THE CONCRETE ROUNDABOUT (TCR)

As the World Cup approaches the more I am convinced it is best to have nothing to do with it, I am sure the reasons are clear to all but to reiterate the exploitation of migrant workers, the casual way their lives were valued, the corruption/greed which led to it being in Qatar, the lack of human rights in the country, the treatment of women, LGBTQ+ etc., a country with no democratic values in which political parties are illegal and there Is no right to protest.
Imagine the stain it would leave on our football history if Harry Kane is pictured lifting the World Cup infront of the representatives of Qatar and FIFA? How grubby and tasteless would that look next to the photo of Bobby Moore receiving the Jules Rimet trophy from the Queen?

Thank goodness I can watch League One football and ignore it completely.

RE the thread title -I think this about every world cup

It's hard to disagree with the original post, awarding Qatar with the World Cup was quite simply fucking stupid. It shouldn't be there, simple as.

But what I think is just as bad is there has been 12 years for footballers, nations, football associations and whoever else to put real pressure on FIFA but they haven't. Just a few tame statements asking them to be better. The hypocrisy in the footballing world is quite astounding. The Premier League is happy to take $500million from Qatari-based beIn Sports for TV deals. Footballers regularly visit Dubai for their holidays, a region with similarly disgusting laws, treatment of migrant workers and human rights. Football clubs often visit nations with terrible human rights for training camps and pre-season tours for their commercial gain. Players happy to take pay cheques from questionable sources, have commercial deals with brands known for sweatshops and tax avoidance, then happy to play a season in Saudi Arabia or Qatar. Hummel designing a protest kit, despite having commercial deals with an Omanian football team and the Iranian national handball team, where the reality is they are just copying the brilliantly popular Germany 'black out' design and making a moral statement to virtue signal and improve sales. Pundits and the press have quickly stopped caring about Newcastles ownership.

In a few years everyone will have pretty much forgot about it being in Qatar. We will continue to see tournaments awarded based on corruption and the footballing world will continue to ignore where the money comes from unless it makes them look good in an interview.

FIFA is full of institutionalised corruption. Footballs moral compass went years ago.

What's worse, we have the likes of David Beckham and Gary Neville taking huge sums of money to forego their integrity and to promote the World Cup.

For any Tom, Dick & Harry, the millions on offer may make you turn a blind eye to your beliefs, but these guys are already multi multi millionaires. I think it's disgusting and is a big slap in the face.

Money talks. Always has and I can't see it changing any time soon.

I agree it poor. As well as Qatar, England's 1st game is against Iran with their misogyny and violence against women. As well as Neville and Beckham taking Qatar money. The reality is why we dependent on fossil fuels we are at mercy to these despotic countries and rulers. The best thing we can do is solve the climatic crisis and while football isn't separate from society, we need to get FIFA to take social issues more seriously and to support LGBT+ campaigns.

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Disclaimer: All my comments are my opinions unless stated otherwise. I'm just a fan following my club.

Utterly ridiculous decision by FIFA to grant the World Cup to Qatar, a country with absolutely zero football pedigree, a country that treats women, LGBT, migrant workers like second class citizens.

I can only assume there have been some massive brown envelopes, stuffed with cash, handed out to the bigwigs at FIFA.

There is no reasonable explanation as to why it’s being held in Qatar.

In a way, I hope it all turns to shit, with many problems and issues, so FIFA can hang their heads in shame, because it simply shouldn’t be played in Qatar

Final is on Sunday

This Sunday? That flew past.

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For those that like that sort of thing, that is the sort of thing they like.

Probably the best post on this forum for a very long time.

More or less everything in the world right now can be traced back to one of two things: one is money, the other is public perception.

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It's Pete's train set, and we should all feel honoured to be granted the privilege of paying to play with it.

"Shut the fuck up, you sausage!"

Interesting to read that 8 Premier League clubs are heading to Qatar this winter break whilst Newcastle head to Saudi Arabia for their training camp.