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RumbleFox

Is anyone genuinely going to boycott?

By RumbleFox, in General Football and Sport

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J. James

J. James

Posted
Posted

Not gonna watch as much and certainly not the opening/closing sportwashing.

I'll watch England/Brazil/Argentina but with a (hypocritical western) sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

On the basis that things rarely improve this one may be as "straight" as World cups get from now on☹️

 

Just when you think things can't get worse than Blatter/Platini, Crazy Infantino comes along.

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J. James

J. James

Posted
Posted
11 minutes ago, Steve_Guppy_Left_Foot said:

I'll watch what I can. Abu Dhabi gp followed by the Qatar World Cup. Not that I don't care about the issues but realistically will it all get canned if I don't watch it? I'm too apathetic and cosmological minded to think anything I do matters. 

You're right of course it makes no difference to anyone....except (for me) that bloke in the mirror.

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Jattdogg

Jattdogg

Posted
Posted

Definitely not watching today and dont even care to watch at all.

 

I am torn not because of England....only because Canada has made the worldcup for the first time since I was old enough to understand football. This might not happen again and it's huge for us over here. Been die hard England fan for as long as I can remember but we never bring it home (not that Canada will).

 

I say do you. If you watch, enjoy it, if not then enjoy whatever else you do with your time

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Mickyblueeyes

Mickyblueeyes

Posted
Posted

I think it would be very difficult to boycott on moral grounds because it would leave people with very little to watch on an international sporting front ever again. It will be like the Russian World Cup. Fears, criticisms, outrage and by the end of it, praise for a well run tournament. The corruption is all over the place and unfortunately, it’s how the world works. 

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Finnegan

Finnegan

Posted
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I'm obviously pretty conflicted. I'm obviously somewhat holier-than-thou (shocker right) and would normally be first in line to boycott. But it could also be the only time I ever see my country at a World Cup, which is intensely bitter-sweet. I'm going to watch Wales' group games and, lets be honest, we probably won't get further than that anyway. Maybe that makes me a hypocrite.

 

I imagine I'll watch a lot less of it than I normally would.

 

What I would say though is that I'm not entirely sure how much of a protest not watching it ACTUALLY is. They're not hosting it to generate money from advertising revenue, they've spent hundreds of billions hosting it, the whole thing is an acceptable loss, they don't give a shit. They're hosting it for obvious sports washing and the cost is considered reasonable. They want the legitimacy and prestige that hosting this gives. Sure, there's some minor potential for embarrassment if the BBC or ITV report that viewing figures are lower than normal but I think that's pretty much a drop in the ocean.

 

If people want or wanted to actively protest then I think that's the point, it needs or needed to be ACTIVE protest. Not just turning off. Whole nations needed to refuse to go, players needed to refuse to go, people needed to be in the streets protesting demanding their countries pull out. And the wider issue generally is our governments pandering to these regimes because there's something in it for us (allies in the region, oil, etc.) 

 

Of course all of this could be me internally justifying my non-action to make myself feel better but I do think that a generic "boycott" (ie, not watching it from your armchair and doing fvck all else) is really just a "protest" for you to feel good about yourself more than one that's actually going to bring any change.

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Guest ttfn

Guest ttfn

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, Sol thewall Bamba said:

Watching England Wales and possibly USA Iran. That's about it. 

They’re on at the same time!

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Finnegan

Finnegan

Posted
Posted (edited)

I don't get why you'd even single out USA Iran as a game you want to watch anyway. I mean if you're expecting it to be some sort of spicy politically charged affair you're probably going to be underwhelmed. It'll just be a very mediocre football match. It's not like some Ayatollah is going to be out there playing against a team of George Bushes or something. 

 

And right now, don't the Iranian football team dislike their own country's regime more than the Yanks do anyway? 

 

If you get off on crowd trouble or players brawling on the pitch then USA Iran isn't going to be like watching Serbia Albania or something. 

 

Edit: just seen Serbia and Switzerland in a group together. There you go. That's your drama if the Swiss team still has a bunch of Kosovan heritage players. 

 

 

Edited by Finnegan
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filbertway

filbertway

Posted
Posted

I won't be watching it at home.

 

I do have an all dayer in Newcastle planned in December though so I imagine I'll happen to be in bars showing the games then lol

 

I fundamentally disagree with it and was calling for boycotts. Its not a protest and I dont expect my actions to change anything. 

 

Complaining about it and then going ahead and watching it doesnt sit right with me personally.

 

Im kicking off the world cup by watching FIFA Uncovered :D

 

 

 

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Corky

Corky

Posted
Posted

Probably going to miss three quarters of the group games due to work and attending non league games. Missing England tomorrow for that reason. Will watch what I can because there isn't a lot else on sports-wise until the England Test series in 11 days but I'm not a religious every game watcher in any case.

 

It's a tough one because so much of this is abhorent but also what would not watching it achieve beyond yourself? People higher up could've made a proper stand but didn't for whatever reason. Not going to criticise people trying to enjoy the football.

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davieG

davieG

Posted
Posted
53 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

If people want or wanted to actively protest then I think that's the point, it needs or needed to be ACTIVE protest. Not just turning off. Whole nations needed to refuse to go, players needed to refuse to go, people needed to be in the streets protesting demanding their countries pull out. And the wider issue generally is our governments pandering to these regimes because there's something in it for us (allies in the region, oil, etc.) 

...and all that could and should have happened a long tome ago.

 

I shall watch some but not as much as usual but if I'm honest that's much more to do with me being ambivalent about international football anyway.

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Detroit Blues

Detroit Blues

Posted
Posted (edited)

I understand choosing not to watch the world cup on moral grounds. But like many other big/systemic issues, I don't think the responsibility should be on the individual to fix it. In fact, I find it often things like boycotts to be counterproductive because it gives the illusion that if enough people did boycott it, that it would change. Thus not enough people care so it shouldn't have to change.

 

The responsibility of this mess is directly in the hands of FIFA, who made a nakedly corrupt decision to award the world cup to qatar, when by their own metric for choosing a host nation, they were not even close to the other bids.

 

Failing that, the next group that it falls on are the confederations. If UEFA pulled out of the world cup, you're damn sure it would not have taken place. But these regimes, and people with real power decided not to do the right thing, because it was hard, and keeping the status quo was easy.

 

So it's left up to the players, to forgo their life's dream, to play in a world cup? It's left to the people, who only get to enjoy this world cup every 4 years (or less in the case of nations like Wales/Canada that make the world cup far less than that.) I find that  this narrative of boycotting the world cup diffuses the responsibility on the people who actually had power to change anything.

 

Edited by Detroit Blues
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Livid

Livid

Posted
Posted (edited)

I’m going to watch it where I can, I won’t be going out of my way to watch a game though. 
 

First half the 1pm kick offs at lunch, probably catch the second half of the 4pm game at home and the probably the entire evening game. 
 

I have plans to go out and do other stuff during the next month, no idea if any of it clashes with a decent game.

 

I actually think the football will be quite decent, European players should be in their prime. 

Edited by Livid
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