The World Cup 2022 Thread

[Bender]

Empty stadiums at the world cup would be brilliant and funny ...as would a LGBQT All STAR X1 V All star X1 Footballers who don't give a ****

[Irishnev]

What is everyone doing regarding the WC? Will you be watching or boycotting or simply not arsed?

I don't like international football, and barely watch it but the WC is usually special. This time I really don't care partly because of the situation in Qatar, partly because of when it is and partly my apathy to international football, won't be able to boycott it as will be spending a couple of weeks with the in laws while it's on and they will be watching.

I really don’t like that it’s in the winter, I like even less that it’s in Qatar but here we are. It’s not the fault of the countries of players that ****ing corrupt FIFA took money from horrible regimes to cause this.

Poland have qualified and things will ramp up here - it’s the first World Cup my son can appreciate. I’ll watch it…..not all games but enough of them. It’s the World Cup ffs……supposedly the pinnacle of the game. It’s just that FIFA are a shower of cunts and it’s led to this **** situation

[Doc_Piptorious]

I really don’t like that it’s in the winter, I like even less that it’s in Qatar but here we are. It’s not the fault of the countries of players that ****ing corrupt FIFA took money from horrible regimes to cause this.

Poland have qualified and things will ramp up here - it’s the first World Cup my son can appreciate. I’ll watch it…..not all games but enough of them. It’s the World Cup ffs……supposedly the pinnacle of the game. It’s just that FIFA are a shower of cunts and it’s led to this **** situation

If the pinnacle of the game is happy to endorse a barbaric regime and take blood money for that endorsement, it really is not much of a pinnacle.

Yes FIFA are in the wrong, but so are all the various FAs imo as they have had more than a decade of seeing what is happening over there in the build to this joke of a tournament as well as being able to research the decades and decades of savage human rights abuse in the region.

This farce did not creep up on anyone. It has been out in the open and people just chose to look the other way.

And yes footballers can go if they like, they can say their careers are short and that they have no control over where tournaments are played.

But the same players had best not be spouting off about human rights, gay rights, poverty and what not when this tournament is over because they have had the chance to open their mouths in the build to this and the chance to use their profiles to highlight issues without any risk to their privileged lifestyles.

I do not want to hear any of them, be they from our club or other clubs, go on about how they care about things that impact oppressed people at home or abroad because when they had the opportunity to make a stand or simply just to say something they stayed quiet.

Same goes for pricks like David Beckham, Gary Neville and others who do the man of the people crap and then take the blood money to be part of such an event.

[Irishnev]

If the pinnacle of the game is happy to endorse a barbaric regime and take blood money for that endorsement, it really is not much of a pinnacle.

Yes FIFA are in the wrong, but so are all the various FAs imo as they have had more than a decade of seeing what is happening over there in the build to this joke of a tournament as well as being able to research the decades and decades of savage human rights abuse in the region.

This farce did not creep up on anyone. It has been out in the open and people just chose to look the other way.

And yes footballers can go if they like, they can say their careers are short and that they have no control over where tournaments are played.

But the same players had best not be spouting off about human rights, gay rights, poverty and what not when this tournament is over because they have had the chance to open their mouths in the build to this and the chance to use their profiles to highlight issues without any risk to their privileged lifestyles.

I do not want to hear any of them, be they from our club or other clubs, go on about how they care about things that impact oppressed people at home or abroad because when they had the opportunity to make a stand or simply just to say something they stayed quiet.

Same goes for pricks like David Beckham, Gary Neville and others who do the man of the people crap and then take the blood money to be part of such an event.

I agree with all you said Jaco but I will watch some of the games with my son. I equally will explain to him about all the wrongs associated with the World Cup

[Doc_Piptorious]

I agree with all you said Jaco but I will watch some of the games with my son. I equally will explain to him about all the wrongs associated with the World Cup

Not having a go at you at all. You and other people with kids are in a bit of a tricky situation and what you said you are planning to do is probably about as much as can be said when kids are involved. Is a time of the year when days are short and the weather can be bad, so I totally get how it will be difficult to avoid at times.



