Sir Dave Powell, you're wrong about that reference.
Halal meat is served in this country and its not a problem. We don't have a particular limit on it and over here, it is not frowned upon to serve it to religious folk.
Alcohol is and was a problem for the Qataris long before the world Cup.
Alcohol changes people's behaviour and there can be consequences. They don't like it.
Halal meat is just food.
We all know the alcohol ban is stupid boring and wrong, but I don't see any point in making incorrect comparisons.
They were aware that Budwieser was a major sponsor the WC for nearly 25 years when they bid for it. Last week they supposedly had no problem with the arrangements as they stood.
They are taking the piss, so I see no problem with taking the piss out of them.
You don't have to be drunk or beered up to enjoy a football match.
Sure, the two things work well together, but those in attendance will be saving a fortune without even realising it, specially considering the expected prices of the drinks served within the stadiums.
Also, Qataris are losing potential large sums of money from not selling alcohol.
Their stubbornness shot themselves in the foot
Don't disagree Dave, though as clb 74 says, it helps when you are watching Charlton.
My point is that it is another "footballing" reason it should never have been awarded to them, they have continually moved the goalposts (no pun intended) to suit themselves and FIFA just see the $£€ and turn a blind eye. Budwieser "beer" and the WC have been linked for decades, like it or not. Two days before the tournament they change the "rules", rules that were in place when they bid, when they won and up until Friday. It fucking stinks mate.
I think the good thing to come out of all this, is that no future tournament can be awarded to a non-football country, and far from being a "sportswash" it has left the Qatari's looking like a bunch of arrogant chancers.
It's a non-world cup for me, I am still not excited and it kicks off in four hours. I shall watch England and probably Wales and Portugal, but it just does not feel like a WC.
Over the years I've boycotted or tried to boycott:
- USA (Iraq war, abortion laws, etc.)
- Russia (Invasion of Ukraine, poisoning of UK residents, etc.)
- Amazon (1-click patent)
- China (Treatment of Uyghurs, Tiananmen square, etc.)
- Nestle (formula milk)
- Israel (Palestinian territories)
- South Africa (apartheid)
… and so on.
Now, I see the world more interwoven which makes it harder to be morally consistent/non-hypocritical and have a life.
I’ve never boycotted Qatar. I have never been to the country, but I am fascinated by the comments above from people there or who have visited.
It really galls me that a bunch of corrupt and inept officials and bureaucrats are doing their damnedest to ruin a competition I have loved since the first world cup I remember in 1978.
So I will enjoy the football (waited 4 years for it) but do hope that all the attention and pressure generated by this World Cup will make Qatar laws more in line with contemporary human rights and FIFA more accountable and less corrupt.
I'm not going unfortunately, although I do have a conditional ticket and flight for the final. Not holding out too much hope though!
Ten or so of our England lot are going out, including five Charlton fans, on various trips but generally for the last two group games and early knockouts
I mean it was always going to be nuts in Qatar, but Italia ‘90 at $9.4BN seems incredibly high!
It does indeed, but on reflection, there is an Italian organisation (with several sometimes competing divisions) that seems to be involved in most Italian infrastructure projects….
I mean it was always going to be nuts in Qatar, but Italia ‘90 at $9.4BN seems incredibly high!
It does indeed, but on reflection, there is an Italian organisation (with several sometimes competing divisions) that seems to be involved in most Italian infrastructure projects….
I mean it was always going to be nuts in Qatar, but Italia ‘90 at $9.4BN seems incredibly high!
It does indeed, but on reflection, there is an Italian organisation (with several sometimes competing divisions) that seems to be involved in most Italian infrastructure projects….
Yeah and at least the Turin and Bari stadiums were built at that time so probs included in the calcs…
(Italy of course have a great footballing heritage but maybe not the best rep for maintenance (even with all the extra practise that anything coming out of the Fiat plant gives them….) so a lot of work was needed prior to the WC
"It costs about £175 a night. To be honest it wasn't what I expected. When you see the pictures and read the description - and it's a Fifa World Cup - you expect a little bit of quality," said Pedro.
"This is like a sub-par hostel that you can find backpacking across the world.
"It's like being in a greenhouse, so we weren't able to sleep past 9am even though we were exhausted because of the flight." he added.
