This is the email I just got ... Ross, You're Invited! Help us re-open Audi Field for the 2019 season! On Saturday, March 2nd from 3 PM - 6 PM, D.C. United, in partnership with the Embassy of the State of Qatar, is opening up Audi Field for a one-day celebration of soccer, traditional Qatari cuisine, and family and cultural activities! As a valued Season Ticket Member, you have access to RSVP for the event before it becomes available to the public. Bring the whole family and enjoy: Kick off to 2019 Season & Qatar 2022 World Cup preview Kid Zone featuring family-friendly activities 16 Local DC restaurants serving a variety of Qatari Inspired Cuisine FREE ADMISSION courtesy of the Embassy of the State of Qatar Space is limited so don't wait, click below to RSVP for this exciting kick-off event! The club shop will be open to use your member discount! Normal matchday procedures will be in place, click here to learn more. We hope to see you there ----------------------------------------------------------------------- No mention of players being present. And there is NO chance I'd be attending. This is the email I've sent my rep ... XXXXX, I can't tell you how much this breaks our hearts. Our son looks forward to this event every year in a big way, but there is no way in good conscience that we could accept the hospitality of the State of Qatar when, with Israeli stamps in our passports, we'd be denied entry to their country. In this day and time of heightened social responsibility, I find the decision to partner the State of Qatar baffling when the club's majority owners are Jews. Even more so, given the documented corruption that went into winning the hosting rights in 2022, the human rights violations that are again well documented in the construction of their cities and stadiums that are being built to host the World Cup. The State of Qatar is not a partner I would ever want to be aligned with, when nearly every other State in the middle east has shunned them.
Please voice your condemnation of the State of Israel for murdering and butchering thousands of Palestinian children, bombing their hospitals and shutting off water and utilities.
I am afraid that I can't and I will not. So feel free to call me a hypocrite. Its cut both ways for generations. Lets not forget the palestinian suicide bombers who walk on to public buses and detonate themselves killing civilians and having their familys supported by foreign governments who bankroll martyr payments and militias like Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad that have the stated goal of destroying Israel and that refuse to live in peace with their neighbors, Jews and Muslims of different belief sets.
BREAKING: Jared Kushner is on the case, and should have all this wrapped up by the 2nd. My $.02. Discussion of problematic Qatar is well in bounds, as it's obviously been chosen as the site of the next WC, and the reported conditions in that country have left them with a pretty terrible reputation. Before this thread, which has value, goes down the rabbit hole, let's get back to Qatar and the ownership's decision. The thread as initiated by the OP isn't about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and we aren't going to solve that here.
The dumbest part of this is having this THE DAY BEFORE Opening Day. Have it a week before to help people get acclimated/reminded how things work, get a look at new traffic patterns, etc. But the day before? Really? So if you live within walking distance, great you could go to both. If you don't do any kind of pre-gaming or post-gaming maybe you can do both too - but if you plan on doing anything or visiting with friends, etc on Game Day, why would you have time or the inclination to go all the way into town twice like that. Anyway, probably just me and my old, driving-an-hour-to-get-there self. Not that it was their choice 100%, but I'd rather they had the game Saturday and the dumb showoff cash-grab event Sunday
Nonsense. If DC supporters groups could solve things and let bygones be bygones, we could solve that mideast thingee in an instant.
Totally agree. We here on BS have solved many otherwise intractable problems many times over. Now some may call us "internet nuts", but I prefer to consider myself a "reasoned problem solver." Although, I'm sure in @shawn12011's eyes, I'm just a "deckchair."
You forget in the year two thousand and eighteen we settled not the unimportant question of "who is a deckchair?" but the more basic level we agreed on a definition of deckchair. A truly Nobelesque moment.
Partnering with Qatar, and here I thought this FO could not place their heads ajy further up their asses and here I was wrong.
I'm staying well away from the political stuff .. I sent the following message to my rep as soon as I saw the email this morning: "That is embarrassing … DCU is partnering with the country the corruptly stole the 2022 World Cup from under the feet of the USA bid???? … shame on DCU management! Please pass this message on to the powers that be." He replied with "I’ll be sure to pass this up the chain of command."
I wonder if we have the same rep, or if they're all told to say the same thing when faced with... "constructive feedback"
Also, FYI, Israel does no longer stamps passports, upon entry in the country they give you some sort of stylized card with all your information and your picture on it, and you have to keep together with your passport and show it upon departure. When you leave the country, they gave you an exact same card, only of a different color, and it's up to you to decide what to do with it once you leave.
All over the sports reports on yesterday's local news was Qatar holding some sort of workout for kids involving many Washington DC football players. They're in all the DC stadiums and teams this month. Hmmmm.
It keeps attendance down. Unless you live right there, how practical is it to go down to the stadium on Saturday and Sunday? Most of us have lives and shit to do on the weekends.
Agreed. Qatar is particularly unsubtle with their PR. In this case they imposed themselves in a particular way, such that a fan would be hard pressed not to note it, and not to feel awkward about showing up to the event if they happened to have qualms about Qatar.
All of the PSG stuff and then potential sponsorship with Qatar Airways and now this is all stuff that makes me go hmmm.
I'm totally going. I'm thinking Qatar is so unpopular they may end up paying me to attend WC 2022! I mean with Manafort and Stone in the big house, there are lots of lucrative opportunities out there.