Two days before start of football World Cup, host nation Qatar bans beer sales there

Nothing for the “riff-raff” in the stands, and Qatar benefitting from the best players in the world – many, many of them having grown up in poverty. The royal family really should consider their own roots.

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Who are they going to sue? The government of Qatar? Good luck with that. FIFA? I’m guessing they can just weasel out of that somehow because it was “circumstances out of their control”.

One thing is certain is that this entire shitshow will only get worse.

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Gosh, that’s applicable to so many things right now!

:grimacing:

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Don’t think so… The people “boycotting” the event don’t even like soccer, whereas those who do some have been saving money for years for going there no matter what. In many countries it is a way of life (Europe, Latinamerica), so getting drunk before or after the match, will be a worthy sacrifice.

And still, they will sell beer outside the venues at designated fan areas from 6pm-1am (or that’s what I read recently, could have changed by now!).

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See my later responses and links. Sponsors have contracts with FIFA and they will get recompense of some sort if they decide they want it. If FIFA tells them to fuck off then future sponsors may be in short supply for lining FIFA’s coffers. Of course, it will not be a sueball, it will be negotiated behind closed doors.

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That’s certainly not true. There are serious fan groups that have planned a boycott since Qatar was awarded the WC.

I suppose fans of Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, and Hertha Berlin don’t pass your criteria as “even liking soccer?” :thinking:

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That’s great and all, but it is like less than a drop in the glass of water of fans. I don’t see this having a great impact. Now, if you tell me the country squad of those teams will not go (ie, Germany) now we are talking! Alas, they are there already.

Yet it’s STILL true that some fans are boycotting. Some people actually do care about human rights, and put that above their own pleasure. There really isn’t any need to be dismissive of that, even if it’s a minority of soccer fans. Seems like we should be critical of folks who act like the welfare of other humans is of less import than them being entertained. :woman_shrugging:

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I have to agree with that, my optics come from living in a Latino country, in these areas the people calling for boycotts are very well known and respected collectives not related to soccer at all, but aligned with human rights. The soccer fans are dismissive of it all, so, now you know how it looks from here.

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It might mean fuck all to you but for us queer types every single voice in support counts.

Thanks for nothing.

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And soccer fandom is global, so your immediate experience might not be universal. Your experience might not even be universal in Latino countries, either. @DukeTrout noted some examples of protests against Qatar hosting the games.

Given the march of the far right across the world, we should very much do what we can to stand up for the people they are attacking. This shit matters and we should not act like it’s the people doing the right thing who are wrong or weird for taking stand…

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Thanks for pointing that out and I acknowledge it, and kudos to all the people involved in the protests and boycotts, but I mean, still the event is going to happen, beer or not, that was my point. Cheers! :beers:

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We know that it’s still going on, but it still matters to show resistance to the normalization of authoritarianism. Even if you’re swimming against the tide, and derided for such, it still matters.

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If this is litigated at all, the only forum where it will happen is in an international trade court. Usually these venues always favour the wealthiest corporate party, so a lawsuit between InBev and FIFA would have the makings of one of the few fair fights one of these enforcers of the neoliberal globalist order has ever seen.

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Those were only an example. There are also hordes of individual fans boycotting in Canada and the US (including many Latinx-American fans). Far from a drop in the bucket.

I can see if someone has saved up to attend a World Cup, but just hold off for four more years and go to WC 2026 and pay less for travel and accommodations by keeping it in the Americas.

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Got it. The people I was recalling that saved for four years have done so for the last 4-5 world cups and will do for the next one (the ones I knew are already at Qatar). It is a way of life for them and probably the reason they wake up for work every morning. These fans will never boycott FIFA. Is like asking the church lady to boycott the catholic church due to the their scandals. Church ladies gonna pray, soccer bros gonna shout (but not drink beer this time! Ha!). Cheers! :beers: :soccer:

A charge of “hypocrisy” is so useful, and yet so easy to make!

Given that, Infantino branded criticism of Qatar’s treatment of immigrants as “hypocrisy” and “moral lesson-giving” from a part of the world that should remember its own history.

“I think for what we Europeans have been doing around the world for the last 3,000 years, we should be apologizing for the next 3,000 years, before starting to give moral lessons,” Infantino said.

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This FIFA slimeball seems to be trying on some IOC-style unearned sanctimony with this bit of “hey, look over there” Whataboutism. Or perhaps he’s just trying to impress Putin for a future World Cup.

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Is he available to plan other events I can’t stand?

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