From @theathleticfc.bsky.social: Might Saudi Arabia actually be a good choice for a World Cup? Awarding the tournament to the Gulf state is controversial but there are positives, too, our columnist writes. https://nyti.ms/4gsjwjm
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Such weird nominations of FIFA make us think financial offers might be the main factors for being chosen instead of having strong roots and past with football as there were many 'never chosen yet' football countries there!
The whole article sounded like it came from the Saudi tourist bureau. I'm curious if he or the Saudis paid for his "visit" last year that he references.
Talk about solidarity amongst your colleagues for god sake!!!
A journalist was cut up with a bone saw thanks to this Saudi Arabia regime!🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮
What a cesspit the New York Times has become! Call this journalism!
No. It’s a terrible idea. The primary social problem in Saudi Arabia is a religious ideology that is incompatible with both the current world view and that treats 50% + of its citizens as second class/subhuman. 1/2
A sporting event will not change a generations deep religious intolerance. Go watch a Celtic V Rangers game in Scotland today or listen to the politicians in Northern Ireland and then tell me I’m wrong. 2/2
Oh word? Maybe next it can be sold to North Korea? I'm sure they have a lot of money, which is the only "good choice" that FIFA cares about. Maybe a bonesaw manufacturer could be the sponsor? Maybe Elon can buy it and change it into an all-white tournament? Would that have some positives?
The World Cup is a powerful tool for change. However, it is also a reward. Do you reward a country that has a poor human rights record? Do you allow it to put itself on display in such a blatantly false positive way? FIFA didn't worry about these things. It just wanted the money.
The answer is clearly no. Hosting an event like the WC is a privilege, and while we would probably be better off moving it to one location for environmental and other reasons, countries with atrocious human rights records should not be viable candidates at the very least. Hosting won't change that.
The only good news here, from an American perspective, is this was written by a Brit about a popular European sport, and it shows that Europeans are starting to go just as bat shit crazy as we are. Though not quite as bad shit crazy as us…yet. I have to give credit where credit is due.
I love that this is being posted by the New York Times who is ostensibly a provider of journalism.
It’s like they completely forgot the part where the Saudi, royal family *literally* chopped a journalist (a permanent American resident) into pieces for his speech.
My favorite part is a reminder of my concern for the UK’s tack to hard centrism
“…like all those other well-meaning types, this guy has realised Saudi Arabia is also a real country, with real challenges…at a crossroads moment in its relatively young history”
You believe what you want NY Times, but I’d say choosing a country that murders journalists and requires women to get permission from their father or husband to get a passport, go to school or pretty do much anything would not be a good choice. What in the hell is wrong with you?
For fuck's sake! We're not making this call in a vacuum! We literally just had the WC in Qatar where thousands of migrant workers died under the Kafala system. And we think the bonesaw guy is gonna make it better?
Yikes. Did Matt lose a bet, the punishment of which was to write this tire fire? Matty boy, you know you don’t always have to lick the boot, you can do other things with your time lol
Is the benefit… homophobia??? Misogyny??? All the shittiest parts of men’s football? Seriously I dropped my NYT full sub last week and this just reinforces it. The headline alone 🫠
Comments
Pros: All the new construction gives their slaves something to do
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/01/saudi-arabia-authorities-must-abide-by-recommendations-from-un-human-rights-council-review/
A journalist was cut up with a bone saw thanks to this Saudi Arabia regime!🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮
What a cesspit the New York Times has become! Call this journalism!
more stupid clickbait from @nytimes.com
do not reward them by clicking on this idiocy
as 30+ year subscriber who canceled last month, I can tell you, you are not missing anything by ignoring NYT these days
try
@apnews.com
@inquirer.com
@propublica.org
@bolts.bsky.social
they’re better
(To the Athletic, I'd already canceled the Times)
It’s like they completely forgot the part where the Saudi, royal family *literally* chopped a journalist (a permanent American resident) into pieces for his speech.
“…like all those other well-meaning types, this guy has realised Saudi Arabia is also a real country, with real challenges…at a crossroads moment in its relatively young history”
Look where hardcore centrism got the US
I used to be a paying subscriber. What happened to you NYT?
Matter of fact, so does the US.