The tents, made of thick plastic, each contain two single beds and a nightstand with a lamp. A thin layer of carpet is lumpy in places as it rests on sand and gravel. A single electric fan completes the room layout.
"There's no organisation whatsoever, no-one knows anything," Fatima told BBC Sport.
"The stores are closed, there's no drinking water. This is really, definitely, not what we paid for."
As we walk around, everyone we speak to has similar thoughts.
For some the reality of the situation calls for more drastic action. Djamal, who has travelled from Paris, paid about £2,700 for a three-week stay at the fan village - but after less than 24 hours at the site he is packing his bags and heading for the exit.
"For me it's not a good experience. There's no shower gel, no toothbrush, no toothpaste." he said.
I'm amazed at how many people can be so sure that Qatar wouldn't try to bribe or cheat their way to a win. There's no integrity in football.
I don’t think it’s that their principles or honesty would stop them, but it would be very hard to get away with it without someone noticing, realising or whistleblowing.
I'm not going unfortunately, although I do have a conditional ticket and flight for the final. Not holding out too much hope though!
Ten or so of our England lot are going out, including five Charlton fans, on various trips but generally for the last two group games and early knockouts
Is there a CAFC flag going with anybody?
Unlikely to see one with our lot unfortunately, as no-one will be bothered to get in the ground early enough to put one up. That won't be helped by the beer situation!
Lineker, referencing a giant model of the World Cup trophy in the middle of the pitch - "Probably made out of real gold out here".
You're out there earning a pound note off it Gal, so just get on with what you're there to do you f***ing hypocrite.
Still can't work out why the BBC / ITV feel the need to actually have all these presenters and pundits on location. Can't they do exactly the same job from a studio in Manchester?
Lineker, referencing a giant model of the World Cup trophy in the middle of the pitch - "Probably made out of real gold out here".
You're out there earning a pound note off it Gal, so just get on with what you're there to do you f***ing hypocrite.
Still can't work out why the BBC / ITV feel the need to actually have all these presenters and pundits on location. Can't they do exactly the same job from a studio in Manchester?
To be fair they probably need some Reporters out there to cover the England / Welsh camps etc.
But yeah they dont need to be in there, they showed that with Euro 2020 - Then these are the types who'll be the first to lecture us, that climate change is baaad
I'm amazed at how many people can be so sure that Qatar wouldn't try to bribe or cheat their way to a win. There's no integrity in football.
Call me controversial but a disallowed goal for Ecuador has been ruled out for offside which IMHO ( and that of the commentators) was a 100% ridiculous decision.
Wonder how many replays "they" will allow to be shown....
The Guardian has been able to report fearlessly on the dark side of sport - doping, corruption, rights abuses in big host nations like Russia, China and Qatar - because we don’t rely on shareholders or a billionaire owner with an ulterior motive. That leaves us free from commercial or political influence. Reporting like this is vital for democracy, for fairness and to demand better from the powerful.
Is the Guardian aware of the Charlton dossier and has started investigating fearlessly or do they only report fearlessly on the Premiership or top flight sport?
Lineker, referencing a giant model of the World Cup trophy in the middle of the pitch - "Probably made out of real gold out here".
You're out there earning a pound note off it Gal, so just get on with what you're there to do you f***ing hypocrite.
Still can't work out why the BBC / ITV feel the need to actually have all these presenters and pundits on location. Can't they do exactly the same job from a studio in Manchester?
Exactly. Minto, Curbs and Browny didn’t go all the way up to Port Vale as presenters and pundits and did a great job from The Valley.
The Guardian has been able to report fearlessly on the dark side of sport - doping, corruption, rights abuses in big host nations like Russia, China and Qatar - because we don’t rely on shareholders or a billionaire owner with an ulterior motive. That leaves us free from commercial or political influence. Reporting like this is vital for democracy, for fairness and to demand better from the powerful.
Is the Guardian aware of the Charlton dossier and has started investigating fearlessly or do they only report fearlessly on the Premiership or top flight sport?
