Given the furore over the Ferdinand martyr case, until the English FA are investigated by an independent FIFA panel and can offer some explaination as to why they have rebuffed Ferdinand three, ten or seven times (independent QC can fill this bit in later) surely the Ukranian hosts should be allowed to maintain their good name record on this subject being contaminated by the English FA. And the FA should also prove they have not used the words 'negrito', 'blackie' and 'negro' about Ferdand, assuming that they're guilty unless they prove otherwise. Also, more seriously, does not FIFA and UEFA have a charter banning associations who use their football teams to make political points? If some Arab teanm refused to play Israel, or the Irish government made a political stance over a game with NI FIFA would be in there like a shot. What f00king right does OUR government, given OUR apalling FA, think they have to use a fooball tournament to make political points? You just know that however despotic and vile the regime, grandstanding posturing aside, their friends in big business won't think twice about working with these tyrants to extract every penny of their natural resource and divvy up the spoils between themselves at the expense of the (usually) destitute local people. Get your fingers outFIFA - ban racist FA's like the English and keep politicians out of world football!
I can't understand why they granted the tournament to what is essentially a third world country anyway. Allowing them to waste money on stadiums and infrastructure which would be much better spent on education and housing.
