Word Cup boycott?
- Thread starter GRSGimmer
- Start date
chris who
Vital Champions League
100% agree with a boycott frankly there is no chance of not having trouble .Given Mrs May's statement there will be many on both sides who will go to war on the streets .FIFA also need a bloody nose .I don't think we would be the only team to pull out it simply is not safe all all to send a team to Russia .It could be argued that it wasn't when they won the bid .But post Mrs May's statement it certainly isn't .now .
Over the past few days De Bild the German newspaper has been trying to influence players in the national squad to think about boycotting The World Cup. This is over Russian actions in Syria. It is possible that slowly but surely other countries may increase the support for a boycott.
chris who
Vital Champions League
It is not about others now .Post statement every single British person who travels their during the world cup is a serious risk .If Mrs May is unable to back up her facts she should never have said anything so confrontational .But having done so now sending a football team there representing our country would be fool hardy in the extreme .I can see a few players choosing not to go as they start to think of their own safety .
Skoolboy_error
Vital Reserves Team
We should not send the England team. Aside from the nerve agent business, the Finals were corruptly awarded to Russia.
Perhaps we should send Corbyn Monoxide to talk to them over a "nice cup of tea".
Perhaps we should send Corbyn Monoxide to talk to them over a "nice cup of tea".
SteveTreacle
Vital 1st Team Regular
Firstly, the World Cup should never have been given to Russia and having been wrongly done so, should have been taken away from them long before now. For footballing and organisation reasons, they didn't deserve it - their stadium, infrastructure, logistics etc. don't compare to ours and several of the other competitors. They have issues such as hooliganism, racism, homophobia etc. in football and in society that have largely been dealt with here and in some other countries. They are corrupt to the core (which is probably why they got the world cup) and off of the pitch have assisted directly and indirectly genocide in Syria, have annexed and invaded other countries, cheated in sport through doping - proven state sponsored and organised doping, which is in addition to the recent poisoning in Salisbury (not the first example of that in the UK and elsewhere in recent times) - not only doing so on another countries sovereign territory, but meaning several dozen people have been hospitalised.
As I say, Fifa should have taken away the World Cup from them ages ago and, having not done that (as they haven't changed one bit and are every bit as corrupt still as Russia, Qatar and half of the members who vote them in time and time again) we and other top footballing nations should have acted and pledged to boycot the World Cup in Russia, break away from Fifa etc. etc.. However, the opportunity for that and momentum seems to be gone and yet again Fifa have wormed their way out of corruption again, changed nothing and have maintained a system of largely corrupt nations voting in a largely corrupt Fifa leadership and then receiving perks for so doing (such as the 2026 World Cup being extended to give even more undeserving countries a chance to qualify).
That's not saying we shouldn't withdraw from Fifa or boycott the Russian (and Qatar) World Cups, but we'd be a lone voice and it would make no difference and Fifa, Russia and, for example, chip on your shoulder African nations would just rally against us.
My understanding is that the government proposals to boycott the World Cup are from, understandable, safety angles. If the Russians can poison people in the UK and hospitalise dozens of citizens, what can the state there - whether it be the police, army or state sponsored and trained hooligans do to our players, officials and fans? I suspect the team will go, but fans will be discouraged from going and we won't send the usual diplomats or army off officials (who will probably be replaced by security and undercover agents etc.)
As I say, Fifa should have taken away the World Cup from them ages ago and, having not done that (as they haven't changed one bit and are every bit as corrupt still as Russia, Qatar and half of the members who vote them in time and time again) we and other top footballing nations should have acted and pledged to boycot the World Cup in Russia, break away from Fifa etc. etc.. However, the opportunity for that and momentum seems to be gone and yet again Fifa have wormed their way out of corruption again, changed nothing and have maintained a system of largely corrupt nations voting in a largely corrupt Fifa leadership and then receiving perks for so doing (such as the 2026 World Cup being extended to give even more undeserving countries a chance to qualify).
That's not saying we shouldn't withdraw from Fifa or boycott the Russian (and Qatar) World Cups, but we'd be a lone voice and it would make no difference and Fifa, Russia and, for example, chip on your shoulder African nations would just rally against us.
My understanding is that the government proposals to boycott the World Cup are from, understandable, safety angles. If the Russians can poison people in the UK and hospitalise dozens of citizens, what can the state there - whether it be the police, army or state sponsored and trained hooligans do to our players, officials and fans? I suspect the team will go, but fans will be discouraged from going and we won't send the usual diplomats or army off officials (who will probably be replaced by security and undercover agents etc.)
Wayne.Kerr
Vital Champions League
We'd boycott the World Cup after the first round anyway; so, what's the point of going?
A proper boycott not only to show up Russia but to demonstrate to those crooks in FIFA how they got it so wrong.
A proper boycott not only to show up Russia but to demonstrate to those crooks in FIFA how they got it so wrong.
Vambogills
Vital Football Hero
Watched a documentary recently (called Icarus) about Russia's state sponsored sports doping and their bent testing laboratory in Moscow. Made me realise they are corrupt to the core so a perfect bedfellow for FIFA.
I can't think of a world cup that means so little to me after Blatter and Putins games. I really wouldn't care if England didn't go. I don't know any fans who are.
I can't think of a world cup that means so little to me after Blatter and Putins games. I really wouldn't care if England didn't go. I don't know any fans who are.
Wayne.Kerr
Vital Champions League
That and the current attempted murder are the first time [I think] that somebody's disappearance has been treated as suspicious; now there may be a reason for this but it's very strange
Jerryattrick
Vital Football Hero
What happened to sport being non political ?
We already knew during the bidding that FIFA was bent and you had to use bribes to get the WC. Thats the time when we should have taken the moral high ground and withdraw from the process. No, we waited until we lost until we cried foul and even then did not decide to boycott the tournaments.
