Scotland v Ukraine

[HibeeJibee]

On 26/02/2022 at 14:31, BFTD said:

Good point. I don't remember their players being allowed to compete under another name either, which is something that's being mentioned as a possibility for Russia.

I was just about to ask what @invergowrie arab just posted; that was what I remember being the reason for their suspension from FIFA. There's very little that FIFA seem willing to take a stand over, except money.

Down the decades we've hardly been whiter than white ourselves. Happily toured fascist Chile - playing in a stadium which had literally been a prison camp for political dissidents not long beforehand (incidentally the Soviets did what Poland are potentially going to do - refused to play them and forfeited WC playoff). Clyde and Kilmarnock were supported in touring Rhodesia several years after UDI. Went to WC 1982 in Spain while the Falklands War was ongoing and would have played Argentina if required. More recently defied criticism to agree a parternship with Qatar whose perks included home friendly for a sponsored cup and our top brass having a jaunt over there.

If we switch to the oval ball, our record in relation to South Africa during apartheid is well-known. Not to mention the controversies surrounding the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh.

We even voted against UEFA recognising womens football (every other association voted in favour btw).

Edited February 27, 2022 by HibeeJibee

[Binos]

5 hours ago, BFTD said:

Well, it's just all a bit meaningless, isn't it. Those lads have far more important things to be worrying about.

More concerned that Russia gets punted TBH.

From posts on here there is no precedent to punt Russia 

And from looking online fifa only bans countries for govts interfering in football matters 

Could be Russia will automatically qualify if no one plays them

[Binos]

5 minutes ago, HibeeJibee said:

Down the decades we've hardly been whiter than white ourselves. Happily toured Chile - playing in a stadium which had literally been a prison camp for political dissidents not long beforehand (incidentally the Soviets did what Poland are potentially going to do - refused to play them and forfeited WC playoff). Went to WC 1982 in Spain while the Falklands War was ongoing and would have played Argentina if required. More recently defied criticism to agree a parternship with Qatar whose perks included home friendly for a sponsored cup and our top brass having a jaunt over there.

Traditionally sport and politics didn't mix

With the exceptions being apartheid and Olympic games 

Barely ever in football and yugoslavia as someone pointed out was after a UN resolution which can't be done as Russia would veto

[Savage Henry]

2 minutes ago, Binos said:

Traditionally sport and politics didn't mix

With the exceptions being apartheid and Olympic games 

Barely ever in football and yugoslavia as someone pointed out was after a UN resolution which can't be done as Russia would veto

Sports are nothing but politics. Anyone who has ever been in any team at any level in any sport should recognise that.  
 

FIFA/UEFA have every to suspend Russia from sporting events. 

[Clown Job]

24 minutes ago, Binos said:

Traditionally sport and politics didn't mix

Nah.

Sports, especially football and politics have mixed pretty much from the beginning 

[BFTD]

4 minutes ago, HibeeJibee said:

Down the decades we've hardly been whiter than white ourselves. Happily toured Chile - playing in a stadium which had literally been a prison camp for political dissidents not long beforehand (incidentally the Soviets did what Poland are potentially going to do - refused to play them and forfeited WC playoff). Went to WC 1982 in Spain while the Falklands War was ongoing and would have played Argentina if required. More recently defied criticism to agree a parternship with Qatar whose perks included home friendly for a sponsored cup and our top brass having a jaunt over there.

Aye, as had been pointed out elsewhere, the UK nations should've been booted from tournaments for invading Iraq. Thankfully, the SFA demonstrated their strong ethics by withdrawing us for a while. That's absolutely what happened ^{[citation needed]}.

12 minutes ago, Binos said:

From posts on here there is no precedent to punt Russia 

And from looking online fifa only bans countries for govts interfering in football matters 

Could be Russia will automatically qualify if no one plays them

It'll be important to get as many nations as possible onboard. FIFA would absolutely sleepwalk into Russia qualifying automatically, but they'd find it much trickier if, say, England, Germany, America, and a few more of the big names threaten not to turn up if drawn against them. They'll have a tipping point past which it would be less embarrassing to kick Russia out, rather than, say, giving them a bye from qualifying through to the Quarter-Finals, or hand-pick their matches separate from the main draw.

"...and the next team out of the pot is Russia! By coincidence, they will join Iran, Switzerland, and Belarus, who we've chosen to replace Ukr...erm, the South-Western Russian Republic, after their voluntary decision to stop being a country again."

The problem would be that America probably wouldn't agree without an agreement that their place wouldn't be affected next time they feel like invading any small Caribbean island nations.

[Binos]

30 minutes ago, Savage Henry said:

Sports are nothing but politics. Anyone who has ever been in any team at any level in any sport should recognise that.  
 

FIFA/UEFA have every to suspend Russia from sporting events. 

