The T A's View On The Qatar Game

[Flure]

"The" Tartan Army has expressed it's position on the Qatar game. "The Tartan Army haven’t called for a boycott but back the Playfair Qatar campaign."

According to Lesley Riddoch.

She says in The National:-

"THE times are certainly changing.

Last week Sepp Blatter was still head of Fifa – this week he is going.

Last week it seemed a breakaway league might be the only way for Europeans to protest against another five years of a corrupt scandal-ridden world governing football body – this week Fifa is contemplating elections which could make it hard for a stooge to be elected in Blatter’s place.

Last week American involvement in world affairs tended to mean surveillance, snooping and interference.

This week – maybe for one week only – it means white-collar crime has been tackled at the highest level.

Last week no-one much cared about the track record of governments and professionals who worked with Fifa – this week suspicious eyes are turning to those who “supped with the devil.” How much did the SFA or SNP politicians know about the Emirate’s appalling human rights record or Fifa’s prevalent bribery culture? Are we in a mood to ask or just to turn the page since these are our ain folk?

Last week it hardly seemed worth asking the Tartan Army to boycott tomorrow’s tie against Qatar over the death of twelve hundred migrant workers on building sites in the Emirate – this week it looks likely the 2022 tournament will not even be held there. And that makes the death of those migrant construction workers all the more appalling – and the “business as usual” attitude of Scottish footie fans towards Friday’s friendly tie with Qatar all the more tasteless.

About 400,000 of the migrant workers building a new World Cup town in the Qatari desert come from Nepal – none were allowed to leave to visit families after the devastation of recent earthquakes, all have signed contracts making it impossible for them to leave the country or switch employers, and most are working six-day weeks and ten-hour days in temperatures of 50°C. Around 1.4 million migrant workers are currently in Qatar – the majority earning 45 pence a day despite being duped into applying for work visas with promises of wages three or four times higher. Heat exhaustion, heart attacks and work accidents are the inevitable result of grinding workers into the dust – others die after being abandoned at hospital by employers who won’t pay for their medical care.

No other modern sporting event has left this toll of human misery in its wake.

The Tartan Army haven’t called for a boycott but back the Playfair Qatar campaign which calls on supporters to “express support for the plight of Qatar’s migrant workers before the match tomorrow night” by downloading “Playfair Qatar” posters and taking selfies. Supporters groups and trade unionists will gather before the game to get their message across to fans and make their objection known to the SFA.

How?

Surely the time for well-meaning press releases is over. The idea of a boycott has itself been boycotted by the sporting press and media – largely because they see no traction amongst fans. Does the national team really need cheap practice so badly before next week’s World Cup qualifier? I’m sorry to say the Tartan Army’s response sounds like a glorious fudge to me and probably to the non fitba crazy majority in this country (many of them women) who are more moved by the plight of distant migrant workers and unimpressed by the prospects of a fixture with Qatar – ranked a lowly 99th in the world.

Of course there’s no guarantee an empty stadium would make the blindest bit of difference to Qatar. But since Sky is covering the game live, a total fan boycott by the world’s most popular, well-known and supposedly conscientious supporters would be highly visible – an eloquent statement of moral priorities that can’t be surpassed by waving hard to read A4 signs or posting selfies from the comfort of sofas.

But a boycott won’t just influence Qatar, Fifa and Gordon Strachan – it will influence us. The world’s greatest fans have some of the world’s biggest waistlines after years of watching, not playing.

Indeed our body politic is the same – only starting to recover its vitality after centuries of the same enforced passivity standing on the sidelines of Scottish civic life.

That sclerotic, stationary period in our history is mercifully over. Scots are on a roll – trying to establish new moral values at Westminster and beyond. The strength of Scots’ commitment to human rights has just been recognised by the UN, which has awarded the Scottish Human Rights Commission

A-Status accreditation. Professor Alan Miller says the award allows Scots voices to be heard at the international top table thanks to “progressive initiatives like Scotland’s National Action Plan for Human Rights and work with peer commissions to tackle contemporary human rights issues around the world.”

Well here’s an ideal opportunity to put that plan into action.

I quite appreciate that in Scotland, football is the sacred and proud property of fans – not the wider public. But that very fitba craziness would make a self-denying boycott by fans all the more impressive for other Scots – and for the cause of workers rights across the world.

Tartan Army supporters – it’s your call."

Now, far be it from me to disagree with this fine journalist, but, when Lesley says "The Tartan Army haven’t called for a boycott but back the Playfair Qatar campaign" - could she explain from where she got this information?

Who decided this approach?
What structure does "The Tartan Army" have that allows "it" to have a viewpoint?
The truth is that "The Tartan Army" is nothing more than a nebulous conglomeration of like-minded football fans and a collective position is impossible to ascertain.

[Wibble]

LR is merely quoting from the news release I issued as Scotland's Fuhrer of Fitba', so my advice to you is... LEAVE IT!!!

[Flure]

LR is merely quoting from the news release I issued as Scotland's Fuhrer of Fitba', so my advice to you is... LEAVE IT!!!

And you are..........?

