NinpoEspiritoSanto posted:

Hugo Lloris is right. It shouldn't be on the players to shoulder the responsibility for this World Cup. It's a professional event for them that they might play in 4 or 5 of max in their career, for a lot of them they're lucky they get this 1. The last time Wales made it was 1958. If you want to get mad at people, start with the ex pros that are going there for pundit money or to put a star face on the tournament in exchange for sacks of cash, the national football associations that decided to take part anyway, the sponsors, kit manufacturers and obviously FIFA for this nakedly blatant product of utter corruption.

I don't give a poo poo that Lisandro Martinez has gone off to play for Brazil at an international tournament. I do give a poo poo that former players like Gary Neville that have waxed lyrical on various political points and the Glazer ownership is not only doing punditry in Qatar, but doing it for Bein Sports. For those not in the know, Bein Sports is owned by Qatar and Neville's business puts him shoulder to shoulder with colleagues such as sacked from Sky in misogynistic disgrace Andy Gray and Richard Keys.

I don't care Maguire's massive head is apparently worth its weight in gold to Gareth "Cowardly Lion" Southgate, I do care that David Beckham is getting wheelbarrows full of cash he doesn't need to to be an ambassador for the tournament.

The players are victims of this tournament not the ones we should be expecting to do something about it now that people in far better positions have failed/not bothered to do so. 10 years ago the national FAs should have turned around and said "gently caress you we're not going if you hold it there" and stood firm. There was little appetite for that though because noted oval office and Qatar shill Platini was head of UEFA at the time and you'd need the big UEFA countries and South Americans to really hold FIFA's feet to the fire.

Bea Nanner posted:

im beginning to think this world cup has some problems

Tokyo Sexwale posted:

hosed up if t_rue

Tokyo Sexwale posted:

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar boycotted those Olympics for similar reasons and the media destroyed his character and went after him for decades because of it. His career pretty obviously wasn't ended because of it but it definitely obliterated his public image for the rest of his career.

Jippa posted:

TheRat posted:

https://twitter.com/SimonPeach/status/1592573164907032577

Seems the song has gotten a new tune

Loving Africa Chaps posted:

This is just embarrassing. Surely they could have just subsidised flights so actual fans could have come? Or is it that there's no space for them so that shipping container fan accomodation is just repainted workers digs?

Total Meatlove posted:

They paid the England band off and some of them are there as ambassadors

Mickolution posted:

Oh boy was he that.

IIRC, on top of this, he was instrumental in bringing the Olympics to Berlin in 1936, continuing with the games after the Munich Massacre in 1972 and refused to help Jim Thorpe get his medals back.

the sex ghost posted:

Trying to sleep in my freezing tent in the middle of the desert while the rent a cops teargas a load of French ultras. Hanging up the do not disturb sign on my thin piece of cloth

Loving Africa Chaps posted:

Just more time to tweet what a great, sober, time you're having at the greatest world cup of all time

the sex ghost posted:

Trying to sleep in my freezing tent in the middle of the desert while the rent a cops teargas a load of French ultras. Hanging up the do not disturb sign on my thin piece of cloth

vyelkin posted:

As a followup to the earlier discussion about pundits and retired players having no excuse for going to Qatar, even Philipp "The Super League is the future of football" Lahm says Qatar is poo poo and he won't go.

the sex ghost posted:

Trying to sleep in my freezing tent in the middle of the desert while the rent a cops teargas a load of French ultras. Hanging up the do not disturb sign on my thin piece of cloth

Grimson posted:

danish tv got interrupted doing a live report from qatar by security guards wanting to smash their camera for filming in a public place
https://streamja.com/62ky1

Alctel posted:

I hope that all this poo poo helps shine an even brighter spotlight on how lovely the whole area is although I doubt it'd make a difference

quote:

Gay Qataris physically abused then recruited as agents, campaigner says

Gay Qataris have been promised safety from physical torture in exchange for helping the authorities to track down other LGBTQ+ people in the country, a prominent Qatari doctor and gay rights campaigner has told the Guardian.

Dr Nasser Mohamed, who lives in the US but retains contact with hundreds of gay Qataris, said that some secret networks had been compromised after arrests by Qatar’s preventive security department.

“A lot [of gay Qataris] don’t know about each other,” Mohamed said. “And it’s safer that way because when the law enforcement finds one person, they actively try to find their entire network. But some of the people who were captured and physically abused were then recruited as agents.

“Now there are agents in the gay community that were promised safety from physical torture in exchange for working for the preventive security department and helping them find groups of LGBTQ+ people.”

Mohamed told the Guardian that foreign gay fans in Qatar would not be persecuted while at the World Cup finals tournament. However, he warned that local LGBTQ+ supporters faced a very different reality. “What is it like to be an LGBT Qatari? You live in fear, you live in the shadows, you’re actively persecuted. You’re subjected to state-sponsored physical and mental abuse. It’s dangerous to be an LGBT person in Qatar.”

Last month Human Rights Watch reported that Qatar’s preventive security department forces had arbitrarily arrested lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and subjected them to ill‑treatment in detention. HRW also documented six cases of severe and repeated beatings and five cases of sexual harassment in police custody between 2019 and 2022.

Rasha Younes, a senior researcher with HRW, told the Guardian that some cases were more striking than most. “There was one story of a transgender woman who was detained in solitary confinement for two months underground, lost her job as a result of being detained and was not able to give notice to her employer that she was gone,” she said. “They shaved her 17-inch long hair in detention, severely beat her until she bled, and denied her medical care.”

HRW is calling for the Qatari authorities to repeal article 285 and all other laws that criminalise consensual sexual relations outside of marriage and introduce legislation that protects against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, online and offline. It also wants freedom of expression and nondiscrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity to be guaranteed, permanently, for all residents of Qatar.

Younes also criticised Fifa for failing to do more. “We’ve been engaging with Fifa with other sports organisations and LGBT rights activists for years and they have not been paying attention,” she said. “They have not been at all responsive or listen to the accounts that we have shared. Now that we have all this evidence, it’s really time for Fifa to stop having its fingers in its ears and actually listen.”

Fifa said it was committed to inclusivity and that it was “confident that all necessary measures will be in place for LGBTIQ+ fans and allies to enjoy the tournament in a welcoming and safe environment, just as for everyone else”.

In a statement, Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy promised the World Cup would be free of any discrimination. “The SC is committed to delivering an inclusive and discrimination-free Fifa World Cup experience that is welcoming, safe and accessible to all participants, attendees and communities in Qatar and around the world,” it said.

“Everyone is welcome in Qatar, but we are a conservative country and any public display of affection, regardless of orientation, is frowned upon. We simply ask for people to respect our culture.

“More than 600 international and regional sporting events have been held in Qatar since we were awarded the rights to host the tournament, welcoming thousands of fans from every corner of the world. While the tournament is the biggest event yet, there has never been an issue and every event has been delivered safely.”

Qatar’s government has also been invited to comment on the claims made by Mohammed and HRW. A Qatari official has said previously that HRW’s allegations “contain information that is categorically and unequivocally false”, without specifying.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/nov/15/gay-qataris-physically-abused-then-recruited-as-agents-campaigner-says

Total Meatlove posted:

They paid the England band off and some of them are there as ambassadors

blue footed boobie posted:

I was hoping they’d have immigrants recreate the band, too.

Loving Africa Chaps posted:

https://twitter.com/wc22updates/status/1592492531585286144?t=12Suox3x9E7tEjK2XEUckw&s=19

Lmao, better than a shipping container without AC I guess.