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Qatar World Cup - Non Football Related Thread
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It's an interesting question. I have to admit I would be a hypocrite and welcome it, mainly because I want the club to progress and it clearly needs funds. I'd still prefer it not to be, but my desire for Charlton to succeed clearly outweighs my morals!DubaiCAFC said:Just out of interest, a number are anti the Middle East.. just wonder how you would feel if this mystery party that PV is being for the Brighton game was from Qatar or Saudi? Would you boycott the club?2 -
If it’s just a random rich guy from the Middle East they aren’t in control of their country’s laws and customs. But, I would like them to come out and state they support things like the women’s team, our LGBT fans and inclusivity as a whole.No one here is anti ‘the middle east’, we’re anti discrimination and dehumanising treatment of migrant workers.8
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On the women's issue, this world cup did have the first female ref.
https://olympics.com/en/news/world-cup-2022-female-referees-top-facts-qatar
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If Charlton were to become Manchester City over the next 5-10 years, they would no longer be the same club. They would be an entirely new club. A facsimile of one that went before it.DubaiCAFC said:Just out of interest, a number are anti the Middle East.. just wonder how you would feel if this mystery party that PV is being for the Brighton game was from Qatar or Saudi? Would you boycott the club?
The obvious defence of the likes of Qatar is to call hypocrisy at every opportunity, which is what your question is designed to do. And I find that immensely frustrating, because no football fan has any choice in who owns the club they love and dedicate themselves to. I have no time for Newcastle fans celebrating the Saudis and denying their rights abuses. But I have great sympathy for those who continue to support the club while also feeling uncomfortable about the situation.8 -
You mean Google reviews, and TripAdvisor and Booking.com, all that shite? Try that for a visit to Prague. I know where you’ll end up. You’ll probably have a good time, but I hope over the years i’ve helped a few Lifers who came out here have a rather better time and a better idea of what the place is really about. As I’m sure you could do where you are. One of the sad aspects of this “online review” obsession is that it has damaged the finances of Rough Guides and Lonely Planet. Those are the books that can guide you to the really authentic places. Prefer RG myself, virtually every recco was bang on, and responsible for many of our fondest holiday memories. There is no Rough Guide to Qatar, though there is one for Dubai, which backs up my point. Qatar is too small for this.Stu_of_Kunming said:
yes. Google is still very useful in Qatar.PragueAddick said:Friend Or Defoe said:I think you're look at it from 2 different points of views.
If you're visiting a place for a tournament then you'll want to be with other fans and so the hotel bars and British theme pubs are ideal. If you want to explore a place and see what it's really like you want to go to places were the locals drink (obviously doesn't apply to the Middle East but in general) then the hotel and theme bars are what you want to avoid.but if you are interested can you find them without having a QatarNapsy0 -
Lonely planet is actually exactly what I was thinking of, despite destroying a handful of my favourite places with ridiculous articles, it’s still an amazing tool. There’s also several very useful traveling forums to find the exact kind of thing you’d be looking for, I know as it’s the exact kind of places I want.PragueAddick said:
You mean Google reviews, and TripAdvisor and Booking.com, all that shite? Try that for a visit to Prague. I know where you’ll end up. You’ll probably have a good time, but I hope over the years i’ve helped a few Lifers who came out here have a rather better time and a better idea of what the place is really about. As I’m sure you could do where you are. One of the sad aspects of this “online review” obsession is that it has damaged the finances of Rough Guides and Lonely Planet. Those are the books that can guide you to the really authentic places. Prefer RG myself, virtually every recco was bang on, and responsible for many of our fondest holiday memories. There is no Rough Guide to Qatar, though there is one for Dubai, which backs up my point. Qatar is too small for this.Stu_of_Kunming said:
yes. Google is still very useful in Qatar.PragueAddick said:Friend Or Defoe said:I think you're look at it from 2 different points of views.
If you're visiting a place for a tournament then you'll want to be with other fans and so the hotel bars and British theme pubs are ideal. If you want to explore a place and see what it's really like you want to go to places were the locals drink (obviously doesn't apply to the Middle East but in general) then the hotel and theme bars are what you want to avoid.but if you are interested can you find them without having a QatarNapsy0 -
In Doha, if you wanted to see a bit more of the local culture then you’d head to Souq Waqif. This was a marketplace area which looked completely different from the skyscrapers and malls that would occupy the part of town I was staying in.Lots of locals congregated here, along with football fans too. Some lovely restaurants and cafes. Couldn’t speak higher of the local cuisine.
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Woolwich, pre McDonalds12
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Anyone know why the EU vice president has just been arrested?
Something to do with the World Cup is the rumour.0 -
I heard it's to do with the world cupMrWalker said:Anyone know why the EU vice president has just been arrested?