I'm going to be giving the entire thing a swerve and will be using some of the time it is on to watch Breaking Bad for the first time. Already told one of my god daughters that I will not be watching any of it with her and that our tradition of watching tournaments together is being put on hold this year (Have watched most tournaments with her since she was a kid and she is a grown woman with a kid of her own now)


Plus I might start a thread on here about that time for fellow agitators to skulk about in and from which to arrange mass hijacks of WC threads. Hope you footy watchers enjoy lots of chat about tea, brekkie rolls, tourist spots in Ireland, cats, whiskey, music, politics, shower gels, beard oil and carrots

[Irishnev]

Not having a go at you at all. You and other people with kids are in a bit of a tricky situation and what you said you are planning to do is probably about as much as can be said when kids are involved. Is a time of the year when days are short and the weather can be bad, so I totally get how it will be difficult to avoid at times.



I'm going to be giving the entire thing a swerve and will be using some of the time it is on to watch Breaking Bad for the first time. Already told one of my god daughters that I will not be watching any of it with her and that our tradition of watching tournaments together is being put on hold this year (Have watched most tournaments with her since she was a kid and she is a grown woman with a kid of her own now)


Plus I might start a thread on here about that time for fellow agitators to skulk about in and from which to arrange mass hijacks of WC threads. Hope you footy watchers enjoy lots of chat about tea, brekkie rolls, tourist spots in Ireland, cats, whiskey, music, politics, shower gels, beard oil and carrots

Surely a stand alone Irish thread is merited…..after all we’ve hijacked most if the rest of them

[Doc_Piptorious]

Surely a stand alone Irish thread is merited…..after all we’ve hijacked most if the rest of them

Only if it is for Irish only. That way we can keep Perkins out of it


Yeah that's right, Perkins, I said it

[spud_gun]

Only if it is for Irish only. That way we can keep Perkins out of it


Yeah that's right, Perkins, I said it

The Irish contingent protesting against Qatar2022

[Doc_Piptorious]

The Irish contingent protesting against Qatar2022

Would be just me. Nev, also known in these parts as Birdy, (on the left of the pic as you look at it), will not be joining me and Perkins I made Scottish last week so he is out.

Not sure about the rest of the Irish on here. Frank The Tank, Piggy, Angry Red or is it Brightred or maybe both ending in red are Irish.

[Doc_Piptorious]

Philipp Lahm on the World Cup and he touches on the watch it or do not watch it stuff too. Spoiler alert he is going to watch it


Makes a lot of good points throughout though.

As tournament director of Euro 2024, I am meeting many people from the huge German football base. They are children in jerseys with whom I take selfies, youth coaches who teach rules to their players, presidents of small clubs who have been volunteers for decades. They all love the lightness of football, know its educational power, appreciate its importance to our community.

When the conversation turns to Qatar, however, their tone becomes serious. Many consider missing a World Cup voluntarily for the first time in their lives. In the past, a World Cup was a folk festival, for children a football initiation for life. Today, some amateur clubs think about leaving the beer tables and the screen in the storeroom.

What this makes clear to me again is that giving the World Cup to Qatar was a mistake. It doesn’t belong there.

Even the Fifa procedure was problematic. It was unusual that two tournaments were awarded simultaneously for the first time. Qatar and Russia won the bids, although there was stronger competition. The match schedule in Qatar had to be postponed from summer to winter. The heat in the desert had not been considered at first, although an internal Fifa report had warned against it and also pointed out other deficits of the Qatari bid.

Other reasons must have been decisive in December 2010. Many of Fifa’s 24 elected officials were later banned, punished or legally prosecuted; two had been suspended before the election.

Another lesson from Qatar: in future, human rights must become an indispensable criterion at major sporting events. Qatar has made progress in response to criticism from fans and research by the media by ratifying some agreements under international law and introducing the minimum wage. But gay people are still criminalised, women do not have the same rights as men and freedom of the press and freedom of expression are restricted.

The conditions for the migrant workers, thanks to whom the World Cup is possible, have been devastating. Their deaths were accepted and not investigated, their families are not adequately compensated. This is what the human rights experts from the Friedrich Naumann Foundation say. Qatar has admitted abuses.

