Thread: Britain Diminished

FIFA Gives Britain a Lesson in Diminished Status



This morning it seemed as though David Cameron had played a blinder, now it looks like FIFA has made a fool out of the British PM. Number 10 wouldn’t have put their boy on the pitch unless they were assured by the bid organizers, and the voting delegates, that there was at least a reasonable chance of coming close. In the event England went out in the first round with a miserable two votes.
“It’s too close to call,” said Cameron on the eve of the vote. Er…no, it wasn’t. Looks like some of the voters - the delegates of FIFA - were not being entirely straight when they said they would vote for England. Imagine.(Serves them Limeys right ! They promised to vote for Germany 2010...but did not. I'am VERY amused !)

Cameron has been on TV being deeply disappointed, and it’s all a bit embarrassing. It seems that British media probing of FIFA didn’t make the England bid popular with FIFA.
One shouldn’t over do it, but this is also a lesson in Britain’s somewhat diminished status. As Patrick O’Flynn put it on Twitter: “Very bad for national morale. We are being taught a painful lesson about our economic weakness and reduced status in the world.”
It’s a natural consequence of globalization and the shifting balances of power.
Look beyond Russia. Britain and the rest of old Europe will have to adjust to the kind of world in which the newly wealthy Qatar (in which homosexuality is illegal and there are strict restrictions on the use of non-Islamic religious material) can secure the World Cup. It is ludicrous. Stadiums will have to be built with air conditioning and there is no footballing heritage. Hosting the World Cup is just a desirable bauble for a ruling elite that wants to prove its globalised credentials and promote their country as a business destination.
But it’s not only happening in sport. Senior British politicians contemplating semi-retirement still tend to think they will be near the front of the queue when it comes to the big posts in international bodies such as the IMF and the World Bank. But there are now plenty of other countries jostling for position. Fifty years ago Britain had a special claim, thanks to its imperial experience and economic clout. Now Brazil and a host of Asian and middle-eastern states think it’s their turn.
This kind of thing is going to happen more often. No point getting depressed or moaning about it, we Brits had better just get used to it. So forget the World Cup, cheer up. There is opportunity aplenty ahead for a country with such strong trading traditions (Rolls Royce Engines) and so many creative citizens. And “at the end of the day”, as David Beckham might put it, is it better to win the approval of the ghastly FIFA and get the World Cup or instead have a noisy free press and free society? Football fans, don’t answer that.

i'm glad we lost the bid in Britain , we got enough foreigners here already , thanks very much

It bemuses me that a country which now outsources passport applications to China (well, Hong Kong anyway_ in order to save money thinks it is in a fit state to host the World Cup.

I swear that, during my lifetime, Parliament may well move to Beijing.

Originally Posted by HermantheWanker

(Serves them Limeys right ! They promised to vote for Germany 2010...but did not. I'am VERY amused !)

Never forgiven us for knocking you out of the World Cup, ha ha ha

P.S. Change your Avitar to a more sutable name please!

We already got the Olympics which is a far more prestigious event and we won't have a football team to put up a serious world cup challenge anyway so it makes the post failure slagging the team will have to endure that much less intense.
It's a win win as far as I see it

Originally Posted by The Bold Rodney

Originally Posted by HermantheWanker

(Serves them Limeys right ! They promised to vote for Germany 2010...but did not. I'am VERY amused !)

P.S. Change your Avitar to a more sutable name please!

well his avatar is ok , but you are right his user name could be smartened up,
how about
''Manfred von Richthofen'' ? or even'' the red baron'' ?

and have this avatar



or this old photo of herman as a 6 year old

The curry-munchers whinging again

(1) It was England, not Britain.
(2) Whilst getting pissed with the Sheikhs tonight watching Saudi beat the Emirates, the average estimate of the baksheesh Qatar squirelled away in various international bank accounts was upwards of $120 million.

It's fuck all to do with Cameron, Beckham or Panorama.

FFS are people really that stupid?

^ Yup,,!

From seeing it all here in England and reading ALL the daily rags; they had England very confident we would have sealed the tournament. From any outsiders point of view it was readily apparant why we wouldn't have won the hosting.