Something to do with the World Cup is the rumour.3 - Sponsored links:
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Was a bit quieter when I went Tom
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Grant Wahl was a prominent US sports reporter who had been working in Doha to report on the World Cup. He had been detained a couple of weeks ago while entering a stadium for wearing rainbow attire.
While all the details are not yet available, it has been confirmed that Grant Wahl passed away this evening. The story so far is that he was at the Argentina Netherlands match, fainted and transported to hospital where he was pronounced dead.
His brother, part of the LGBT community, is suggesting that foul play is involved in this horrific situation.
This is going to get very messy.
RIP Grant Wahl5 -
He authored this post on his blog yesterday.0
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Well i was in Qatar for 2 games and i also drank and ate what i liked.PragueAddick said:@actually @Friend Or Defoe you've been quite generous with your list because some of the positives are sod all to do with Qatar -the football ones - unless someone wants to argue that Saudi, Morocco and Iran did better because of the strong support in the stadiums. Admittedly the aircon seems to have stopped the players getting completely frazzled but no way has the location otherwise got anything to do with the results. On TV I enjoy the matches (and watch more than I planned) but basically I forget where they are happening.
And there are some other less consequential negatives too:
- it's pretty expensive
- yes you can drink beer, but at a price, and only terrible beer and mainly in soulless hotel bars. In Stuttgart we drank and ate what we liked, with the locals, as they partied. I expect this was even true in 2018 in Kaliningrad (well not the locals partying...)
- this all means that most fans seem to be flying in, going to footie, sleeping, and getting out again. Not much space for getting to know and understand the place and the people better. Sure a lot of fans enjoy most WCs that way, but some at least want to visit the country too. That doesn't really seem to be on the agenda here even for those who want it.
- the main reason the players are not frazzled is because of when its taking place. That has fucked up European leagues and possibly the longer term fitness of some of its best players.
- the home nation team, and it's "fans", were a hopeless embarrassment
If we are doing the balance sheet I would include under the positives the fact that the fans from Islamic countries have at least had a good crack at a WC, which has up to now been difficult, and they have shown us that they and their teams are no pushovers. Overall though I still think it will go down as a not great WC beyond the football, and a "mistake" to quote..er... Sepp Blatter.
I went to 3 bars and none of them were soulless, and they all had nice outdoor sections. It certainly wasn't the 'bars are all in hotel basements' that i'd been led to believe.
It was actually a very enjoyable atmosphere with groups of fans from various nations all mixing without trouble. If that was in England or Germany where Euro 2024 is, the day would probably have ended with bottles and chairs flying and people being baton charged by police.3 -
Brilliant journalist. Gutted by this. Bit more on the link below where he said he’d been ill for a few days. My first thought was foul play as well. Pretty depressing for that to even cross my mind but it’s the world we live in.Callumcafc said:Grant Wahl was a prominent US sports reporter who had been working in Doha to report on the World Cup. He had been detained a couple of weeks ago while entering a stadium for wearing rainbow attire.
While all the details are not yet available, it has been confirmed that Grant Wahl passed away this evening. The story so far is that he was at the Argentina Netherlands match, fainted and transported to hospital where he was pronounced dead.
His brother, part of the LGBT community, is suggesting that foul play is involved in this horrific situation.
This is going to get very messy.
RIP Grant Wahl
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/dec/09/grant-wahl-dies-qatar-world-cup-2022-heart-attack-soccer-journalist?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
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@cafctom. Jonathan Pierce on commentary yesterday mentioned this souk area as a place where fans gathered and mixed, along with the metro, but his overall point was that apart from those areas he didnt see much of the interraction he’s seen at other World Cups. And JP is very much a commentator on the fans’ side, going back to Valley Party days when he burst onto the BBC London live coverage.@Chris_from_Sidcup I guess we’ve got a different idea of what constitutes a place with a “soul”. I’m sure some of these hotel bars have been done up nicely, money can do that, but while they are run as a part of a hotel, they can never have a soul. That’s just the way it is. A place with a soul is independent of any other business, will have been there for quite a long time and have a bit of a tradition, regulars, stories. The point is in Germany I’d never drink in a bar attached to a hotel, and hardly ever visit a restaurant there either. There is no *need* for anyone to do so.But as I said earlier, if I were in Qatar I would probably accept that’s the deal and accept that they are comfortable and may have some ambience. And the beer? …..but anyway, if you have enjoyed them, thats of course ok, just not my choice, and overall I still am not sorry I’ve swerved this, despite the feedback from you and others convincing me its not as nightmarish as i had feared. The tournament itself is fantastic of course, so I’ve watched far more than i told myself, but would have been if it had been held anywhere else.1
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Then I’d respectfully be strongly disagreeing with Jonathan Pierce, on the basis that everyone I’ve spoken to who was out there and has visited multiple WCs would put this at the very top in terms of friendliness and camaraderie between fans. And I can absolutely see why having lived and breathed it myself for 10 days.4
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Would the same apply if you were gay or trans?DubaiCAFC said:cafctom said:Wouldn’t go as far as saying “most” people are flying in and then flying out again, but would be interested to see the split.A lot of people I spoke to were staying in Qatar but also taking the chance to go and visit other neighbouring countries like Oman, Bahrain, UAE and Saudi Arabia through choice. The opportunity to visit multiple countries with relative ease during downtime is a plus.The ability to go to two games a day, and therefore experience more teams/fanbases match day rituals is also a massive plus - one of the biggest ones. Never been done at a World Cup before and unlikely to ever happen again.To be honest, when you’ve got that sort of party going on everywhere around you then the topic of ‘how much is a beer’ didn’t really seem to feel that important to most people.
