Pathetic cowards

[Panda]

Harry Kane. He's wearing a 'onelove' armband in Qatar to 'protest' about the country's appalling LGBTQ rights.

Way to go Harry! Personally i'd have liked it better if you DID actually care and refused to take part full stop. However, that will effect your career, you'll miss out on a World Cup and besides, you're not that bothered about lesbians and gays anyway are you?

Danish national team. They are wearing new 'toned down' 'faded out' kits made by Hummel to represent their 'disgust' at the workers who perished building the World Cup stadiums.

Impressive! Personally, i'd have refused to take part in protest but then of course Danish players would miss out on some footy and they can't be having that.

These examples of prime virtue signalling ie: pretending to care about a cause so long as it doesn't directly affect an individual or organization financially / puts them at a disadvantage, is the main reason why taking the knee is b*llocks and nothing tangible will ever be done about racism. Or any other form of discrimination.

[ravenrover]

And Handshake is off again.....

[Panda]

And Handshake is off again.....

 

I think you can gather. It winds me the f*** up. Embarrassing specimens of people. Either take a proper stand, which means potentially having to suffer for their principles, or shut up and stop being fake!

[scawsby steve]

And Handshake is off again.....

He has got a point though, Raven.

[phil old leake]

Panda 100% behind you on this. Who do they think they’re impressing.  They’ve got no actual principles and like you say if they actually cared that much they’d refuse to go. 

Football in general is being ruined by this sxxt. If they really cared they wouldn’t be going.  Principles my axxe.

[Glyn_Wigley]

"shut up and stop being fake!"

[ravenrover]

And Handshake is off again.....

He has got a point though, Raven.

Not saying he hasn't SS, it should never have been awarded there in the 1st place

[Colin C No.3]

And Handshake is off again.....

He has got a point though, Raven.

Not saying he hasn't SS, it should never have been awarded there in the 1st place

Have to agree with the sentiments of the op & yours too.

As soon as I heard Quatar had won the bid I hoped the FA would have made a stand & not sent a team.

Pipe dream.

[normal rules]

Wearing a rainbow armband in Qatar is about as useful as Putin promoting Amnesty international.
Utterly futile, and quite frankly pathetic. The epitome of our FA in fact.

[phil old leake]

Colin that really would have been a miracle

Too much money involved     

Also as Panda has alluded to.  It’s all just token gesturism (if that’s a word)

[phil old leake]

Normal it’s not just the FA unfortunately

[normal rules]

Normal it’s not just the FA unfortunately

Don’t we know it.

[Panda]

I see what you are saying about the FA. They are just another bunch of bent rich men and expecting them to take tangible action to address an issue such as the ones in Qatar is like expecting Cukur to forge a professional football career.

The players as individuals are also to blame. Not one is prepared to stand up and be counted. Modern day players are extremely dull and mundane at the best of times.

Just say Harry Kane for example DID refuse to play in Qatar. I wonder what the reaction would be from the media, other players and also England fans themselves. Ain't never gonna happen in a million years but it would be interesting to find out.

[normal rules]

Player power here is key. The fat cats of the FA would never advocate such a stand. Neither would Southgate.
But if enough of the squad decided not to travel what would the English FA do?
I’m not sure there is a precedent for this .
Players fined?
The FA fined?
It’s not like they would sack them all would they? They would be a national and probably a global outrage.
The players have it within their powers to make this happen.
But they won’t.

[normal rules]

Interesting to see which of englands sponsors will pull their support for this tournament. Two European countries have already had shirt sponsors decline to support, not wanting to be seen on shirts .

