Because of the threat of players being booked.

[Brett Angell Delight]

Of course they are. But here's the thing: FIFA...you know...the organisers of this event...wont allow stuff like that to be done. So, these gestures can never be done...unless of course...and I'd support any national association who did this...a participating country boycotts the World Cup and walks out.

Short of them doing that there's no use in all this posturing...and posturing btw about the wearing of a piss poor substitute rainbow armband.

I'd be delighted if they all walked out of the world cup tomorrow and then the media turned their attention on the UK Government and business trading with Qatar 365 days a year every year since it was founded as an independent nation in the 70s. But that wont happen.

Those extremes wouldn’t have been required though. The punishment was a yellow card. Take the card. Maybe cycle captains through the different games to avoid bans through totting up. Show as a team that we won’t be cowed by those crooked biffs in FIFA.

It’s yet another setback for any closeted footballers, some of whom undoubtedly play alongside some of these players, to see that they only care about the rights of LGBTQ+ people until they hit the slightest bit of resistance.

 

[ChesterBlue]

Of course they are. But here's the thing: FIFA...you know...the organisers of this event...wont allow stuff like that to be done. So, these gestures can never be done...unless of course...and I'd support any national association who did this...a participating country boycotts the World Cup and walks out.

Short of them doing that there's no use in all this posturing...and posturing btw about the wearing of a piss poor substitute rainbow armband.

I'd be delighted if they all walked out of the world cup tomorrow and then the media turned their attention on the UK Government and business trading with Qatar 365 days a year every year since it was founded as an independent nation in the 70s. But that wont happen.

Oh, I 1000% agree with that, or turned the attention to the UK being one of the biggest arms dealers on the planet - providing weapons to Saudi Arabia to commit genocide in the Yemen.

However, realistically it is still important to point out now as the media apart from maybe the Guardian on a good day absolutely will not touch on our government’s wrongdoings, but shining a light on blatant sports-washing can only be a good thing with the status-quo as it is

 

[davek]

Wales fans had rainbow bucket hats removed from them. A US journalist has claimed he was detained for wearing a rainbow shirt.

But we were told this wouldn't happen. That there would be tolerance for fans.

Cowardly approach from captains who backed down off the threat of what, a yellow card? Pathetic.

All the rhetoric beforehand and the words coming from the players. Should have boycotted in the first place. Fifa would have backed down if all the (primarily) Western countries had threatened to boycott.

And it's not a political stance. As someone's sexual orientation isn't politics.

The Qatari's have waited right to the eve of the tournament to discard a lot of assurances and so have FIFA.

But dont think that the national associations of the competing teams didn't know that was going to happen. They did. They aren't daft. They sought in advance and never received any clarification on their intentions to wear armbands or for fans to be left alone to make their own personal statements.

They ALL colluded on that, including the media. The media are delighted those things happened because their role is to cause mayhem and sell their rubbish stories and push agendas.

 

[Martin Alvito]

Jesus. Yeah, wouldn’t want to rock the boat. Don’t want to look like an idiot by pointing out that gays shouldn’t be stoned to death.

People HAVE been laying into the choice of venue for years, but FIFA were never going to change it because too much money has changed hands for them to risk going back on their word and being exposed as the crooks they are.

The one brief moment of solace in the build up to this dogmuck tournament was when players collectively agreed to take a small but poignant stand against the treatment of LGBTQ+ in Qatar, only for them to fanny out last minute for fear of a yellow card.

You can twist my words all you want. My point is simple: we have things like the World Cup and the Olympics for the purpose of putting all of that aside for a bit.

We should try doing that. I don't agree with what people in the host country believe, at all. There's a stack of reasons the event never should have been awarded to them, and a very different stack of reasons why it was. I don't actually think that the result is a bad thing, in the sense that it has exposed FIFA for the corrupt mess that it is. If the national FAs had any integrity, they would collectively walk away and organize their own event.

 

[peteblue]

Of course they are. But here's the thing: FIFA...you know...the organisers of this event...wont allow stuff like that to be done. So, these gestures can never be done...unless of course...and I'd support any national association who did this...a participating country boycotts the World Cup and walks out.

Short of them doing that there's no use in all this posturing...and posturing btw about the wearing of a piss poor substitute rainbow armband.

I'd be delighted if they all walked out of the world cup tomorrow and then the media turned their attention on the UK Government and business trading with Qatar 365 days a year every year since it was founded as an independent nation in the 70s. But that wont happen.

Indeed, I’d be much happier for players just to say I’m not going to Qatar because of……

 

[davek]

Oh, I 1000% agree with that, or turned the attention to the UK being one of the biggest arms dealers on the planet - providing weapons to Saudi Arabia to commit genocide in the Yemen.

