The social importance of the World Cup

Midfielder, An old thread shouldn't be a barrier to a good debate or robust exchange of ideas. It took me a while to realise it but in many ways sport of today is only a few steps removed from what was happening at the Flavian Amphitheatre in Ancient Rome, minus the blood and gore thankfully. And there is much in common also, like helping with Social and population control of the masses by the elites, provide Champions for the people based on merit, provide hope for a path out of poverty for the masses as well as an actual path for a small fraction, provides a distraction for the masses to allow the elites to get with governing etc etc.

Must have a good debate one day this thread kinda old now...

#trollingtooobvious

World Cup Fever Hits Honiara. Residents of Honiara are getting ready for the month long FIFA World Cup ... http://www.sibconline.com.sb/world-cup-fever-hits-honiara/

Perry, The way I see it is that the World Game is in a bit of a tight spot. There are many countries in Asia and in Africa losing interest because they see no possible way of making it to the "big dance". On the otherside of the equarion as you point out by making the competition bigger then you are only making the world cup finals tournament more costly and more unmanageable while at the same time reducing the quality of the contests as more games will be played by teams that are far apart in terms of ability. But I am sure some compromise could be found. The format I prefer is a 1st round of sixteen groups of three teams each with the top team through. And 2nd round of four groups of four teams each with the top team through to the semifinals. The first round gets the number of teams up and for those that aren't the very best, out the door. While the second round offers great competition amongst the sixteen best teams in the world, which I think is what many people want to see at the world cup. Total number of games for this tournament would be 76 ( as apposed to 64 currently), while teams reaching the finals will play a maximum of 7 games, the same as today. And it could easily fit in the 32 day tournament window that is used in Russia (and the last few world cups also) but probably not the 28 day window proposed for Qater in 2022. Sure its only two games for most teams instead of the current three, but this is the compromise that must be made to keep the tournament to a managable size (if you can call the current size managable).

#lunchboxexpert The dilemma moving forward - with a 48 team 'finals' - that goes out side of the capacity of the vast majority of single nations. The fact that it's a single sport tournament - means that the 'social' benefit vs that of the Olympics is far more narrow in its focus. FIFA might have to be careful to not love the tournament to death.

NFL is a $20 billion (plus) dollar a year industry in a $20 trillion dollar economy. I think its pretty obvious that the NFL is a whale swimming in an ocean. AFL and NRL are each about 1 billion dollar a year industries in $1.3 trillion dollar economy. They can perhaps be considered as both being large fish in the same large lake. I don't think we should fool ourselves that all of this or even a significant portion of this money would be available to Football if these other football codes didn't exist in the US and Australia. While they are in competition with each other in some ways they are perhaps no more in competition with each other than they are with any other sporting code (like baseball, basketball etc, etc).

Midfielder, Has it crossed your mind that a sport like NFL in the US serves many social purposes that Football never could. For a start NFL is a tough, physical sport, far tougher than Football ever could be but not as tough as say boxing. It might be worth considering that perhaps many NFL players would have elected to follow boxing as their way out of poverty if NFL wasn't available them. I think it should be appreciated that one football code doesn't fit all countries and neither should it be expected to. Finally it should be appreciated that the US was in the first two world cups (before WWII ) and the world cup in 1950 immediately after WWII. The US came third in the first world cup and have been at every world cup since 1990 (the exception is 2018 when they were excluded because I suspect some players in other teams wanted to send a message over a proposed wall). The US should be considered a footballing nation because of this and not excluded because it preferenced a domestic football code above Association Football after 1950 because the later served it purposes better. They should also be considered a footballing nation because they are a $20 trillion dollar economy and foootball, whether it likes it or not, needs access to this to make football better for everyone (not just the US).

Perry, I agree with you that the world cup is far from perfect, but as I said in a post on a previous artcle on theroar: https://www.theroar.com.au/2018/06/08/russia-2018-last-world-cup/ the world is better place for the world cup than without. In terms of the bid, FIFA should only focus on the infrastructure required to host the world cup and not go outside this. I think its unfair and unachievable to expect FIFA to fix all the social, ethnic and cultural issues in the host country but instead only they "improve" some of them around the event itself and the infrastructure required to be built/redeveloped to host the event.⚽️

#lunchboxexpert And that's just it - for anyone to present the FIFA WC as being at the vanguard of social justice and responsibility is a load of twaddle when we regard what's gone on in and around Qatar. Capetown is just a very real example of a city that got its priorities very wrong. Ironically - living in Melbourne - we got our desal plant and since, haven't needed it - - but it's there. And.....we have great stadia as well (although only the rectangle one was built by govt so that's the irony of course - that had Govt also built Docklands and the MCG then there probably would not have been the money for a desal plant!!!). That though is my sentiment on this - the 'build it and they will come' argument is often quite feeble. If the demand were there before hand - then - very likely there would already be a stadium in strong usage. This was half the argument with the Aust bid for 2022 - and the rectangle games in this country, all 3 of them - have limited compelling argument for stand alone stadia of the FIFA WC variety. The recent big ticket stadia jobs have been oval venues. Which of course are more able to host a broader variety of events - - as we've seen with many a FIFA WC final being held in Olympic stadia with running tracks around them. The question for FIFA is - how magnanimous can they be with respect to leaving a general legacy compared to specifically a soccer/rectangle venue legacy. Can FIFA also be proud that perhaps a new bridge is built, or a new rail connection? Or a desal plant to allow all the visitors to have water...... ;-)

Perry, I think we both know that if the South African Government or the City of Capetown wanted to spend money on a Desalination plant or other drought resistant measures then they would have done so, regardless whether they built (or redeveloped) football stadiums for the 2010 world cup. Having said this FIFA should be responsible and held accountable for ensuring that host nations not only have credible plans to use the facilities post world cup but that those plans are implemented, so the world cup facilities don't become single use facilities. FIFA should also be responsible for ensuring that the people who are involved in building and operating the world cup facilities (before, after and during the world cup) are properly paid, have good/safe working conditions and that no slave labour (or slave like) is involved either directly or indirectly.

