WC 2018 Boycott? (Racism in Football)

[Led's Zeppelin]

Lord Triesman is advocating European nations, under the leadership of UEFA, should boycott the World Cup in Russia because of the terrible levels of racism there.

Triesman then seems to suggest that if UEFA don't boycott the WC, fans should.

It's easy to argue that the principal football competition in the world shouldn't be at risk because of a few racist twats. On the other hand, how strongly do we feel about racism and how far are we prepared to go turning a blind eye when taking a stand might spoil our fun?

And then there's the question of accelerating Russian isolationism, one of the greatest dangers in the world at the moment. Should football fans worry about world peace or have they better things to do?

Any thoughts, or should we leave the politics to the politicians and get on with the serious business of getting knocked out of the World Cup by a smaller, poorer country with better footballers?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/33663478

 

[Rocksuperstar]

I don't think it's so much the racism that disgusts me, it's the blind denial of the Russian FA. There is video footage, sound recordings and first hand testimony on a regular basis, neo-nazi groups rallying in large numbers, a quite staggering amount of violence and mistreatment of Asian immigrants, and yet despite all this, the Russian authorities in each case just deny it and carry on as usual.

If they perhaps showed some sort of acknowledgement that there is a problem, suggested that they are going to tackle the very obvious and in some cases quite fanatical levels of racism that goes on there, then maybe it would be in everyones best interest to attend the world cup and demonstrate to the locals how foreigners are not something they should fear and/or hate, but that's not happening.

FIFA will never abandon this, UEFA will never boycott it. The only option is for fans with any conscience or morals to not go and to not watch the live broadcasts. Make a big enough thing about refusing to watch the TV coverage and it will hit the advertisers and partners much, much harder than not going to the game in person and, as it's been stated for a while now, you want to make an impression on FIFA you need to hit the sponsors. And it's true.

 

[Spurger King]

It's a tricky one. I'd have no issues whatsoever if we decided to boycott Qatar (I won't be watching any of it anyway), but I don't feel that Russia is quite as simple.

There's clearly an ongoing problem with racism in that country, but I can't help thinking that it's a bit rich of England to take the moral high ground. When English clubs first started fielding black players there were numerous incidents of racism that went on for years. Gradually, over time, attitudes changed. Maybe not completely, but racism at English stadiums is certainly now the exception instead of the norm.

But the point is that things didn't change over night. Russia has only had a relatively strong league for a fairly short amount of time, with certain souped up clubs now having the finances to buy expensive foreign players. To me it feels as though this is new territory for Russian clubs and supporters, and I'd like to think that over time attitudes would change as people become more used to seeing different ethnicities representing their side.

Of course that doesn't mean there shouldn't be a certain amount of pressure on the Russian FA to take more decisive steps to combat racism, but I don't think a boycott would be the right thing to do. I would hope that it would be far more positive to see a wide variety of different nationalities visiting Russia in a 'celebration of football'. Perhaps optimistically it could even help to bridge a lot of cultural differences, or at the very least make some small inroads towards broadening the minds of the Russian public.

 

[aliyid]

Playing devils advocate, could an influx of different cultures and races over the course of the WC provide a real turning point for the country itself?

Probably a tad optimistic but it's often big moments or events that are the catalyst of change.

The 2006 World Cup in Germany was a huge moment for IMO a global change in perception of Germany as a country and saw them go from stereotypical evil baddies to actually quite a friendly and warm host nation...

Now I'm not sure Russia are capable of the same kind of turnaround as there appears to be a strong undercurrent of racism among the population but you never know

 

[Lilbaz]

How long till the russians show videos of english fans being racist? 2 london clubs spring to mind.

If anything should be done it is scrapping the fines which are pointless. The clubs responsible should either be deducted points or kicked out of the competition.

 

[Gbspurs]

Boycott Qatar but I don't think they should boycott Russia.just need to spend the effort to educate them better.

 

[Geyzer Soze]

It's a tricky one. I'd have no issues whatsoever if we decided to boycott Qatar (I won't be watching any of it anyway), but I don't feel that Russia is quite as simple.

There's clearly an ongoing problem with racism in that country, but I can't help thinking that it's a bit rich of England to take the moral high ground. When English clubs first started fielding black players there were numerous incidents of racism that went on for years. Gradually, over time, attitudes changed. Maybe not completely, but racism at English stadiums is certainly now the exception instead of the norm.

But the point is that things didn't change over night. Russia has only had a relatively strong league for a fairly short amount of time, with certain souped up clubs now having the finances to buy expensive foreign players. To me it feels as though this is new territory for Russian clubs and supporters, and I'd like to think that over time attitudes would change as people become more used to seeing different ethnicities representing their side.

Of course that doesn't mean there shouldn't be a certain amount of pressure on the Russian FA to take more decisive steps to combat racism, but I don't think a boycott would be the right thing to do. I would hope that it would be far more positive to see a wide variety of different nationalities visiting Russia in a 'celebration of football'. Perhaps optimistically it could even help to bridge a lot of cultural differences, or at the very least make some small inroads towards broadening the minds of the Russian public.

But the more fundamental point, like Qatar, how & why was it awarded? It's part of the larger whole of FIFA corruption, before you even get to the racism point

 

[Led's Zeppelin]

But the more fundamental point, like Qatar, how & why was it awarded? It's part of the larger whole of FIFA corruption, before you even get to the racism point

Agreed, to a point.

But the WC will be in Russia regardless of FIFA's corruption. Let's hope the investigations get to the bottom of it all, and that the new regime is worthy of the privilege of governing the world's most popular game.

And in the meantime, there is this serious question of racism which shouldn't be ignored just because there are other major problems attaching to this World Cup and the next. It's not a question of which of the two problems afflicting football, corruption and racism, is worse is it?

 

[Spurger King]

But the more fundamental point, like Qatar, how & why was it awarded? It's part of the larger whole of FIFA corruption, before you even get to the racism point

Plenty of reasons to be against going to Russia. Possible corruption to win the hosting rights, homophobia, racism, land grabs, potential involvement in blowing a passenger plane out of the sky...

But from a purely footballing perspective I don't have too much of a problem with it. It's a huge country with an improving football league. I think Russia will be good hosts, the games will be well attended, their international team will probably do themselves proud, and the tournament as a whole will no doubt be very distinctive. In short, there are some good arguments to say that Russia deserves to have an opportunity to host a world cup.

On the other hand, Qatar is just an embarrassingly inappropriate choice in virtually every way. Might as well host it in the Sahara Desert.