Absolutely! Which is why I felt that the English, German, Danish etc FA's should have gone ahead with the One Love armband and taken the yellow card punishment, even if just for one game.
Boycott The Qatar World Cup?
- Thread starter OldSchoolManc
- Start date
And lose all the business? Privately the governments would put pressure.
The Iran comparison is an interesting point. My question to the harshest critics of the Qatar world cup -- the way western media has talked about Qatar and it's possible boycott (slaves and killings) is it even different to what is happening in Iran?
That itself should be a red flag that there's some biased reporting going on here.
That itself should be a red flag that there's some biased reporting going on here.
Don't think I'd count myself among the harshest critics, but still interested. Can you clarify your question? Not sure I understand what you're asking. Difference in media coverage of what's happening in Iran now, and the criticism in Qatar?
Just so i have it right: Hassan al-Thawadi said to Piers Morgan that he thinks about 400 to 500 workers have died during the building of the Stadiums, and Infantino said about 3(!) workers died?
Are you sure absolut this? No viewership related bonuses?
Because I am certain I’ve read that FIFA always includes bonuses in their broadcasting rights (A World Cup with England and Wales is worth much more to British tv than one without them, it makes sense they pay less/more in different cases.. And there was a little controversy when they awarded the 2026 to the joint North American bid, as that decision was going to earn Fifa 100s of millions in bonuses. (A special bonus had been included in the tv rights with some broadcasters, that they’d pay much more if it took place there).
I got a feeling he is insinuating that things in Iran might not be as bad as we think they are…
Lose what business? If your engagement for LGBT rights is genuine, then a yellow card shouldn’t stand in the way… If it’s just a virtue signaling PR campaign on the other hand…
Yeah that's a fair comment, it does feel a bit off discussing these things when you realize those numbers are people's lives.
I read it as saying things are much worse in Iran on a human rights level yet Qatar is getting more negative press - which is a valid point
What are you on about? It's all a PR stunt by the governments. Do you want they care a feck about it? It's all about money. It's not the first time and it won't be the last time. I agree that the general public is genuine. But the governments are not.
Well, yes, but that's not exactly surprising is it? One is currently hosting the biggest tournament in world football (the most popular game in the world) while the other is an oppressive regime without a free press that hasn't invited the world in while it hosts the aforementioned tournament.
No. More that Qatar is not as bad as (or frankly comparable to) Iran but they're put in the same bucket as per media reports
The average viewer probably cannot differentiate between Qatar and Iran at this moment due to the media coverage. Qatar has been labelled murderers, slave owners, dictators and so has Iran.
Unless you think both situations are the same, it should be a clear red flag of biased reporting when it comes to Qatar
Neither Qatar nor EU countries would stop trading over the armband issue, no matter which way that goes.
Some teams and/or FAs wanted to do it, but in the end clearly not at all costs. Not much to do with governments really
Why? See my post above - the discrepancy between the extent to which each are reported on is easily explained. You even acknowledge that the context within which Qatar is reported on isn't comparable to Iran but then go on to use it as an example of the way in which reporting is biased when directly compared to Qatar. You can't have it both ways.
Well no it's not surprising because I see bias and hypocrisy at every level of the media reporting about this World Cup
But do you fundamentally see why one is more widely reported on than the other? Surely you don't believe that it's exclusively bias and hypocrisy? I totally agree that the situation in Iran (and many, many other places) should be more widely reported on but it's disingenuous to use the press coverage of Qatar (a country that's hosting the most widely reported on sporting event in the world) as a reference point against which coverage of all other human rights crises should be measured.
Yes and no I don't
Sure Qatar deserves criticism and some negative press, but it's all gone too far IMO
Fair play, I can understand that. I wonder if the Qatari bid could have magically seen into the future during the bid process to how it would all turn out, whether they'd have still gone ahead with it. Hypothetical to which we'll never know the answer, of course!
I think they will probably still see it as a net positive - a decade ago half the planet had never even heard of Qatar
I wouldnt assume that all press around the world have been as negative as the UK media either
I'm pretty sure that if the World Cup was being held in Iran right now there would be more boycotting/uproar than what we've seen recently.
I don't think it's strange that a country comes under more scrutiny/attention after being awarded an international event, inviting 31 other countries and their media inside said country and then broadcasting to billions of people daily.
I don't think it's strange that a country comes under more scrutiny/attention after being awarded an international event, inviting 31 other countries and their media inside said country and then broadcasting to billions of people daily.
I'm not just talking about context. Water and Qatari government have done nothing comparable to Iran and that's my point. It's not two issues of the same general thing but one more severe than the other. It's completely different.
Yet media berates Qatar in the same breath as Iran.
That's the nature of the beast though, everything about major events goes too far. We've had body language experts on tv checking if there was something wrong between ronaldo and bruno.
The online/BBC hysteria is hardly relevant to them. The event has attracted investors like no other. Any business person or entity worth attracting has turned their head so I doubt they'll care.
So far the event organization has been really good so unless something goes wrong by the end, this will be a success for them.
I'm not quite sure what your point is here. That criticism of Qatar should be separated from criticism of Iran by a certain arbitrary amount of time? Ironically, the only people I've seen comparing the two contexts are the people arguing that Qatar are being treated unfairly by the media. I've yet to see anyone else look to claim that the two situations are remotely comparable.
Exactly this.
so the on field enjoyment comes at the cost of at least 400 if not 500 lives
ah well at least its not your family
ah well at least its not your family
Typical western hypocrite. Save ukraine... what about people in iran or syria, etc?
Think he had "Respect for Iranian Women" on his back.
What about iranian men? They don't deserve support?
I genuinely can't tell anymore if this is a serious complaint.
Chaps obviously a misandrist.
According to this thread, it might be. Who cares, anyway? We're all hypocrites.
Great point sensibly made. I see now that this man is a hypocrite, and thusly, his original message is one I don’t want to hear about and cannot give value to.
He should’ve respected the values of the Iranian regime, the warring traditions of russia and simply stood smiling and enjoying the football (as enjoying the football means holding no opinion).
I was wrong to respect the bravery of this man and instead I should’ve found out whether he is protesting EVERYTHING all at once, and if not I should’ve called him out as a hypocrite.
Sensible approach to a simple World
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The hypocritical bastard is from Italy, where women didn't gain full suffrage until the 1940s. He's in no position to call for women's rights in Iran.
He also didn't invade the pitch during the 2018 World Cup did he? Not to mention the 2026 one in the US...
If anything he should be apologising to Iran for the fact he was born in europe!
To paraphrase something posted earlier..
He wants to have eaten his Big Mac (the oppression of womens rights in Italy until the 1940s) and enjoyed it while telling Iran that they cant enjoy their Big Mac (their current oppression of womens rights), the fella is a total Hamburglar.
It's not 'yeah but', it's 'yeah and''. Not sure how many times I have to repeat myself before you take your fingers out of your ears.
Secondly, I didn't even post the cartoon, but frankly, I'm not surprised you didn't realize that. Regardless, I have no problem with the protest by the German NT, nor do I support Qatar laws or policies on LGBT rights, but I do think discussions about the hypocrisy and the over-the-top criticism of the West towards Qatar is fair game in this thread and not a deflection. I'm repeating myself and you're just reading what you want to read at this point.