Cousin Claudio, '' Not spending millions on a Suns v Port, Victorian Rules junket in Shanghai that achieved next to nothing. '' I have retained this very witty comment, that you recently posted, here it is, ''The Victorian Rules media department have put out a press release to explain. Those weren’t empty seats mate, they were just very small Chinese spectators who don’t wear colourful clothing and are hard to see against the backdrop of the big grey seats, some sitting two or three to a seat. Oh good. That explains the sell out crowd. I believe the merchandise shop at the ground also sold 2 AFL Sherrins and a Suns scarf, which proves what a great money spinner this venture was for Australian taxpayers '' Why do these AFL marauders love invading the Roar Football Tab? The AFL are currently having soul searching into their own failings, blowouts, congestion,Gold Coast Suns, GWS and many other negatives of their '' great game '' Loved your wit, also suggesting that the AFL's next project might be playing a game of AFLX on the lawns of Buckingham Palace.

Fad & MQ As I said I have spent some time in the US and to compare Gridiron to either the NRL or AFL is wrong. Neither the NRL or AFL have the national coverage and acceptance that Gridiron enjoys in the US. Further its other sports of Basketball & Baseball play often many times a week and in a season they play thousands of games. Even Hockey plays over a thousand games a year. Meaning the American sports market is crowded and the Football market is complex as they are in the same time zone as Europe and the English. German, Spanish & Italian leagues are show life as are the Mexican games. Into this mix is quite an anti Football stance taken by most msm outlets and many Football folk prefer either the European or South American leagues. Its far harder than we have it,

#Cousin Claudio Hey - - how about doing both?? These sorts of things have to be going on all the time. The Port Adelaide FC is arranging the China game each year - the AFL allow it to be fixtured. This year the SA Liberal premier Steve Marshall was able to use this event to "...visit Shanghai, for his first time as leader of the Liberal Party, as the State Government forges ahead with plans to establish a trade office in the China’s largest city." What a good time to do that. Now - the thing about Moscow is that Australia over there is just one of many - 32 nations competing - where as in Shanghai it's one on one. And at this point is being run as an annual event rather than a one off. And around that Port Adelaide is running programs in Shanghai including a 'Power Footy' program described as ".. currently in 21 schools, encouraging healthy lifestyles and cross-cultural understanding." I'm not sure if that's a Mickey Mouse program or if it's really doing good. But it shows a developing engagement and relationship. That's more than just a once off junket. You don't have to appreciate the sport that this is worked around - but it seems to me that you just won't be able to get past that in your mindset.

I just love that on a thread all about the social importance of the FIFA WC and of bringing different nations, peoples, cultures together...perhaps in the spirit of competition and participation??? perhaps? That #Nemesis drew upon Timor Leste as his example. "East Timor has been expelled from the 2023 AFC Asian Cup for falsifying documents of several Brazilian-born footballers, the Asian Football Confederation said on Friday." https://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/east-timor-kicked-out-of-2023-asian-cup & "Birth and baptism certificates were doctored by football chiefs in a tiny southeast Asian country to allow a dozen Brazilians to play for them. Now East Timor has been punished for changing the documents. The players, who have represented clubs such as Palmeiras and Botafogo, helped the nation to its first ever win. But now it has been banned from the 2023 AFC Asian Cup following a joint investigation by the Asian Football Confederation and Fifa. They found the documents were doctored to falsely show the players had East Timorese heritage, with one or both of their parents being born in the country." https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/38687669 Timor Leste was a really, really bad example to draw upon - - there's nothing here to celebrate social justice or cultural inclusion. They've completely lost their focus.....'dropped the ball' if you will. The irony of course is most of their team that provided them their first win will feel a connection to the events in Moscow......the performance of Brazil will be closely followed!!!!

The sarcasm was including Australia as a third world nation.....oh....similar perhaps to Paul Keating's "Banara republic" comment 30 years ago. The wealth distribution is correct - so you picked up on that. A lame attempt to ridicule football and the world we live in. Well - it's not soccer only. US basketball, and other sports where top level players are getting paid many millions, such that they are on more than a million dollars per week - - then I'm not letting my kids get anywhere near the merchandise that relates to them. They don't need it. The FIFA WC is growing to be a 48 team contest - possibly requiring up to 16 stadia - - US/Canada and Mexico will host the next one because clearly now it's too big for a single nation (no way Morocco could've done it). But - the example in South Africa is that the spend was over the top - the 'legacy' of stadia is an unaffordable luxury. Yeah - in Jo'burg the stadium is well used, but most the others are financially in the red and under utilised. Perhaps money might have been better spent on a desal plant for Capetown!! They got in a mess - running out of water - and running out of budget for the temporary desal plants as well. Fat lot of good a shiny new soccer stadium is!! So - puh-leeze stop with the self congratulatory 'social benefit' of a soccer world cup. As with the Olympics - it's a massive 'distraction' of dubious real benefit and unless you have the ongoing call for large stadia then don't go building many more than you need for a one off tournament. Enjoy the event. Go Denmark!!

Nice laundry list of non-sense. Russia is the last sane country and the last real hope for a better world.

George Soros' Open Societies Foundation will solve all these concerns and get the world back on track.

Thought this was quite funnyhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ickkRhAd3j0

where do i send my apology for being diverse and liking something not global mainstream?