The World Cup

[mids]

It doesn't feel very The World Cup-y. Still, The World Cup's The World Cup.


www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup/schedule

[flatandy]

Allez Ecuador

[mids]

Not a good start for the poof-bashers.

[unclejunior]

Al Beeb are already happy as Gareth has announced that England players will take the Knee…

[flatandy]

Are they going to do it properly, during the national anthem, in protest at the racist way the state continues to act?

[flatandy]

My guess is that it's going to be something vague and harmless and unthreatening and uncontroversial, without any of the weight of the original meaning of the act, independent of the national anthems, to make a vague statement that's so broad as to be meaningless, like "racism isn't very nice". The kind of thing that even a horribly conservative institution like the BBC could actively support.

[voice]

Saw this thing on the news, some venues not even fully finished, fan zones empty and these horrible looking tent hotels on the beach.

[ootlg]

Amazing when you think that not that long ago it was an insignificant little backwater populated by fishermen and marauding bandits.

[perrykneeham]

Spain?

[ootlg]

hahaha... I was waiting for a come-back on that. Could almost be anywhere really.

[flatandy]

Black England have scored 5 already.

[unclejunior]

England scored six & we are all very happy 😃
Just the two hours playing time...

[Repat Van]

Nov 21, 2022 8:12:56 GMT ootlg said:

Amazing when you think that not that long ago it was an insignificant little backwater populated by fishermen and marauding bandits.

I went to Qatar for work about 12 years ago now (JEEBUS time flies). It was ok in the expat sides. Friends of mine have been there for a decade now and she says the development in that time is astronomical.

[voice]

I went through work in 1990, just a few weeks before Saddam invaded, was much the same as all the other gulf countries I worked in at the time.

[mids]

I see England's social justice league players have crumbled at the slightest of threats and given up wearing the rainbow armbands. Principles? Don't like these ones, I've got others.

[perrykneeham]

I've never been to Qatar or the Gulf countries generally. No interest in doing so. They sound dreadful, but I'm told that Oman is quite pleasant.

[mids]

Me neither. I'd probably only be interested in going if they had some decent historical stuff rather than an ultra modern city in the sand.

[ootlg]

Ce soir - Allez les Bleus!!

[flatandy]

Blimey. That's a surprise result. Qatar's Lionel Messi beaten by MBS's KSA.

[flatandy]

Nov 22, 2022 9:04:25 GMT perrykneeham said:

I've never been to Qatar or the Gulf countries generally. No interest in doing so. They sound dreadful, but I'm told that Oman is quite pleasant.

Yeah. This, really. I love the actual desert, so there might be some lovely places inland in Arabia away from everyone. But I've never been. And the coastal modern countries (Qatar, Kuwait, UAE, Bahrain) sound like they've had any hint of charm hammered out of them; Yemen sounds like it might once have been nice but is now a war-torn shithole (and I suppose isn't "Gulf" for pedants). Saudi is, well, Saudi - big enough that there's probably some nice spots, but the Saudis don't have a good track record of making their place inviting and their cities are trying to mimic the crappy ones on the Gulf Coast. Oman, though, actually does sound lovely. And Socotra, of course, although obviously that's not Gulf either.