They never suspended any African nations for invasions, genocides etc

Or anyone else,  myanmar etc

Only when govts interfere in football matters 

[BFTD]

3 minutes ago, Binos said:

They never suspended any African nations for invasions, genocides etc

Or anyone else,  myanmar etc

Only when govts interfere in football matters 

Would've been some craic if the South African government hadn't officially banned black people from playing with whites.

[Binos]

14 minutes ago, Clown Job said:

Nah.

Sports, especially football and politics have mixed pretty much from the beginning 

I disagree 

The soviets built a wall across Europe and shot anyone who tried to cross it

We gladly played them whenever drawn against 

We played Israel about 15 times recently 

[Binos]

Just now, BFTD said:

Would've been some craic if the South African government hadn't officially banned black people from playing with whites.

I was talking about your Rwanda, drc, sudan, Ethiopia etc etc

[Clown Job]

2 minutes ago, Binos said:

I disagree 

The soviets built a wall across Europe and shot anyone who tried to cross it

We gladly played them whenever drawn against 

We played Israel about 15 times recently 

I think you’re stretching the word gladly here, and the only reason we play Israel in European qualifiers is because politics 

[parsforlife]

Honestly can’t see too much happening long term against Russia in a sporting sense,  perhaps they maybe forced to change region to AFC. That will let FIFA largely avoid the potential teams refusing to play them. 
 

Dealing with the short term will be harder but I can see them finding a way of twisting things.

Interesting to note other sporting bodies are less favorable to avoiding conflicts.   If countries won’t compete against each other they are expected to withdraw. 

Edited February 27, 2022 by parsforlife

[Savage Henry]

22 minutes ago, Binos said:

They never suspended any African nations for invasions, genocides etc

Or anyone else,  myanmar etc

Only when govts interfere in football matters 

That’s because they are morally vacuous. 

[Sergeant Wilson]

1 hour ago, HibeeJibee said:

Down the decades we've hardly been whiter than white ourselves. Happily toured fascist Chile - playing in a stadium which had literally been a prison camp for political dissidents not long beforehand (incidentally the Soviets did what Poland are potentially going to do - refused to play them and forfeited WC playoff). Clyde and Kilmarnock were supported in touring Rhodesia several years after UDI. Went to WC 1982 in Spain while the Falklands War was ongoing and would have played Argentina if required. More recently defied criticism to agree a parternship with Qatar whose perks included home friendly for a sponsored cup and our top brass having a jaunt over there.

If we switch to the oval ball, our record in relation to South Africa during apartheid is well-known. Not to mention the controversies surrounding the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh.

We even voted against UEFA recognising womens football (every other association voted in favour btw).

Aye, but apart from that...

[Binos]

12 minutes ago, parsforlife said:

Honestly can’t see too much happening long term against Russia in a sporting sense,  perhaps they maybe forced to change region to AFC. That will let FIFA largely avoid the potential teams refusing to play them. 
 

Dealing with the short term will be harder but I can see them finding a way of twisting things.

Interesting to note other sporting bodies are less favorable to avoiding conflicts.   If countries won’t compete against each other they are expected to withdraw. 

That's a good shout , joining afc

 Eastern european countries would vote that in

[Binos]

England now saying won't play Russia at any level 

Everyone should refuse to play Chelsea too

[BFTD]

45 minutes ago, Binos said:

I was talking about your Rwanda, drc, sudan, Ethiopia etc etc

Aye, I know. We don't seem to care too much about those atrocities over here, but Apartheid got plenty of attention. It could've been...well, not amusing, but certainly interesting to see FIFA tapdancing over that.

37 minutes ago, parsforlife said:

Honestly can’t see too much happening long term against Russia in a sporting sense,  perhaps they maybe forced to change region to AFC. That will let FIFA largely avoid the potential teams refusing to play them.

Putting morality aside, I don't know how pleased the AFC would be about that. Considering the huge gap between the top 5 in Asia and everyone else, adding Russia to the mix would basically make the World Cup qualifiers a pointless exercise for everyone else.

Although I guess they're about to expand to eight places, so scrub that! Great timing.

[Binos]

2 minutes ago, BFTD said:

Aye, I know. We don't seem to care too much about those atrocities over here, but Apartheid got plenty of attention. It could've been...well, not amusing, but certainly interesting to see FIFA tapdancing over that.

Putting morality aside, I don't know how pleased the AFC would be about that. Considering the huge gap between the top 5 in Asia and everyone else, adding Russia to the mix would basically make the World Cup qualifiers a pointless exercise for everyone else.

Although I guess they're about to expand to eight places, so scrub that! Great timing.

It might end up the only option if european countries refuse to play russia

[BFTD]

19 minutes ago, Binos said:

It might end up the only option if european countries refuse to play russia

I've always assumed the confederations have to agree to take a new member but, aye, they probably would unless the invasion of Ukraine has outraged enough people there too. Not a lot of downsides for them otherwise.

[roman_bairn]

FIFA bottling it yet again.

Doubt it’ll persuade Poland or anyone else to play “Russia” under another name….