Puppet Master
non sequitur
- Aug 14, 2012
- 4,055
Not yet.... wouldn't surprise me
BBC's Alan Green not going to the World Cup
- Thread starter GT49er
- Start date
Got something to say or just want fewer pesky ads? Join us... 😊
Not yet.... wouldn't surprise me
brakespear
Doctor Worm
For now.
- Jan 19, 2010
- 1,190
Yep.
FIFA and UEFA wanted to end free-to-air coverage in the UK but lost a court battle.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23288211
No guarantee they won't attempt it again in the future.
worthingseagull123
Well-known member
- May 5, 2012
- 2,592
We should set up an alternative World Cup with teams that do not qualify
hart's shirt
Well-known member
It's probably best to let Scotland arrange their own friendlies.
Football didn't take any notice of England when they failed to qualify in 1974, 1978, 1994, 2004 and so on, or when they left the tournament in Brazil in 2014 approximately five days after arriving.
I believe he meant that football will take notice of the violence when it doesn't involve England - i.e. they can't just dismiss it as 'The English playing up again'.
Fair enough.
There's plenty of violence in European and South American football though on a far greater scale than in England I think.
It becomes fashionable in our media to report it large during major tournaments. If six or eight people are arrested on a Saturday night in Blackpool or Brighton for being pissed up and acting like tits the police would consider it a reasonably quiet night. When it happens in the Euros or at the WC it becomes headline news.
The Russian attack is perhaps in a different league, but wasn't there the same degree of coverage after Millwall made a run at Barnsley at Wembley, for example, where some of the scenes were not hugely dissimilar from last weekend.
How plausible does a Sky engineered 'breakaway' tournament sound?
Think it would struggle.
Murdoch doesn't own the governments of countries such as France or Germany in the same way he does here in the UK, so has less influence. Suspect he could easily buy the loyalty of many African countries, South America is an unknown.
True, but Shirley there's enough dissatisfaction around for a rival 'new broom - clean sweep' tournaments, that just so happens to be broadcast on Sky/Fox etc.
They'd 'only' need enough of Germany, Spain, France & Italy along with England for everybody else to fall into place.
I'd be very surprised if meetings, however informal, haven't already been had.
No need to introduce Murdoch as it's a dead cert he'd get behind an eventual deal.
If someone wanted to get behind such a deal, it could easily be the likes of YouTube or Apple. They have the cash, and need a means to monetise their products in a universal manner.
Not this again.
France's Platini was the main architect of the Qatar decision and Germany's Beckenbauer was another exec behind the decision. It was also well supported by South American countries.
Given their support for the decision, I can't see France and Germany doing anything to disturb the status quo.
England could call for a boycott but I really can't see England having that much influence in the world
1066familyman
Radio User
- Jan 15, 2008
- 15,185
Keep up at the back.
Cheshire Cat
The most curious thing..
We are then going to playing with ourselves for a long time, until everyone comes round to our ways.
lawros left foot
Glory hunting since 1969
Well hung for me, please
nicko31
Well-known member
Getting a Murdoch deal for a rival tournament would be out of the frying pan, and into the fire. At least FIFA is reforming a bit, albeit slowly