Shows how ill conceived the idea to award it Qatar was in the first place..... Still on a positive side Rugby Union continues at club/province level during the 6 Nations every February/March so really no reason why Football should be stopped as it will allow fringe players the chance to establish themselves in the first teams.......
Both the Russian and Qatar world cups show how badly corrupt Mr Blatter is, full investigation, Blatter sacked along with any of his friends and the world cups given to countries which are not rotten to the core with bigotry
Have to play it on the Moon then. Of countries on Earth I have spent time in, I think Thailand comes closest to that.
Well there is a lot of truth in that and I understand pretty much everywhere has elements of corruption and bigotry, however these 2 fall down very badly in areas such as racism and homophobia which I thought were are trying to be addressed in the modern game.
The worst aspect of all this is that the FA seem now to have decided that there is no point in taking the very valid complaints about corruption any further and will go along with the arrangements providing the dates don't screw up the money making Christmas football schedule in the UK. Where's the backbone in that? Looks like the crony backhanders have reached Mr Dyke's level.
That's the Tailand where you get put in prison for putting on a student play which might be construed as mildly insulting to the Thai monarchy? The Thailand where Burmese are fitted up for the unsolved murder of tourists? It's a beautiful and fascinating place and I'd be far happier to have a World Cup staged there than in many other places and certainly than Russia and Qatar, but it's hardly top of the league for lack of issues.
Well, Denmark's not really big enough to host a World Cup alone so it'll have to share with number 2 on the list. That could be interesting... https://www.transparency.org/cpi2014/results
There's many "issues" there, corruption, poverty, a military coup and government not the least of them, and the authorities did seem very quick to blame that murder on the weakest immigrant community. I think the student play you are referring to was the hand signs aimed at the Military leadership of the Country, not the Monarchy. But I was responding to Tim's post about countries rotten to the core with bigotry. I notice far less of that amongst Thai people in their relations with foreign tourists, immigrant workers, and other religions than in other Counties. The Monarchy have actively encouraged welcoming visitors to Thailand. It doesn't mean bigotry doesn't exist there though - like I said I think you need to go to the moon to avoid that, and that won't be for long.
Would it be a winter or a summer World Cup Kiwi? Say if we held it every 3rd weekend in months with an R in them?
The World Cup should clearly never have been awarded to Qatar. That's a given. Once it was, any shift from that position was going to be a credibility kick to Blatter and FIFA, and so we all knew there was very little chance that this would happen. The move to winter has only happened because if they DIDN'T move, they would come under fire for putting player and fan lives at risk. As it is, there's now the issue of travel chaos because pre-Christmas is a really busy time anyway without hundreds of thousands of football supporters flying home. It causes major upset to just about every league in the world, and you can bet there will be a dictate that leagues have to be suspended during the tournament due to FIFA not wanting fans to stay at home and support their clubs. All of this is without the additional issues, in that countries in that area have strict laws regarding alcohol, women, sex, homosexuality, etc. and there needs to be some major headway over those items, otherwise most fans will simply boycott the tournament and watch at home on the telly, where they can happily watch England lose with a beer in one hand, the remote in the other, and the wife bobbing up and down in the lap. If Blatter WANTED a tournament boycotted by some countries, abandoned by most fans, and in a location where players who really don't want to be there sweat themselves to a standstill in front of an empty stadium whilst the few people that did travel bemoan their inability to sink a beer, he couldn't have done a more perfect job.
Corruption and greed prevails as usual. Spare a thought for poor Mr Murdoch who will no doubt still pay £billions for EPL coverage in the season 2021 / 2022 only to have a buggered up Christmas schedule It's not often the "elite" screw each other over but it is bloody hilarious when they do!
I've said it before.... the 'Big 12' should do what the PDC did to the BDC in the world of darts and breakaway and setup their own world cup. Hosted each year on a rotation that's biased to football's grass roots - Europe: Year 2018: Europe Year 2022: South America / Rest of World Year 2026: Europe Year 2030: South America / Rest of World etc 8 countries from Europe: Belgium England France Germany Italy Netherlands Portugal Spain 4 countries from South America Argentina Brazil Colombia Uruguay 12 others that qualify from the Rest of the World qualification (based on current form, likely to be): Chile Costa Rica Ivory Coast Croatia Czech Republic Ghana Mexico Russia Slovakia Switzerland Ukraine USA Simples!
Gary Neville talking some sense - maybe. Reckons that England have a better chance mid season with the lads relatively fresh. Sort of makes sense but does not make up for the chaos!
