For a start, none of the proposed Australian host cities were located in NT or anywhere close to Indonesia - the closest was Townsville which is 2,000 - 3,000 miles away from the main population centres in Indonesia (as opposed to New Zealand which is a little over 1,000 miles away from the 7 host cities located on the south-east coast). Even in your fairly obnoxious attempt to try and be clever you've fallen flat on your face. Second it's completely irrelevant whether Indonesia or New Zealand are closer to the host cities in Australia. They're both exceptionally long distances away, whilst Qatar has large population centres on its doorstep. Being 1,000 miles away (and across an ocean) from a football stadium is somewhat different to being a 5 hour drive away. It's a very, very simple point and I have no idea why you (and seemingly countless others) have a problem understanding it.
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/05122010/58/london-2012-mayor-cancels-fifa-london-2012-rooms.html Bravo....
The organisation is left to the hosts. Its got to a point where they do nothing apart from take money and make up rules.
Good point, generally, but last time they did make some contributions. Via MATCH, they organised ticketing, which was catastrophically bad, and meddled with the accommodation, in order to make it difficult for fans to book anything.
Well, they can't even make up rules without the say so of at least 2 representatives of the UK (England, Scotland, Wales and N Ireland)
England and Brasil are possibly the two best-supported teams in the world. Looks like a lot of England fans in that video; not sure how many actually live in Qatar...
Who thinks anything will come of this? http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3261474/War-on-FIFA-FA-lead-the-mutiny.html I suspect with concerted pressure they will get rid of some members of the board but most likely the culture will stay the same unless the other big names like Germany and Italy come on board and if that is the case then real change may happen.
It's the Sun....anything they print has to be taken with a pinch of salt. If there is any truth in the matter, they'd need more big hitters, Get Spain, Italy and Holland on board, and others would follow. Problem is.....Italy and corruption go hand in hand. They'd probably come in if they could see a benefit power wise, rather than for the good of the game.
Oh yes I agree about the sun but in all honesty I'm on a slow link and couldn't be bothered trying to find something more respectable.
Interesting piece in the grauniad... http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2010/dec/06/qatar-world-cup-human-rights Criticism of Qatar's victory is not just correct, it is highly necessary. Unfortunately, it has been misdirected. While concerns over women's rights and attitudes to homosexuality (not to mention the irresponsible lunacy of air-conditioning the desert) are entirely valid, there has been no meaningful criticism of what is by far the most problematic aspect of Qatar 2022: the systematic exploitation of the country's migrant workforce and the possible enslavement of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of impoverished south Asian migrant workers, who will be imported to meet the demands of a construction sector expected to swell twentyfold from $5bn to $100bn over the next 12 years. Migrant workers constitute approximately 70% of Qatar's population of 1.4 million and a significant number of these are unskilled and semi-skilled workers from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. The treatment of workers in the construction sector in Qatar is as exploitative as the well-publicised abuse of migrant workers in its glitzy neighbour, the United Arab Emirates. Workers arrive in the country heavily indebted, having borrowed from moneylenders or mortgaged their land to finance inflated travel and visa costs. Their passports are immediately and customarily confiscated and they are typically forced to sign a revised contract that pays them a significantly lower rate than was originally agreed. Strikes and trade unions are expressly banned, and the labour and immigration status of migrants is regulated by the kafala system, which ties each worker to one employer in a highly dependent relationship. The results are depressingly familiar: unpaid wages, inhumane living conditions, unsafe working conditions and suicides. Qatar, one of the wealthiest countries in the world, has been referred to as a "death trap for hundreds of thousands of construction workers" from some of the poorest countries in the world. Female domestic workers, meanwhile, are not covered by national labour law – an omission which, as Amnesty International rightly pointed out, "allows employers to exploit, enslave, abuse, assault and injure their domestic workers with virtual impunity". There is a strong argument for saying that in the worst cases of abuse, the treatment of migrant workers constitutes slavery in international law. Unfortunately, this will probably be moved or deleted by moderators who seem more interested in childish personal vendettas against individuals than anything else.
I don't think anything major is going to happen to be honest. They might get enough support for minor changes to the bidding process like earlier eliminations (which would stop countries wasting so much money on campaigns they're never going to win). Personally, I think that would be a good idea.
Good thing England did not get it! BTW, Japan has an emperor, Netherlands has a queen, and Spain has a king. I know you meant to say absolute monarchy.
Dude, where do you live???? Do you have any idea how UNimpressive these numbers are??? This is a big, big point. What is there to do between games? Nothing that can't be done in any major city in the world...go to touristy restaurants and night clubs.
http://www.fifa.com/associations/association=qat/ranking/gender=m/index.html Qatar had their worst ranking ever from October- November. hmmmm.
He's also omitting to mention that Riyadh is actually about 6-7 hours away and that 80% of the population of UAE are foreign nationals so probably won't be allowed, (or interested), in going anyway. Of course, of the 1.5 million that ARE UAE nationals about half will be women so quite how their husbands, fathers, brothers, etc., will feel about them being exposed in large numbers to any westerners, (at least, the sort that go to football matches), out there remains to be seen. Make sand castles?
I doubt your average England fan is looking for significant cultural attractions to visit between games, but maybe other fans are different. I would have thought the relative lack of alcohol and women might be a bigger issue for many.
Er.... I might be wrong but, if memory serves, he's English mate. I doubt he's too far off the mark as well.
He must have a big brush to tar us all with the same image either way! Although Russia sounds like it could be interesting I'm not sure I could say the same of Qatar.
Most common Saud's won't be taking their wives, they would leave them at home...and those that will, are probably the wealthier sort that are probably a bit more liberal, educated abroad and have probably already exposed their wives to cities like Paris, NY and LA as well already so they have been exposed to western civilization.