So much hipocrasy, we have played in many sports tournaments in countries that have civil rights problems, why is Rissia any different, i suppose that being killed in Syria by russian bombs is better than getting killed by our bombs.
As for safety, why is it suddenly more dangerous to atend the WC in russian than it was a month ago lol.
We already knew during the bidding that FIFA was bent and you had to use bribes to get the WC. Thats the time when we should have taken the moral high ground and withdraw from the process. No, we waited until we lost until we cried foul and even then did not decide to boycott the tournaments.
So much hipocrasy, we have played in many sports tournaments in countries that have civil rights problems, why is Rissia any different, i suppose that being killed in Syria by russian bombs is better than getting killed by our bombs.
As for safety, why is it suddenly more dangerous to atend the WC in russian than it was a month ago lol.
GillsBluenose
Vital Football Hero
Because it now looks like Putin is intentionally provoking us. There was an ex Kremlin officer speaking on the news this morning with a heavy accent but what I could hear was that he kept referring to how weak Mrs May was perceived.
If the recent deaths of the close relatives (wife, brother and son, I think) of the man poisoned on the streets of Salisbury are re-examined and it appears that they were in fact assassinated, then we must find some form of retaliation or they will sense even more weakness.
If the Russian ambassador does not come up with a decent defence today we should cut as many diplomatic ties as we can.
This would not be a kneejerk reaction. Are we expected to just allow blatant assassinations to take place on our streets?
As for the World Cup, it would normally be with a heavy heart that I would advocate withdrawal but with the current state of our team, particularly the lack of a first choice keeper and centre backs, it makes it a less difficult decision
Jerryattrick
Vital Football Hero
Why would we pull out of the WC now when we did not at the time that we knew during the bidding process that it was corrupt along with FIFA. No, we kept quiet just on the off chance we won it, where was the moral high ground then.
Isnt the reality that to do something really serious against the Russians could cost an economic or political impact whereas a WC ban costs very little but looks like you are doing something. As we have seen with our talks with the Saudis there is little appetite to have morals when the economy is impacted.
Surely the thing is to first of all actually prove that the Russians were involved (currently it just looks likely lol) using the international processes and then do something meaningful.
Isnt the reality that to do something really serious against the Russians could cost an economic or political impact whereas a WC ban costs very little but looks like you are doing something. As we have seen with our talks with the Saudis there is little appetite to have morals when the economy is impacted.
Surely the thing is to first of all actually prove that the Russians were involved (currently it just looks likely lol) using the international processes and then do something meaningful.
markinkent
Vital Football Hero
I agree with the boycott but for different reasons.
Its not to do with the Russians involvement in Syria , that's no different to Saudis in Yemen and we indirectly support them through the supply of weapons. Declaring an interest here I personally have worked on projects that are in use by RSAF. The Syrian issue is a mess and frankly less civilians would have suffered if Assad won a decisive victory years ago.
Its not to do with the fact the May needs to look strong, she doesn't she's as weak as anything (I only hope that she hasn't looked back to Thatcher and though her popularity did well by launching an Armada).
Its not to do with the fact that two Russians are seriously ill after being attacked on UK soil.
It is however everything to do with a UK policeman who has been injured (who knows if any long term affects) and countless UK civilians who may have long term affects from exposure - lets be clear the UK government won't be honest over that issue.
We should simply say. We don't want anything to do with a Russia that thinks it can deploy deadly nerve agents on UK soil with impunity. We don't want to be entertained by a Russian state who seems to forget that in their darkest hour we sent arctic convoys to help them (we will overlook that the only reason Hitler lost WW2 was that he spread his resources too thin by having a war on two fronts). We don't need Russia (well all the time we can buy gas from Qatar) and we don't care that they don't need us.
Enjoy your football Putin. We don't care if other teams don't join our boycott.
We can't challenge Russia militarily (not without triggering WW3) and the only country who can simply won't, but frankly its our choice whether we want to attend their world cup and frankly we don't want to.
We should pull out - stand proud and see if anyone wants to follow us. If not we stand alone, not for the first time and won't be the last.
Screw them. Some things are more important than football. Having a bit of pride is one of them.
Its not to do with the Russians involvement in Syria , that's no different to Saudis in Yemen and we indirectly support them through the supply of weapons. Declaring an interest here I personally have worked on projects that are in use by RSAF. The Syrian issue is a mess and frankly less civilians would have suffered if Assad won a decisive victory years ago.
Its not to do with the fact the May needs to look strong, she doesn't she's as weak as anything (I only hope that she hasn't looked back to Thatcher and though her popularity did well by launching an Armada).
Its not to do with the fact that two Russians are seriously ill after being attacked on UK soil.
It is however everything to do with a UK policeman who has been injured (who knows if any long term affects) and countless UK civilians who may have long term affects from exposure - lets be clear the UK government won't be honest over that issue.
We should simply say. We don't want anything to do with a Russia that thinks it can deploy deadly nerve agents on UK soil with impunity. We don't want to be entertained by a Russian state who seems to forget that in their darkest hour we sent arctic convoys to help them (we will overlook that the only reason Hitler lost WW2 was that he spread his resources too thin by having a war on two fronts). We don't need Russia (well all the time we can buy gas from Qatar) and we don't care that they don't need us.
Enjoy your football Putin. We don't care if other teams don't join our boycott.
We can't challenge Russia militarily (not without triggering WW3) and the only country who can simply won't, but frankly its our choice whether we want to attend their world cup and frankly we don't want to.
We should pull out - stand proud and see if anyone wants to follow us. If not we stand alone, not for the first time and won't be the last.
Screw them. Some things are more important than football. Having a bit of pride is one of them.