Obama was already whining because America lost to. Maybe FIFA was concerned about scheduling an event in a host country that forces you to chose between a potentially harmful dose of radiation or groping by a government goon just to get in or out. Britain is not far behind the USA in the paranoid security nonsense.

Originally Posted by Sdigit

We already got the Olympics which is a far more prestigious event and we won't have a football team to put up a serious world cup challenge anyway so it makes the post failure slagging the team will have to endure that much less intense.
It's a win win as far as I see it

Sure it's a win win, we're going to be a net gainer. For example, how many of the millions entering Britain for the Olympics next year, won't be going back home in a hurry?

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

(1) It was England, not Britain.
(2) Whilst getting pissed with the Sheikhs tonight watching Saudi beat the Emirates, the average estimate of the baksheesh Qatar squirelled away in various international bank accounts was upwards of $120 million.

It's fuck all to do with Cameron, Beckham or Panorama.

FFS are people really that stupid?

Yep, I heard a rumour that they've upgraded from envelopes to suitcases. Mind you, that's only a rumour.

Been watching the Telli this morning and the Aussies are also crying there eyes out about missing out.

We spent 40 million bucks having a crack and got only 1 vote out of 20 .

Foking hell, that was money well spend considering it could of went a long way to helping the under privileged and other poor unfortunate bastards in our society.

Personally I think Thaksin bribed officials to hold the tournament somewhere he can watch in person without fear of extradition.

Putin never even turned up. Now that says something.

Originally Posted by HermantheGerman

They promised to vote for Germany 2010

Germany never bid for 2010.... the bidding process for 2010 was only open to African nations....

Originally Posted by superman

Putin never even turned up. Now that says something.

He didn't want to be tainted with the stench of corruption

Anyone whose ever been to Qatar will be laughing at this insult to football.

Originally Posted by terry57

Been watching the Telli this morning and the Aussies are also crying there eyes out about missing out.

We spent 40 million bucks having a crack and got only 1 vote out of 20 .

Foking hell, that was money well spend considering it could of went a long way to helping the under privileged and other poor unfortunate bastards in our society.

It did go a long way to help, except the privileged not the underprivileged.

Speaking as a Scot, England had by far the best bid, yet got the least votes. Going on bids, US or Australia should have been in contention for the 2022.

The two least deserving countries will now host World Cups, which prove FIFA don't care about the fans anymore, and are rather influenced by money and driven by their own hubris.

I stopped caring about international football some time ago, but I am continually saddened how money seems to be destroying our beautiful game.

Pinched this off another forum, sums it up for me...

"Qatar is not a footballing nation by any stretch of the imagination, nor is it really a "developing nation". It's the 2nd wealthest place on earth per capita FFS ! If you wanted to give a World Cup to a nation that's never had it try Holland, a country who's players fans and people have contributed to it richly for decades and never hosted it. If you wanted to give it to the Middle East why not wait until one of the more prominent Arab states with a proper footballing history came up with a bid ? They have done nothing to deserve the most prestigious tournament in the world. Apparently the world's biggest football tournament deserves to be hosted by anyone who can afford to do it or hasn't done it before rather than the places suited for the best football, the best experience for the fans and the best conditions for the players or by those who would do all this AND have a rich history with the sport and competition. It's not a travelling circus it's a football tournament but you would never know it."

Corrupt to the core. Here's an article from 6 months ago!

Qatar will host the 2022 Football World Cup

An informed source has told me that the FIFA president, Joseph S. Blatter, Sepp Blatter to the punters, wants another term as presiding official of world football. But the chairman of the Qatar’s 2022 Bid Commitee, His Excellency Sheik Mohammed bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, has the numbers to prevent this.A deal will be done to square this circle.
Blatter will get his final term as present. And Qatar will win the hosting rights to the 2022 Football World Cup.

Do they have Vevazulas in Russia?

Originally Posted by Nostradamus

Speaking as a Scot, England had by far the best bid, yet got the least votes.

Sounds a bit like the "eurovison song contest" which is complete shite but the voting illustrates countries judges kissing each others arses!

Personally, no interest in football whatsoever (apart from West Ham beating MU 4 - 0 the other night, fucking great result) so as far as I'm concerned they can stick the world cup where the sun never shines foreverrrrrrrrrrrrrr!