كأس العالم 2022 World Cup Thread!

Think the issue is that they basically told whatever lies they needed to, in order to convince everyone the tournament would run smoothly, only to basically say, “just f*cking kidding lads” at the last minute.

 

Or, you're a Saints fan, and find that a certain level of numbness improves the viewing experience.

 

As someone who gave up beer for 'sober for October' last year and hasn't drunk since, this wouldn't bother me. However, pre October 2021 I would have been mortified.

Now with hindsight and 13 months without it, I can see as someone said up above, if the fact you can't have a beer for 2 hours whilst watching a game of football is a deal breaker, you really need to analyse a few things.

Qatar have a lot of issues IMO, but banning beer isn't one as we have to respect that it part of their culture and we are in their country. Other things though that they are trying to pass off as 'their culture' are to me plain wrong.

 

This is going to be more interesting than the football. Will "our lads" doing it for England see sense and tone it down a bit, or will they take the safety in numbers approach and do exactly what they want? Can't wait to hear of some wannabe hard man/drunken yob/ public urinator, squealing from his Qatari jail at just how badly he is being treated.

 

please log in to view this image

 

Lyanco

https://www.instagram.com/reel/ClHD99JDtHt/?igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY=

 

****ing brilliant!

 

I totally agree with this statement but the whole issue of "culture" is something I would like explore further. Football is supposed to be inclusive and for everyone and I just feel that it is appropriate that an Islamic country has the opportunity to host the competition. If this includes a ban of alcohol, then so be it. From my experience in the country (2 visits) , I can say that there are plenty of "sports bars" in many of the larger hotels where you can indulge if anyone should feel this is necessary. I have toured the Al Bayt stadium thanks to an invite from a colleague of my girlfriend's who is also in construction and have to say it is an amazing structure. The external works element of the site includes MacDonald's restautants and an non-alcoholic bar which will doubtless still be appreciated on the hour drive out from Doha. The fans are being catered for and the whole set up is impressive - if you ignore the accident rate on sites. I would suggest that most fans will be uneffected by the stricter elements of the regime and will probably come away with a better perception than they arrived with. The souk is emmaculate and I really enjoyed the traditional coffee venues which reminded me of the kind of places you used to see in old James Bond films.

For what it is worth, the range of "soft drinks" available" in Qatar struck me as far more interesting than alot of the food which plunders cuisine from around the world. Some of the lemonades are akin to cocktails and are a welcome change from Coke and Pepsi. I do not feel the alcohol ban will be an issue for most fans going out there or those already resident who know what to expect.

The issue with Budweiser is interesting. I had no idea that their involvement with the competition had gone on so for long. I rarely drink alcohol at St mary's due to the issues with getting served and it is not a big deal if there is no alcohol. If I had a choice, I would put Budweiser at the bottom. It is more of a shampoo alternative than a proper beer which is another good reason not to buy it. The annoying thing for me is that the main brewing sponsor of the competition is American where they do not have a credible football culture in comparison to Europe and South America. The involvement of MacDonald's is even worse and they are probably the worst offenders when it comes to cultural appropriation being used to promote their products. MacDonalds, Coca-Cola and Budweiser just sum of how American capitalism can get things so spectacularly wrong as the recent issue with KFC and Kristall Nacht has shown. The perception of "soccer" as portrayed by the the advertisers always strikes me as totally false and part of me finds it funny that Budweiser have had their pants pulled down by the Qatari's. The way the competition was awarded and the associated sponsorship of the World Cup is obviously a million miles away from how much people experience football where the game is not spoiled to the extent of the "sportsmanship" nature of football being put aside for commercial greed. It will be a totally different experince to what most of the fans visiting will have experienced in the UK (regardless of the where the competition is hosted) and certainly likely to attract the kind of people more likely to behave.

 

So you're annoyed that the main brewing sponsor of the competition is from somewhere without a credible football culture, but not annoyed that the whole event is being hosted by somewhere without a credible football culture?

 

For what it's worth, Ian, I do get some of what you're saying - I do think there's a fair amount of hand-wringing hypocrisy about the World Cup and traditional Islamic countries going on (and Qatar is, as you say, one of the more liberal of the traditional Islamic countries). There's many people that are getting in a pickle about this, who don't bat an eyelid when F1 goes to Saudi Arabia for instance.

But realistically, the World Cup should never have been awarded to Qatar. It's a nonsense, criminally corrupt in its award, and it's not going to change a sausage of how things are done out there. And we shouldn't shy away from calling it out for what it is, and calling out the regime out there for what it is - pretty buildings, and cute marketing though it may have.

 

I see people are speaking about political cartoonists on another thread. Here’s tag fabulous David Squires on the World Cup -

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...eath-by-natural-causes?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

 

Just listened to the speech. Unbelievable

 

You must be a terribly bored individual. I hope you get some help soon.

 

Um, not quite the same buddy…

 

Someone should tell him it's better to have red hair than to be a shiny-headed sycophantic c*nt.

 

I suspect he was bullied for being an utter ****. The red hair was just a bonus

 

Gakpo is going to make us all feel sad, isn’t he?

 

Marginal tbf

 

The more I thought about that the more I’m convinced we never had a chance of signing him. Whether it was just us being naive or something more cynical we will never know