim shopkeepers in this country have no difficulty handling alcohol as they make a nice profit selling it to the infidels. Can you list any countries which would qualify for the World Cup where cannibalism is legal so we would need to be aware of visiting fans?