According to Forbes, the World Cup will cost at least $150bn (£128bn), which is about 10 times more than the World Cup in Russia, the previous most expensive. In a country the size of Kosovo and with fewer inhabitants than Berlin, there are eight ultra-modern, air-conditioned stadiums.

There is no fan culture that could benefit from this. Often, not even a thousand spectators come to games in the Qatari professional league. Football is not a popular amateur sport in Qatar and there is practically no opportunity for girls to play. This is also understood as the lack of sustainability of a football tournament.

The approach of holding a World Cup in a new region is the right one. In 2010, it was held in Africa for the first time. Before that, I had travelled to South Africa, still a player at the time, to get to know the host country and the circumstances in which I would be playing. A World Cup could also have made a positive contribution to football culture in the Middle East, because there are countries with football traditions there.

Or if you extend the thought to the entire Arabic-speaking world: Morocco and Algeria. West Germany played Morocco at the 1970 World Cup and lost to Algeria at the 1982 World Cup. Before winning the title in 2014, we had to go to extra time against Algeria in the last 16; the game in Porto Alegre felt like an away game, so many Algerian fans had travelled there. Qatar have never qualified for a World Cup.

Nevertheless, this small country won the bid at the first attempt. Many fans from all over the world will have to stop over in neighbouring countries and travel to and from matches. In the stadiums there will be paid influencers to create the atmosphere and PR on social media. This atmosphere does not interest me as a football fan. I would only have flown to Qatar if my job as tournament director required it. Since this is not the case, I am staying at home.

In some countries, teams have been asked to boycott the tournament. That’s something everyone has to decide for themselves. I think it’s right that Germany are taking part and I would also be happy if we became world champions. Qatar is an economic partner and energy supplier to the west, Germany maintains diplomatic relations with Qatar and the decision lies 12 years back.

Everyone has to answer for themselves whether they watch the games on television. I will: the national team is important. The 2024 European Championship in Germany depends on their performance. If the tournament is to be a success, the team have to perform better in Qatar than at the previous two tournaments.

Even though the final is in Doha, I will switch on the TV. No Irish prick is going to tell me to do otherwise. In principle, a World Cup is a great event. In sporting terms, a tournament of countries is more unpredictable, with more teams having a chance of winning the title than in the Champions League and many national leagues, where competition is almost frozen. The conditions in Qatar could favour surprises. The rhythm is different, the World Cup takes place in the middle of the season, the teams have almost no preparation.

It is possible South America will make a comeback. Maybe an African country will beat a major football nation or a small European country will advance to the final, as Croatia did in 2018. Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo will retire from the global stage. A new star may be born.

It doesn’t have to be a contradiction to find the political background of the World Cup questionable and still celebrate a festival. It is not a betrayal of our values to meet friends for a beer and talk boisterously about football and this and that. Another question is whether this World Cup will be the big one. It’s winter in Europe and human rights are not non-negotiable in the host country.

But it is a human need to come together. A World Cup is also a community experience among like-minded people. In the special circumstances Europe finds itself, it can strengthen solidarity and resilience.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/fifa...0bf4871c5d95be

[Irishnev]

Would be just me. Nev, also known in these parts as Birdy, (on the left of the pic as you look at it), will not be joining me and Perkins I made Scottish last week so he is out.

Not sure about the rest of the Irish on here. Frank The Tank, Piggy, Angry Red or is it Brightred or maybe both ending in red are Irish.

When my hair gets too long the Mrs says I look like Father Ted - that makes Jaco Dougal or maybe Jack!

[Doc_Piptorious]

When my hair gets too long the Mrs says I look like Father Ted - that makes Jaco Dougal or maybe Jack!

With my beard and liking of whiskey, I am going to have to be Jack


On the bright side, even if you are no good as Dougal, you still make a great Birdy, Nev and my beard keeps me on as the Bull

[baitman]

Will the half time beheadings be on ppv

[little dave hedgehog]

Will the half time beheadings be on ppv

that's racist.

it's going to be a halftime lethal construction accident

also i'm not irish, but i am possibly the closest thing we've got to dougal around here.

[baitman]

that's racist.

it's going to be a halftime lethal construction accident

also i'm not irish, but i am possibly the closest thing we've got to dougal around here.

Rickety scaffolding ninja warrior migrant worker death game

Title needs work though