FIFA is the most openly corrupt organization there is and somehow everyone just shrugs and lets them keep doing it.
You’d think the EU would drop some sort of hammer on them, but nope.
It’s like the International Olympic Committee on meth and the IOC is fucking horrible.
I think if the problem was purely political, I wouldn’t be as upset. I would still be mad, but that’s just a daily thing that comes with reading the news.
This tournament is literally being played over the dead bodies of at least 6500 people, whom I guarantee didn’t have much to begin with, and who very likely had dependents at home, who are now facing even harsher destitution than they did before.
The dead are fucked, and their families are even more fucked as a result of this World Cup.
And they died doing construction in one of the world’s richest countries. Qatar can afford capable contractors, they can afford proper safety measures, they can afford to keep people cool in the heat, they can afford proper accommodation, they can afford proper healthcare.
I know the Qatari government is rich, not efficient, but as the son of an expat who worked with the Saudi government, I can also say that even corrupt and incompetent middle eastern governments still know how to get people who know their stuff.
The fact that they didn’t makes this tournament a crime in and of itself. Anyone who wins gets a cup filled with the blood of these people, and that really sickens me.
I’m a Dane, we never win anything, so we go completely insane if we manage to place 4th in like… Handball, or badminton, or the 50 meter air pistol category. Think about that, Americans. But if Denmark (against all odds it seems) should win this tournament, I would find that very difficult to deal with.
I agree that the Germans handled it well, but I think all the teams should have taken the yellow, just to kind of save what’s left of their souls. We focus a lot on the rainbow angle - how very decadent and western of us - but the worker angle is arguably worse.
They also should’ve allowed it to escalate to reds, and let FIFA tank their own tournament, and expose them for the cruel gluttonous pigs that they are. That organization doesn’t give a damn about the game, and it doesn’t give a damn about human beings. They’re only there to get paid, and we should not be helping them with that.
I agree.
But it is easy for us to say that. Well, easier, arguably, than for a player who might get this one shot at the world cup.
You could counter argue that players at this level are compensated well enough that not playing in a WC is no big deal.
As in taking a stand is a bigger deal.
What would this tournament look like if 7 of the nations left over this.
And, as an Englishman, it is…jarring to see Germany taking a stronger stand.
I mean, we invented this fcking game, what happened to our supposed fair play etc.
And I’m going to be very hypocritical and watch the game tonight in a bar, with other people, and get drunk (gloriously drunk) and then probably shit post some nonsense about 1776, what cider actually is, and the correct pronunciation/spelling of many words :p.
I feel very weird, torn between saying fuck it and fuck Fifa, versus enjoy what looks to be some amazing football.
Well, the EU did pass a resolution a few days ago:
It included the characterization of FIFA as suffering from “rampant, systemic, and deep-rooted corruption” and saying that “The organisation has seriously damaged the image and integrity of global football.”
I think the problem is that there is not really much that the EU can do directly against a body like FIFA. Like the IOC, FIFA’s “apolitical” position, shields them from direct intervention. I am disappointed with UEFA though (albeit not surprised - UEFA is rotten with corruption too); as I see it, they are the only body that could seriously do something here. Ideally, I think the only thing that would make FIFA clean up it’s act would be if UEFA as a body (or a significant number of UEFA nations) threatened to withdraw from FIFA.
Also, FIFA is Swiss.
Curious to hear what you think about this!
Around here, its more common to drink “cidre” (which is more of an “apple-wine”), thus very different to stuff like Strongbow or Bulmers on tap.
France?
Germany.
Thought it was apfelwein there?
Don’t remember it being popular, but do remember being perfectly acceptable.
Depends on what region you are in, some even call it Äppelvoi.
But regarding my question: Earlier you implied that you had a specific definition of what cider is, so I was just curious what you meant since my impression is that cidre / Apfelwein and the more beerlike sparkly drink the english call Cider are rather different?
I’m not an expert.
It was more a reference to another thread where the american custom of labelling apple juice as cider, and cider as hard cider, was discussed.
:D
In my layman opinion any alcoholic apple based drink, made like beer or ale (as opposed to distilled, which is what I think calvados is), is cider.
It can be sweet, dry, fizzy, flat.
I’ve had all of those 4 and enjoyed them.
And had the same types which were bad.
I know I veer away from the swedish style very sweet flavoured stuff and more towards a traditional type.
That said I have a Lilly’s mango flavoured cider infront of me.
It’s for my Mrs, but it is delicious.
Ah… I missed that. Hence the slight confusion!
But yeah, each of the variants have their time & place.
Enjoy your mango cider!
I found that discussion we had very enlightening, and tangents like that that are what makes Qt3 great!
Although, I do feel obligated to end every post in this thread with:. Fuck FIFA.
Fuck Fifa.
In the US, cider refers to an unfiltered (and possibly not pasteurized) apple juice. Instead of being clear and white / light yellow it has a more beige / light brown color.
We need to differentiate that from the fermented product, though if you let cider sit around long enough it’ll start that process on its own.
Source: grew up near some apple farms that made really tasty cider. Never drank apple juice because it was inferior in every way.
Second source: What's the Difference Between Apple Cider and Apple Juice? | Kitchn
Fifa, and the euro centric world’s indifference to the absolute shitshow of human rights abuses and corruption make me laugh. I can’t believe the Americans are so boorish and are all Bible thumping gun nuts. Anyway, off to watch our slave labor built sporting event, where the gays aren’t allowed!
Writing pieces like this would probably get you a Saudi embassy treatment:
That is really disturbing. Even if it turns out to be dreadful coincidence, the fact that we can reasonably and without exaggerated conspiracy theories hold out the possibility he was murdered by the Qatari’s says about all you need to know about that regime I suppose.
According to his own accounts he had seen doctors twice while at the games. Check the WC thread for more info. He was having problems before he died.
Wahl described a bunch of symptoms that absolutely sound like an oncoming cardiac event. Including telling colleagues the day before he died about experiencing chest pains and pressure in his chest.
My father was 48 years old, and was about 5’ 10" and weighed maybe 170 pounds soaking wet. He was an avid hiker and climber. He swam laps religiously in the winter at the local Y. Just in phenomenal shape by any appraisal.
And one afternoon while working in the yard, he collapsed while talking to my mom. Massive myocardial infarction, and was probably dead before he hit the ground.
My stepfather was 55. Great shape. Played handball and raquetball twice weekly, rode a bike, worked out at a gym. One morning while packing for a business trip, he just collapsed in his bedroom, and despite my mother and I doing CPR – which we’d learned after my father’s death – and despite paramedics arriving within five minutes, there was nothing to be done. Massive heart attack.
By which I mean to say simply this: it happens. And though it is rare, it happens a lot more frequently than we’d like to believe.