[phil old leake]

If a player made a stand to support the stance they are supporting I think the FA would just ban them similar to the woman’s team that tried to get the coach sacked.  It might be different if we had a Messi or Ronaldo or Pele. 
Realistically if any of the squad decided not to travel it wouldn’t be game changing.  As good as some of them are I don’t think any of them couldn’t be replaced.  It’s irrelevant anyway because none of them have the bxxxox to do it

[phil old leake]

Normal that’s ok but are the shirt sponsors also playing the game.  No publicity is bad publicity. The same goes for the shirt manufacturers. If they really cared they’d stop their kits being worn. I wonder who manufactures the Qatari kit

[Panda]

In the case of those manufacturers like Hummel of the Danish kit. They know what they are doing. They don't care about the issues in Qatar either, but they are taking the opportunity to make it a publicity stunt which will attract brand interest. They aren't daft.

So, in effect, brands like Hummel are exploiting the vulnerability of supporters who for some reason think that they care by exercising classic virtue signalling.

Not on a footballing note but a similar thing IMO is happening with all this Pride / LGBTQ / Trans inclusivity stuff that businesses one by one seem to be falling over themselves to adopt. They don't actually give a toss about what they claim to promote, they just know that if other businesses are promoting their virtue signalling qualities towards inclusivity, equality and diversity then that gives them an added USP over them and so they follow suit. They follow the groupthink and also go down that route.

I bought some Dreamies cat biscuits the other day and on the back there's a pride flag and a load of spiel about the company promoting all this guff. Cat biscuit manufacturers for f**ks sakes! Not sure what cat biscuit manufacturers have to do with sexuality and gender but hey ho.

It is a psychological cancer.

[redwine]

Maybe cat owners are their demographic

[Panda]

Bit presumptive of them to think that most cat lovers aren't straight though. Also, wrong.

[phil old leake]

How can players be so blatantly hypocritical
This is worse than the England team’s hypocrisy
The Australian team are so upset they are making a real stand by playing

World Cup 2022: Australia players criticise human rights record of hosts Qatar in video

[drfchound]

The best way to protest would be for players to refuse to go to Qatar.

[wilts rover]

How can players be so blatantly hypocritical
This is worse than the England team’s hypocrisy
The Australian team are so upset they are making a real stand by playing

World Cup 2022: Australia players criticise human rights record of hosts Qatar in video

Do you agree/disagree with what the Australians' said? Or do you just have a problem with them saying it?

[wilts rover]

The best way to protest would be for players to refuse to go to Qatar.

It's a lot easier to get publicity for a cause/highlight an issue by doing something than not doing it.

[drfchound]

The best way to protest would be for players to refuse to go to Qatar.

It's a lot easier to get publicity for a cause/highlight an issue by doing something than not doing it.

I agree, that is why I suggested that players should refuse to go to Qatar.

[SydneyRover]

If noone went or watched it they wouldn't get sponsors, there must be quite a few on this thread not gunner watch it.

[mugnapper]

Prince William not going due to ‘a busy diary’ apparently.

[Metalmicky]

Bit presumptive of them to think that most cat lovers aren't straight though. Also, wrong.

Maybe we should let cats decide which pronouns they want to be identified as.  For instance I know that donkeys' identify as hee/haw

[wilts rover]

The best way to protest would be for players to refuse to go to Qatar.

It's a lot easier to get publicity for a cause/highlight an issue by doing something than not doing it.

I agree, that is why I suggested that players should refuse to go to Qatar.

But refusing to go then no-one is going to talk to you about it. No-one talks to the people who are not at a protest.

If you are there then you are going to have plenty of opportunities to highlight what you believe is wrong (or right). People are going to be talking about you to the billions watching.

[drfchound]

The best way to protest would be for players to refuse to go to Qatar.

It's a lot easier to get publicity for a cause/highlight an issue by doing something than not doing it.

I agree, that is why I suggested that players should refuse to go to Qatar.

But refusing to go then no-one is going to talk to you about it. No-one talks to the people who are not at a protest.

If you are there then you are going to have plenty of opportunities to highlight what you believe is wrong (or right). People are going to be talking about you to the billions watching.

Wilts, I see it being more of a statement if teams pulled out.
It would be a right slap in the face to the organisers and to Qatar themselves.
People would certainly be talking about the protest then, wouldn’t they.
Imagine if say, half a dozen top Nations decided not to go.
Billions would know about it that way too.