I plan to be at every tournament for the foreseeable and will happily go to Saudi and judge the experience for myself rather than what we’re told by those sitting at home 👍
Will you be judging what it's like to be tortured? Let us know how that goes
I’ll be going as a football fan with an open mind. Served me well in Qatar, as it did however many other hundreds of thousands of people who did the same.
Nice try though.
But you went during the glitzy World Cup when they had to be decent to everyone.
Do you have an open mind or rose tinted spectacles?
You seem very passionate about this. Tell us what you’ll be doing about it…
Good question. I've just started this. Please sign:
I plan to be at every tournament for the foreseeable and will happily go to Saudi and judge the experience for myself rather than what we’re told by those sitting at home 👍
Will you be judging what it's like to be tortured? Let us know how that goes
I’ll be going as a football fan with an open mind. Served me well in Qatar, as it did however many other hundreds of thousands of people who did the same.
Nice try though.
But you went during the glitzy World Cup when they had to be decent to everyone.
Do you have an open mind or rose tinted spectacles?
You seem very passionate about this. Tell us what you’ll be doing about it…
Good question. I've just started this. Please sign:
I plan to be at every tournament for the foreseeable and will happily go to Saudi and judge the experience for myself rather than what we’re told by those sitting at home 👍
Will you be judging what it's like to be tortured? Let us know how that goes
I’ll be going as a football fan with an open mind. Served me well in Qatar, as it did however many other hundreds of thousands of people who did the same.
Nice try though.
But you went during the glitzy World Cup when they had to be decent to everyone.
Do you have an open mind or rose tinted spectacles?
You seem very passionate about this. Tell us what you’ll be doing about it…
Good question. I've just started this. Please sign:
Are the clubs able to refuse their players to play for their national side in a major competition?
I'm proud to see that Charlton have just agreed in principle that none of our current playing squad will be made available for England for this tournament.
Well done the club. We do sometimes get things right 👏
I plan to be at every tournament for the foreseeable and will happily go to Saudi and judge the experience for myself rather than what we’re told by those sitting at home 👍
Will you be judging what it's like to be tortured? Let us know how that goes
I’ll be going as a football fan with an open mind. Served me well in Qatar, as it did however many other hundreds of thousands of people who did the same.
Nice try though.
But you went during the glitzy World Cup when they had to be decent to everyone.
Do you have an open mind or rose tinted spectacles?
You seem very passionate about this. Tell us what you’ll be doing about it…
Good question. I've just started this. Please sign:
Are the clubs able to refuse their players to play for their national side in a major competition?
I'm proud to see that Charlton have just agreed in principle that none of our current playing squad will be made available for England for this tournament.
Well done the club. We do sometimes get things right 👏
They are a. probably in our academy and b. not at the club when the tournament comes around
I plan to be at every tournament for the foreseeable and will happily go to Saudi and judge the experience for myself rather than what we’re told by those sitting at home 👍
Will you be judging what it's like to be tortured? Let us know how that goes
I’ll be going as a football fan with an open mind. Served me well in Qatar, as it did however many other hundreds of thousands of people who did the same.
Nice try though.
But you went during the glitzy World Cup when they had to be decent to everyone.
Do you have an open mind or rose tinted spectacles?
You seem very passionate about this. Tell us what you’ll be doing about it…
Good question. I've just started this. Please sign:
I plan to be at every tournament for the foreseeable and will happily go to Saudi and judge the experience for myself rather than what we’re told by those sitting at home 👍
Will you be judging what it's like to be tortured? Let us know how that goes
I’ll be going as a football fan with an open mind. Served me well in Qatar, as it did however many other hundreds of thousands of people who did the same.
Nice try though.
But you went during the glitzy World Cup when they had to be decent to everyone.
Do you have an open mind or rose tinted spectacles?
You seem very passionate about this. Tell us what you’ll be doing about it…
Good question. I've just started this. Please sign:
Are the clubs able to refuse their players to play for their national side in a major competition?