Ah, mate. Sorry, but you've triggered a Prague Lecture
The Guardian's coverage of Charlton fans activities over the years among the nationals is second to none. But sometimes it requires a specific reporter who builds a relationship of trust with fans who in turn prove to be reliable sources. We had that during and after the Valley Party with a reporter called Martin Thorpe. More recently I'd built a good relationship with a reporter named Owen Gibson. He covered the Duchatelet nonsense pretty well, but was particularly supportive of the Olympic Stadium Campaign. Unfortunately he was too good at his job and got promoted to the News department, and we have not yet found anyone else there. However by coincidence he lives in Charlton and was a guest at one of the CAST meetings. He addressed the "Only top flight" jibe full-on at that meeting. He explained that he's not the only reporter who would love to do more stories about lower leagues both on/off pitch issues; but...nowadays no-one pays to buy the paper, and unfortunately (his words) the data shows that adclicks around Premiership clubs stories dwarf those even of bigger Championship clubs, not least because the Guardian has gone global. So that's the overall problem. Not a dig, but how much money do you spend per year on payment for newspapers/current affairs magazines?
The Dossier has a slightly different problem. Back in August 20, we thought we'd built Dossiers strong enough for the media to use to go after them, especially Farnell. We had The Athletic, I had a lot of discussion with Matt Slater. We had Adrian Goldberg (seen on the C4 Italia 90 doc), who was doing a BBC radio File on 4 on distressed clubs. Thanks to @JamesSeed we even had a Panorama unit specialising in financial crime sniffing around it. All of them had the dossier files. But gradually, in their different ways they explained to me that we just didn't quite have a smoking gun. It might be there but it requires further research. And once again their employers just don't have the time (i.e.money) to go away and really research to build a case - a case that will withstand legal scrutiny, especially when one of the suspects is a lawyer! So we built the website as a result of this feedback. It's basically there to shortcut the amount of work any new journalist will need to do if they are interested in digging further into any of our villains. It's the desk-based legwork that they'd otherwise have to do themselves. Matt Slater has actually called it a "brilliant piece of journalism" in a comment thread on the The Athletic. Kieran Maguire has tagged us multiple times. A lot of journalists know of it, and where to find it. They also know it has not been subject to any legal threats so it's robust. One day one of those wrong'uns will do something else to attract their attention and the whole thing will ignite again, probably at a different club. But they'll be able to immediately use the Dossiers, which we update whenever something new comes up.For all we know, somebody may be using one of them right now. It's only a question of whether the journalists get to the wrong 'uns before HMRC or the SFO...
Comments
My point is that it is another "footballing" reason it should never have been awarded to them, they have continually moved the goalposts (no pun intended) to suit themselves and FIFA just see the $£€ and turn a blind eye. Budwieser "beer" and the WC have been linked for decades, like it or not. Two days before the tournament they change the "rules", rules that were in place when they bid, when they won and up until Friday. It fucking stinks mate.
I think the good thing to come out of all this, is that no future tournament can be awarded to a non-football country, and far from being a "sportswash" it has left the Qatari's looking like a bunch of arrogant chancers.
It's a non-world cup for me, I am still not excited and it kicks off in four hours. I shall watch England and probably Wales and Portugal, but it just does not feel like a WC.
Over the years I've boycotted or tried to boycott:
- USA (Iraq war, abortion laws, etc.)
- Russia (Invasion of Ukraine, poisoning of UK residents, etc.)
- Amazon (1-click patent)
- China (Treatment of Uyghurs, Tiananmen square, etc.)
- Nestle (formula milk)
- Israel (Palestinian territories)
- South Africa (apartheid)
… and so on.
Now, I see the world more interwoven which makes it harder to be morally consistent/non-hypocritical and have a life.
I’ve never boycotted Qatar. I have never been to the country, but I am fascinated by the comments above from people there or who have visited.
It really galls me that a bunch of corrupt and inept officials and bureaucrats are doing their damnedest to ruin a competition I have loved since the first world cup I remember in 1978.
So I will enjoy the football (waited 4 years for it) but do hope that all the attention and pressure generated by this World Cup will make Qatar laws more in line with contemporary human rights and FIFA more accountable and less corrupt.
Is there a CAFC flag going with anybody?
(Italy of course have a great footballing heritage but maybe not the best rep for maintenance (even with all the extra practise that anything coming out of the Fiat plant gives them….) so a lot of work was needed prior to the WC
"It costs about £175 a night. To be honest it wasn't what I expected. When you see the pictures and read the description - and it's a Fifa World Cup - you expect a little bit of quality," said Pedro.