However, realistically it is still important to point out now as the media apart from maybe the Guardian on a good day absolutely will not touch on our government’s wrongdoings, but shining a light on blatant sports-washing can only be a good thing with the status-quo as it is

...but we have these people dug in at the Premier League. Sorting that out surely comes before a 4 week tournament in Qatar? The Saudis and UAE are a major part of our league now.

Why the WC suddenly becomes the focus I dont know.

 

[Taifi gorm]

Thoughts on Gareth Bale doing the same? No?

Applies to them all equally.
None of them even offering to donate their appearance and prize money to the workers either.

 

[Brett Angell Delight]

You can twist my words all you want. My point is simple: we have things like the World Cup and the Olympics for the purpose of putting all of that aside for a bit.

We should try doing that. I don't agree with what people in the host country believe, at all. There's a stack of reasons the event never should have been awarded to them, and a very different stack of reasons why it was. I don't actually think that the result is a bad thing, in the sense that it has exposed FIFA for the corrupt mess that it is. If the national FAs had any integrity, they would collectively walk away and organize their own event.

I see the point you’re trying to make, mate.

Personally I think putting your beliefs, or your support of those being marginalised aside for a month so you can enjoy a bit of footy guilt-free sends a terrible message to those in need of our support. They certainly can’t stop being who they are for a month here or there.

You’re right, though, in that FIFA are showing themselves up here. I just hope we start to see some genuine, independent oversight into their practices now. The tournament is underway and the radical changes required aren’t coming so the least we can hope for is that their uppance will come. I won’t hold my breath, though.

In the meantime, though, I haven’t seen a minute of the footy yet and will probably give the rest a swerve and all.

 

[Brett Angell Delight]

...but we have these people dug in at the Premier League. Sorting that out surely comes before a 4 week tournament in Qatar? The Saudis and UAE are a major part of our league now.

Why the WC suddenly becomes the focus I dont know.

Very valid point. Doesn’t/shouldn’t have to be either/or, though.

While the PL is a global product, WC is the most watched event in the world. If the FA fought on both fronts that’s a mighty reach being utilised.

 

[ChesterBlue]

...but we have these people dug in at the Premier League. Sorting that out surely comes before a 4 week tournament in Qatar? The Saudis and UAE are a major part of our league now.

Why the WC suddenly becomes the focus I dont know.

In fairness I’ve been pretty vocally against that particularly with Newcastle - with City I was about 18 when they got took over and wasn’t as politically switched on, however the footy podcasts I listen to do bring It up a lot.

At least this tournament getting criticised may actually make people look closer to home at the problems we have, I’d rather see injustice being called out to a degree than not being called out at all

 

[davek]

Indeed, I’d be much happier for players just to say I’m not going to Qatar because of……

They wont because they're just footballers who just want to play football. To lump all this on them is pathetic. To sabotage a world cup tournament to push the message of LGBTQ rights instead of telling their own government to stop propping up these regimes is absurd. The UK media are a corrupt bunch of scum who are in bed with the UK government that does deals with the Qatari regime.

It's a fiasco...a hypocritical fiasco.

Example: ITV talking all this up about the terrible human rights record of these regimes...at HT in that Welsh game there was an advert on ITV to persuade viewers to visit Saudi Arabia!

FFS, it's Alice in Wonderland stuff this!!!!

 

[Martin Alvito]

I see the point you’re trying to make, mate.

Personally I think putting your beliefs, or your support of those being marginalised aside for a month so you can enjoy a bit of footy guilt-free sends a terrible message to those in need of our support. They certainly can’t stop being who they are for a month here or there.

You’re right, though, in that FIFA are showing themselves up here. I just hope we start to see some genuine, independent oversight into their practices now. The tournament is underway and the radical changes required aren’t coming so the least we can hope for is that their uppance will come. I won’t hold my breath, though.

In the meantime, though, I haven’t seen a minute of the footy yet and will probably give the rest a swerve and all.

It's not a question of 'guilt-free footy'. The entire reason that the modern Olympics was organized in the first place was to try and transcend all of this stuff. The point was to get people to see people in other countries as human, irrespective of beliefs.

Politicizing these events does the exact opposite. I get it, people want to take advantage of the media spotlight. I just think that we have the rest of the calendar for that purpose.

 

[davek]

Very valid point. Doesn’t/shouldn’t have to be either/or, though.

While the PL is a global product, WC is the most watched event in the world. If the FA fought on both fronts that’s a mighty reach being utilised.

...but after the world cup ends the media will conveniently forget the ownership of clubs owned by these regimes. You know they will...and when Liverpool are snapped up by them they'll all get collective amnesia about LGBTQ rights.

This attention on the WC is an absurd drama that anyone with an ounce of sense sees for what it is.

 

[emir]

Gay rights are human rights. Not politics.

 

[Goat]

Respect our values while we ban yours.

Sounds about right.