Live a little lads, go and explore... You never know, you might find other cultures and believes are not so bad after all!4 -
"we're fucking rich, we're fucking rich!"oohaahmortimer said:We’ll end up with the Middle Eastern Laurel & Hardy just like last time the fake sheikh with no money1 -
Portugal v Morocco, just over half full according to commentary. Blaming it on “ticketless fans getting in the way of those with tickets”. Commentator not buying it now. And that’s despite proper Moroccan fans turning up in numbers again.6
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It’s pretty full now.PragueAddick said:Portugal v Morocco, just over half full according to commentary. Blaming it on “ticketless fans getting in the way of those with tickets”. Commentator not buying it now. And that’s despite proper Moroccan fans turning up in numbers again.2 -
I presume a lot of people who may have had tickets for various knock out games, go home once their team are out ?0
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I think this world cup has the record for neutral fans at games, but wouldn't be surprised if people are selling the likes of England V France tickets for a large profit if their country is out.MrOneLung said:I presume a lot of people who may have had tickets for various knock out games, go home once their team are out ?0 -
Oh so that’s alright then.Stu_of_Kunming said:
It’s pretty full now.PragueAddick said:Portugal v Morocco, just over half full according to commentary. Blaming it on “ticketless fans getting in the way of those with tickets”. Commentator not buying it now. And that’s despite proper Moroccan fans turning up in numbers again.0 -
What are they meant to do? Wallys turn up without tickets anywhere, look at the euros here.PragueAddick said:
Oh so that’s alright then.Stu_of_Kunming said:
It’s pretty full now.PragueAddick said:Portugal v Morocco, just over half full according to commentary. Blaming it on “ticketless fans getting in the way of those with tickets”. Commentator not buying it now. And that’s despite proper Moroccan fans turning up in numbers again.1 -
Would suggest the thing about ticketless fans was true. Saw the same nonsense at the Euros final unfortunately.PragueAddick said:
Oh so that’s alright then.Stu_of_Kunming said:
It’s pretty full now.PragueAddick said:Portugal v Morocco, just over half full according to commentary. Blaming it on “ticketless fans getting in the way of those with tickets”. Commentator not buying it now. And that’s despite proper Moroccan fans turning up in numbers again.0 -
The difference is the Euro final was a sellout. This patently isnt. If they focused on looking after their customers rather than policing what they wear, it ought to be manageable, even for a tinpot gas field.2
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It is technically a sell out.PragueAddick said:The difference is the Euro final was a sellout. This patently isnt. If they focused on looking after their customers rather than policing what they wear, it ought to be manageable, even for a tinpot gas field.
All games are sell outs.Many tickets were bought by locals for an exclusive and cheap price prior to the tournament starting. That’s partly the reason why you’ll see empty seats at some games - where they’ve been bought but just not been bothered to be used.
If it wasn’t a sell out, and there were tickets available to buy, then they would be on the FIFA ticketing resale platform. There aren’t any unless you are lucky enough to log on at a specific time and buy one within about 30 seconds of some one putting theirs up for grabs.Of the 55+ games so far, only two have been reported to have ticketing issues:
1) England vs Iran - where about 500 people saw the ticket vanish from the app prior to kickoff meaning those fans missed the first 5 mins. This was solved and didn’t happen again as far as I know.
2) This game supposedly, and the facts don’t seem to be properly established yet considering there are different stories coming out.1 -
LOL what?PragueAddick said:The difference is the Euro final was a sellout. This patently isnt. If they focused on looking after their customers rather than policing what they wear, it ought to be manageable, even for a tinpot gas field.
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Unfortunately you are correct.Friend Or Defoe said:
I think this world cup has the record for neutral fans at games, but wouldn't be surprised if people are selling the likes of France tickets for a large profit if their country is out.MrOneLung said:I presume a lot of people who may have had tickets for various knock out games, go home once their team are out ?0
