Football Banter

FiFA have stated they are indeed looking at plans for the 2022 WC to be held in November/December and that it might be a shortened competition. It is also not just the UK but the whole of European football who are unhappy at the prospect of holding the tournament in the winter.
To use the argument that these backwaters of international football deserve to have parity with nations that have a footballing legacy is out out of context. They should first have some sort of legacy and footballing infrastructure in development before being granted the prestige of holding the World Cup. It is a ridiculous state of affairs that a previously non-footballing nation be awarded this in the first place and is down to just three things; money, greed and corruption.

What is just as bad as the performance of Martin Atkinson in the Burnley v Chelsea game is that of the attending FA delegate who thought the referee had a great game and got all the decisions right. If ever there was an opportunity for a Specsavers advert

Basically its nov dec instead of jan or feb because it will clash with the african cup of nations and theres a lot more african votes for septic bladder. he doesnt care if he fucks of the europeans cos they will vote for either figo or another candidate in the next election

African officals have said that they will probably have to move the African Cup of Nations back as a January - February competition will be too close to the World Cup.

So the British club teams won't be playing in November-December. And will probably be without their international players for the warm up games during October as well.
And they won't have their African players possibly during February & March.

They need to speak with their compensation lawyers

I guess the phone lines to Direct Line will be busy this morning then! No, seriously it just shows that FIFA didn't think the decision through properly or they didn't factor in the logistical nightmare scenario when they made their original decision.
I reckon by the time it comes to the competition proper, it will then be way too expensive for many fans to go out there and support their team for some people. How they can shorten the competition is beyond me other than making it a straight knockout competition which would be the only way to shorten it,and that isn't likely to happen either in my book.
also I wonder what kind of team will Qatar will have by then? I would not be surprised if Qatar will offer more backhanders to whatever teams that they have to play so that their team 'wins' a few games to keep the local population happy.
FIFA had an opportunity to re -run the vote and they didn't take it and now in the eyes of the world and to me this decision will probably spell the end of FIFA as a organisation. This decision I think is leaving a very bitter taste in a lot of mouths with a lot of people this morning and I hope Blatter didn't sleep very well last night the fat bastard.

(24-02-2015 18:14 )HannahsPet Wrote:  Basically its nov dec instead of jan or feb because it will clash with the african cup of nations

It still clashes with the african cup of nations. If the world cup ends in december they can't start the african cup of nations in january.

(24-02-2015 14:59 )circles_o_o_o Wrote:  I heard mention that the tournament will be shortened to protect players from the heat. I don't see how they'd do that unless there are only 3 teams per group maybe. How about splitting the match into 3 lots of 30 minutes so they can have an extra rest, since tradition is going out the window.

The only way it can be a short tournament to me would be to have it as a straight knockout competition that wouldn't take no longer than two weeks or cut teams to the original sixteen like it used to be.

(25-02-2015 08:32 )babelover48 Wrote:  I guess the phone lines to Direct Line will be busy this morning then!

Why do they need to speak with their car insurance

There wasn't many options open to the FIFA committee

King Blatter had promised the Olympic comittee that they wouldn't have the competition in January and February.
And they can't have it between March-May because Ramadan begins on 2 April in 2022.

The only other option was to have the competition as originally planned during June and July in fully air conditioned stadium.

(25-02-2015 08:54 )Charlemagne Wrote:  

(25-02-2015 08:32 )babelover48 Wrote:  I guess the phone lines to Direct Line will be busy this morning then!

Why do they need to speak with their car insurance

There wasn't many options open to the FIFA committee

King Blatter had promised the Olympic comittee that they wouldn't have the competition in January and February.
And they can't have it between March-May because Ramadan begins on 2 April in 2022.
The only other option was to have the competition as originally planned during June and July in fully air conditioned stadium.

They must have known what the logistical problems they would be facing when they made the decision and why they didn't stick with the original stadium plans once they did.
as for direct Line they'll probably set up a special hot line for clubs specifically they'll see the niche in the market for bigger profits that could be made from this!!

(24-02-2015 17:37 )bytor Wrote:  What is just as bad as the performance of Martin Atkinson in the Burnley v Chelsea game is that of the attending FA delegate who thought the referee had a great game and got all the decisions right. If ever there was an opportunity for a Specsavers advert

I wonder what size glasses he would need to wear now? seriously it has only highlighted the need to consider video refereeing decisions, but I guess the only way it would work would be for the video ref to consult with referee in confidence at half time.