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Original poster

to be proud to be British over the World Cup?

145 replies

Appletrees · 03/12/2010 08:52

We are fantastic. We didn't lie, we didn't cheat, we didn't backstab. It was a great bid, football fans were behind it, it was honest, it was full of effort and hard work. I would rather do the right thing and lose than engineer, bully, threaten and bribe to win.

Well done us.

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Original poster
Appletrees · 03/12/2010 12:40

Also don't forget: England might have been guilty of deep naivete. The Times investgaton resultedin suspensions, and Panorama dealt with old allegations some years ago, so the England team might have thought the issue was being dealt with and there was no need to bring it up again.

What happened yesterday blew that belief out of the water. Three amazing bids, Enlgland, Oz and America got only what, three or four votes in the first round? Between them? Somethin catastrophically corrupt and phoney is going on there.

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JamieLeeCurtis · 03/12/2010 12:42

I am fairly proud to be British but I don't give a tiny rat's arse about football, and I hate the implication that a lack of interest in football is unpatriotic. I'm glad we didn't get the World Cup. I seriously doubt we'd have shown ourselves in a great light if we had won it. People talk about football in such a mawkish way.

JamieLeeCurtis · 03/12/2010 12:46

And I agree with what you said, mayorquimby, about the reaction to the Panorama programme. We either have a free press or we don't.

Original poster
Appletrees · 03/12/2010 12:49

I think it's so sad that people would rather defend Russia, or say that we're as bad as Russia, or find anything at all that we've done compared to the mass of evidence of corruption and mendacity that acted against us, than say yes we did, we came out better than the others, we did the right thing and though we've lost, it was still better to do the right thing and I'm proud we did.

It's pathetic.

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DanZZZenAroundTheTreeAgain · 03/12/2010 12:51

The Russians are welcome to it IMO. Their riot police will be well up for any football hooligans , home-grown or imported. And they need the money. Good luck to them.

Original poster
Appletrees · 03/12/2010 12:52

I mean, literally, people are so filled with dislike of the UK that they can't bring themselves to even think it. Either self dislike, if you're British, or dislike of the country you've chosen as your home, if you aren't.

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larrygrylls · 03/12/2010 12:53

Well, Russia is at least a footballing nation, but Qatar?!

113th ranked FIFA team and the weather will be 50 deg C. It is like Fifa saying " we can be bribed and we don't care who knows it, we are untouchable".

Original poster
Appletrees · 03/12/2010 12:55

"we can be bribed and we don't care who knows it"

that isEXACTLY what I mean

brazen beyond belief

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DanZZZenAroundTheTreeAgain · 03/12/2010 12:56

"Publicly, the line was that Russia was chosen because the World Cup has never been held in a country like Russia.

However, in reality, I think the likes of Putin and his political mates were so blasé about it because they knew they'd paid for their bid to win."

I think you're dead right there meowy. I'd imagine that's exactly how it was but you know, they may well regret it! Anyhow from what I read, violence against non-whites from Russian extreme right-wingers is common-place, so I could imagine a lot of people would be reluctant to travel to Russia for the WC, even in groups. Let's see how it goes eh? Might work out fine, might bite them in the bum.

Saltatrix · 03/12/2010 13:03

I don't know how Russia won, they are notorious for their trafficking problem and have one of the most racist leagues in the world it's like they have been rewarded for crap behaviour.

Saltatrix · 03/12/2010 13:05

I seriously advise anyone not white to going to Russia as violence against people of other races is common place, and with alcohol flowing and competitive atmosphere that the world cup brings i fear many things could go wrong.

DanZZZenAroundTheTreeAgain · 03/12/2010 13:07

exactly

DanZZZenAroundTheTreeAgain · 03/12/2010 13:10

imagine the security nightmares too. Let them have it I say.

Original poster
Appletrees · 03/12/2010 13:26

China got the Olympics and the world knew exactly how they "cleaned up" Beijing for it: the world knows how many families were displaced for CWG and how much money assigned to th poor was stolen there.. now this. It seems the main function of sporting administrative bodies now is to thieve, cheat, lie, bribe, threaten and self-aggrandise.

And still you get people who I assume would call themselves left wing who say the UK matches that kind of abuse. Ending up defending some of the most disgusting political systems and civil codes rather than saying something nice about their own.

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GetOrfMoiLand · 03/12/2010 13:35

I wonder if all those staidums )stadia? god knows) in Qatar are going to be built on the same lines as most of Dubai - indentured labour imported from Bangladesh, zero safety standrads, accident records 'hidden'.

A very high huiman price for football in a non-footballing nation.

It is ridiculous, and FIFA assume taht they are untouchable.

GetOrfMoiLand · 03/12/2010 13:35

Sorry for appalling typos as per usual

MsKalo · 03/12/2010 13:39

I didn't ever say we are corrupt like Russia but England I'm particular does have a 'I am better than you attitude'!

AbsofLatkes · 03/12/2010 13:50

You kind of did - "And Britain is as corrupt as other places "

EldritchCleavage · 03/12/2010 13:50

Just face it: there are good pitches/facilities in Russia...This is life and if you can't lose without findering left, right and center then it is not very polite and just confirms the image the English people have in the world...

Rushinrussian the point is not that Russia didn't have a good bid- it clearly did, and the country is obviously going to throw money at the World Cup to make it a success. Also, the fact it will be historic because no World Cup has been held there before is a good reason to give it the tournament.

No, the real issue is that the technical merits of the various bids and the 'making history' issue had little or nothing to do with the outcome, and FIFA's corruption is really now more brazen than ever. I love sport but am now beginning to think any country that believes in the rule of law should have nothing to do with FIFA or the IOC. Vile, both of them.

I completely agree with Appletrees and with Saltatrix too-a friend with a non-European wife went with her to Russia recently and actually could not leave her alone anywhere because she would be badly treated in his absence.

Original poster
Appletrees · 03/12/2010 13:56

Thanks Smile

Ms Kalo as well as saying we are as corrupt as everywhere else, you and couldn't can't bring yourself to admit that we conducted ourselves better and that this result is due to what we might politely call oversight issues. And that's because of a chip on your shoulder, not because you have a good case.

If it had been on merit then England (and oz, and the US would have got more than the measly votes they did and not be kicked out in the first round. It wasn't a fair fight, it never was.

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Original poster
Appletrees · 03/12/2010 13:57

Getorf: I am certain they will. These will be World Cups of exploitation, cruelty, abuse, theft, threats and corruption.

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CraigRevelPan · 03/12/2010 13:58

Part of the stadia building programme in Qatar is that they will be de-constructed and shipped to poorer countries and rebuilt. Quite a grand plan, and I suppose Qatarians can afford this. So the benefit would be for a tournament plus a legacy in a needier country.

Still Hmm at then winning though.

Also, for those of you old enough to recall, the world went to USSR in 1980 for the Olympics ( except USA) which opened up that country - 6 years later we had glasnost and perestroika which led 3 years later to the fall of the Berlin Wall, Nov 1989.
Evidence indicates sport has a positive effect on democracy??

EldritchCleavage · 03/12/2010 14:01

I take that point Craig but it could just as easily entrench a terrible regime by conferring bogus legitimacy and giving it a nice glossy populist image. I know which I think is most likely in Russia.

CraigRevelPan · 03/12/2010 14:03

Possible, Eldritch. Possibly not. That same country though went from a one-party state to a country with a system recognisable as a 'democratic' one in a few short years.

Gogopops · 03/12/2010 14:07

Whilst the whole world cup thing is corrupt and we like to think we're whiter than white, I just think that there's far too much money involved in the football industry in general, and it's turned me right off the game.