"This is like a sub-par hostel that you can find backpacking across the world.
"It's like being in a greenhouse, so we weren't able to sleep past 9am even though we were exhausted because of the flight." he added.
The tents, made of thick plastic, each contain two single beds and a nightstand with a lamp. A thin layer of carpet is lumpy in places as it rests on sand and gravel. A single electric fan completes the room layout.
"There's no organisation whatsoever, no-one knows anything," Fatima told BBC Sport.
"The stores are closed, there's no drinking water. This is really, definitely, not what we paid for."
As we walk around, everyone we speak to has similar thoughts.
For some the reality of the situation calls for more drastic action. Djamal, who has travelled from Paris, paid about £2,700 for a three-week stay at the fan village - but after less than 24 hours at the site he is packing his bags and heading for the exit.
"For me it's not a good experience. There's no shower gel, no toothbrush, no toothpaste." he said.
You're out there earning a pound note off it Gal, so just get on with what you're there to do you f***ing hypocrite.
Still can't work out why the BBC / ITV feel the need to actually have all these presenters and pundits on location. Can't they do exactly the same job from a studio in Manchester?
But yeah they dont need to be in there, they showed that with Euro 2020 - Then these are the types who'll be the first to lecture us, that climate change is baaad
Wonder how many replays "they" will allow to be shown....
So, has it started already ?
The Guardian has been able to report fearlessly on the dark side of sport - doping, corruption, rights abuses in big host nations like Russia, China and Qatar - because we don’t rely on shareholders or a billionaire owner with an ulterior motive. That leaves us free from commercial or political influence. Reporting like this is vital for democracy, for fairness and to demand better from the powerful.
Is the Guardian aware of the Charlton dossier and has started investigating fearlessly or do they only report fearlessly on the Premiership or top flight sport?
The Guardian's coverage of Charlton fans activities over the years among the nationals is second to none. But sometimes it requires a specific reporter who builds a relationship of trust with fans who in turn prove to be reliable sources. We had that during and after the Valley Party with a reporter called Martin Thorpe. More recently I'd built a good relationship with a reporter named Owen Gibson. He covered the Duchatelet nonsense pretty well, but was particularly supportive of the Olympic Stadium Campaign. Unfortunately he was too good at his job and got promoted to the News department, and we have not yet found anyone else there. However by coincidence he lives in Charlton and was a guest at one of the CAST meetings. He addressed the "Only top flight" jibe full-on at that meeting. He explained that he's not the only reporter who would love to do more stories about lower leagues both on/off pitch issues; but...nowadays no-one pays to buy the paper, and unfortunately (his words) the data shows that adclicks around Premiership clubs stories dwarf those even of bigger Championship clubs, not least because the Guardian has gone global. So that's the overall problem. Not a dig, but how much money do you spend per year on payment for newspapers/current affairs magazines?
The Dossier has a slightly different problem. Back in August 20, we thought we'd built Dossiers strong enough for the media to use to go after them, especially Farnell. We had The Athletic, I had a lot of discussion with Matt Slater. We had Adrian Goldberg (seen on the C4 Italia 90 doc), who was doing a BBC radio File on 4 on distressed clubs. Thanks to @JamesSeed we even had a Panorama unit specialising in financial crime sniffing around it. All of them had the dossier files. But gradually, in their different ways they explained to me that we just didn't quite have a smoking gun. It might be there but it requires further research. And once again their employers just don't have the time (i.e.money) to go away and really research to build a case - a case that will withstand legal scrutiny, especially when one of the suspects is a lawyer! So we built the website as a result of this feedback. It's basically there to shortcut the amount of work any new journalist will need to do if they are interested in digging further into any of our villains. It's the desk-based legwork that they'd otherwise have to do themselves. Matt Slater has actually called it a "brilliant piece of journalism" in a comment thread on the The Athletic. Kieran Maguire has tagged us multiple times. A lot of journalists know of it, and where to find it. They also know it has not been subject to any legal threats so it's robust. One day one of those wrong'uns will do something else to attract their attention and the whole thing will ignite again, probably at a different club. But they'll be able to immediately use the Dossiers, which we update whenever something new comes up.For all we know, somebody may be using one of them right now. It's only a question of whether the journalists get to the wrong 'uns before HMRC or the SFO...
End of lecture. Apologies for the diversion.