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RumbleFox

Is anyone genuinely going to boycott?

By RumbleFox, in General Football and Sport

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iancognito

iancognito

Posted
Posted

I wouldn't call it a boycott, I'm just choosing not to watch the matches. It'll be pretty difficult to avoid the whole shebang of individual results and reports because of the coverage on all the radio & tv channels and i'm hoping Madders gets some game time so I'll look out for that.

In years gone by Qatar vs Ecuador would have had me creaming my underwear in anticipation but I've got too many issues with the whole thing. There's no buzz around it, the atmosphere is manufactured, its a dud.

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bovril

bovril

Posted
Posted
28 minutes ago, Detroit Blues said:

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.

 

It's not just about change or trying to fix things though. Sometimes it just feels like debasing yourself to watch and enjoy a spectacle that is so clearly massively corrupt. I feel the same way about most top level football and a lot of American sports, even though I do usually want to watch them.

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KingsX

KingsX

Posted
Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, Finnegan said:

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.

 

This, pretty much exactly.  Infantino is just a low-rent Mafioso, but weren’t his predecessors pretty much the same?

 

Mind you, I will watch anyway, entirely in the hope that USA take down Wales :whistle:   No plans to watch the other groups.

Edited by KingsX
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STEVIE B

STEVIE B

Posted
Posted

I’ll be watching as many games as possible, l love tournament football. 
We all know it shouldn’t be I Qatar, but it was ‘chosen’ a decade ago. 
We all make personal choices. I respect the views of those who choose to blank this WC. 

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Royston.

Royston.

Posted
Posted
35 minutes ago, FerrisBueller said:

I’d love to to be honest, but I’d also love to boycott about a million things, I just don’t have a backbone when it comes to things like football. 
I’ll grow one tomorrow, we can have backbone and ball stew all Boxing Day.

:thumbup:

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Mickyblueeyes

Mickyblueeyes

Posted
Posted
32 minutes ago, ozleicester said:

Watching the opening....I didnt realise that there were no women in Qatar... amazing really

Given their stance on homosexuality... it must be a confusing place

What are you watching on ?
 

The BBC have had an interview with a member of the Qatari woman’s team. 
 

Pictures of fans outside the stadium included men but also Qatari woman in head scarfs waving the flag. I wonder what the number of woman will be inside the stadium. I’ve seen a couple with face paints too. 
 

The fans park had a good mixture too. 

 

a couple of the officials that walked past were women too - some wearing the headscarf.
 

A good number of the mascots are little girls too. 
 


 

I think it would be a struggle to exclude both sexes and that would be called out very quickly. 

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ozleicester

ozleicester

Posted
Posted
6 minutes ago, Mickyblueeyes said:

What are you watching on ?
 

The BBC have had an interview with a member of the Qatari woman’s team. 
 

Pictures of fans outside the stadium included men but also Qatari woman in head scarfs waving the flag. I wonder what the number of woman will be inside the stadium. I’ve seen a couple with face paints too. 
 

The fans park had a good mixture too. 

 

a couple of the officials that walked past were women too - some wearing the headscarf.
 

A good number of the mascots are little girls too. 
 


 

I think it would be a struggle to exclude both sexes and that would be called out very quickly. 

i was watching the performers...didnt see a female

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Trav Le Bleu

Trav Le Bleu

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, Finnegan said:

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.

 

 

 

It makes you a Welsh hypocrite.

 

Which is worse! :angry:

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ozleicester

ozleicester

Posted
Posted
14 minutes ago, Mickyblueeyes said:

I am almost certain that the person singing to Morgan Freeman is a woman. And there is a clear mixture of male and female dancers in that group ? 
 

 

Are you referring to Jungkook?... If so, do not go to qatar :)

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Mickyblueeyes

Mickyblueeyes

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, ozleicester said:

Are you referring to Jungkook?... If so, do not go to qatar :)

No mate - the local culture part. Just before the sword dance. Performers as well as the singer were female. Anyway, it’s quite clear that the opening ceremony was not just all men. 

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Daggers

Daggers

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, Finnegan said:

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.

 

finners.jpeg

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Steve_Guppy_Left_Foot

Steve_Guppy_Left_Foot

Posted
Posted

Do you eat meat? Do you shop at amazon? Do you drive a petrol car? Do you buy said petrol from BP or shell, ever? Do you buy nestle products? Do you have a smart phone, shopped at primark, ever got anything made in China? Been in a Catholic church? Where do you draw the line? I'd love to be a moral shopper but I'm far too skint and not got enough time to sift through the history of companies and their practices. If a company is hugely successful its a near 100% guarenteee they are scum. So either i crawl up in to a ball, cry and eventually die, or just shrug and get on with my life. 

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Nalis

Nalis

Posted
Posted (edited)

I'm not as excited about it as other world cups.

 

No idea if thats the venue, that its on during the winter, that I'm older and have other growing priorities in life outside football. Probably a combination of all 3 and probably more weighted toward the latter 2 if I'm being honest.

 

Saying all that, I'm watching Qatar v Ecuador so you know...

Edited by Nalis
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Manley Farrington-Brown

Manley Farrington-Brown

Posted
Posted
9 minutes ago, Steve_Guppy_Left_Foot said:

If a company is hugely successful its a near 100% guarenteee they are scum. So either i crawl up in to a ball, cry and eventually die, or just shrug and get on with my life.

There is a middle option!

You can't do everything about everything,  but you don't have to. Anything is better than nothing. It's ok to pick one thing you're concerned about and take some steps in that area, or one company you're particularly opposed to and stop buying from them. And it doesn't make you a hypocrite to - for example - stop using Amazon but carry on driving your petrol car. It just makes you human.

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