I'm proud to see that Charlton have just agreed in principle that none of our current playing squad will be made available for England for this tournament.
Well done the club. We do sometimes get things right 👏
We had half the Welsh squad in Qatar but we decided Saudi was one step too far
I won't judge anyone who wants to go to Saudi Arabia to see the World Cup. Football fans watch football, it's what they do. I don't think they should be denied that pleasure because of someone else's voice of venue. I think it's unfair criticising individuals for decisions based on morality, when it is the organisers that have demonstrated their complete lack of morals.
I most definitely do judge the officials of FIFA who made this decision in another cynical money grabbing move. They got it wrong with Russia, they got it wrong with Qatar and they've got it wrong again with Saudi Arabia. They ought to decide the venue on the basis sound criteria, mine would be something like this:
The ability to run a good, safe, tournament that does not conflict with long standing traditions of the game (for example, it should always be a summer tournament).
To help develop the game in places where there are large populations of people who are genuinely interested in the sport but who have historically struggled with funding or infrastructure.
To reward those countries that have a long tradition of the game.
To minimise unnecessary tournament/travel related pollution.
To promote societal improvements in countries that are willing to make positive changes.
Instead of such a framework, FIFA's decision making seems to be based entirely according to how much cash Gianni The Childlike and his chums rake in. Countries like Saudi Arabia are interested in the soft power that is invested in football. FIFA are literally selling that soft power to the highest bidder, regardless of their football traditions, capacity for development or openness to being a fair and just society. It absolutely stinks.
The European players probably quite enjoy it anyway because a) it means they'll actually get a summer break and b) they get to go and play in the warm weather at a time of year when Europe is cold and wet.
Wonder how the alcohol sponsors of the world cup will feel about that. Or, indeed, the gambling sponsors.
I guess FIFA won't give a shit, as Saudi Arabia will just give them a big brown bag with the same amount of money the sponsors would have given them.
They'll just market their 0% product. I would imagine advertising wouldn't be a problem anyway, could be wrong but feel like the Saudi boxing etc has betting sponsors
Wonder how the alcohol sponsors of the world cup will feel about that. Or, indeed, the gambling sponsors.
I guess FIFA won't give a shit, as Saudi Arabia will just give them a big brown bag with the same amount of money the sponsors would have given them.
Its already there with the F1, AFC, Moto GP etc. As @fenaddick says it'll be the 0% products everywhere. In 2022, Budweiser were serving their products in the stadiums with advertising everywhere, so i assume itll be the same in Saudi.
Hope that the Saudis don't buckle and hold on to their principles.
I think they will have to buckle. They have big plans to boost tourism there with a 'Vision 2030' development plan, which includes major hotels, resorts, entertainment venues, sporting venues and restaurants/bars and they're likely going to have to sell alcohol to achieve what they want.
Last year they opened an off license in Riyadh, so they're already slowly moving that way.
I'm pretty confident there is no way they'll host a world cup without selling alcohol. It'll probably be like it was in Qatar, where it's on sale in hotel bars and in fan zones but not at the stadiums.
Comments
It's only submission or indifference that prevents change.
Well done the club. We do sometimes get things right 👏
I guess FIFA won't give a shit, as Saudi Arabia will just give them a big brown bag with the same amount of money the sponsors would have given them.
They'll just market their 0% product. I would imagine advertising wouldn't be a problem anyway, could be wrong but feel like the Saudi boxing etc has betting sponsors
Thats quite the leap, it simply wouldnt happen here or people would turn up steaming causing more agro.
Note the key words in his interview - "At the moment, we don't allow alcohol"
Last year they opened an off license in Riyadh, so they're already slowly moving that way.
I'm pretty confident there is no way they'll host a world cup without selling alcohol. It'll probably be like it was in Qatar, where it's on sale in hotel bars and in fan zones but not at the stadiums.