[Wibble]

And you are..........?

As you can see... eating my breakfast.

[wanderer]

Impression I get is the media kind of wish we were taking a bigger stance on this than what was really happening in a attempt to get a chance to put the boot in to the SFA.

When I see these arcticles saying "the Tartan Army have said....." and there is not a name to go with it (one of the usual suspects.....) I just take it that they have stopped a guy in the street, asked if he is a Scotland fan and his answer is good enough for them.

[MacWalka]

There is no official group called The Tartan Army, but it's fairly clear from the posts on the Qatar game here that most folk in the Scotland support don't give a flying feck about any sort of boycott or protest at the game. It's going to be a fairly empty game but I'd say most folk aren't going because of the low quality of the opposition in an off-season friendly match rather than having any moral objection to the game being organised.

I've seen several slopey shouldered responses here along the lines of "Sport and politics shouldn't mix" or "I'm going to support the Scotland team" or "Northern Ireland and USA played them and didn't protest" as a means to divert blame. Quite frankly it appears to show a complete lack of humanity and concern from people on here who don't normally come across that way. It shows that some folks' priorities puts football above human life.

[stitch]

Try it this way for a change.

We can not stop this game going ahead.

We are Scotland fans and we want to watch our team play. we do not choose who they play.

If we stopped going to all football games that has a Human Rights issue we would have to stop most games.

In a lot of Countries the only way out of the lives that these people live is through sport you take that away they have nothing.

I know it doesn't make it right but it does give them some hope.

You may shoot me now for putting it this way.

[MacWalka]

Try it this way for a change.

We can not stop this game going ahead.

We are Scotland fans and we want to watch our team play. we do not choose who they play.

If we stopped going to all football games that has a Human Rights issue we would have to stop most games.

In a lot of Countries the only way out of the lives that these people live is through sport you take that away they have nothing.

I know it doesn't make it right but it does give them some hope.

You may shoot me now for putting it this way.

We can't stop the game going ahead, but we can make the SFA feel very uncomfortable about arranging it. We can prevent the SFA from building up their relationship with Qatar ahead of WC2022 just so the SFA can get few more dollars!

We shouldn't stop going to games against all countries with a human rights issue but where that issue is to do directly with football then yes we should take an interest as football supporters.

Qataris are rich as , it's the immigrants they bring in to build the stadia that are getting treated like shit and dying.

Oh by the way the Qatar team isn't full of poor folk with nothing in life, it's full of professional footballers being given Qatari citizenship to play football and aren't good enough for their own country such as Brazil.

[John_B81]

I'm not going because the game doesn't interest me, especially a week before Dublin.

[Brassrubber]

That's where I am at too .

Wish media would stop interviewing people and stating "tartan army spokesman....blah blah " - they don't speak for me its their personal opinion .

[mariokempes56]

LR commented on this last week on QT (I think). I am a great admirer of a very passionate and smart woman but it was and is obvious she knows nothing about football (and I think she would admit that).

The "Tartan Army" is not an entity that can decide collectively to do or not do anything (as is bleeding obvious), We as individuals will make our own decisions for our own reasons.

The only people who can stop the game are the SFA/FIFA (arf..) or (not a good idea) politicians.

I do not agree with the Qatar farce but as alluded above there are a load of other countries that could as easily be considered for a boycott (the "slave labour" issue is prevalent across the middle east ).

[Parklife]

<p>I blame Hamish Husband. </p>

[John_B81]

My only issue with the Qatar game is the fact it could harm our World Cup Seeding position even if we hump them and beat Ireland because they are so lowly ranked.

[aaid]

I have a lot of time for Lesley Riddoch but it's clear she knows hee-haw about football.

[dandydunn]

I'm not going because I can't be arsed.

[in5omniac]

I'd already planned a trip up to see my mate in Glasgow this weekend, a journey which always goes via Edinburgh. It was only because that and the fixture date coincided that I decided to go.

[wheres the pies]

if perhaps the opposition was a bit more glamorous then l might just might travel up from Bournemouth to watch Scotland play

[Dalgety Bay TA]

LR commented on this last week on QT (I think). I am a great admirer of a very passionate and smart woman but it was and is obvious she knows nothing about football (and I think she would admit that).

The "Tartan Army" is not an entity that can decide collectively to do or not do anything (as is bleeding obvious), We as individuals will make our own decisions for our own reasons.

The only people who can stop the game are the SFA/FIFA (arf..) or (not a good idea) politicians.

I do not agree with the Qatar farce but as alluded above there are a load of other countries that could as easily be considered for a boycott (the "slave labour" issue is prevalent across the middle east ).

LR also started this topic on Twitter on Sunday lunchtime. She got a few responses, including from the much respected OP and (the less respected) me confirming that we, and friends, were giving this game a miss due to Qatar's human rights records. As its Twitter there was obviously a mixed bag of responses including the "leave politics out of sport" views. Its a shame that she seems to have forgotten to mention that there are indeed fans who are boycotting this game but as you say, there is no official "Tartan Army" and you bolded part is spot on.

[deecie]

I'm not going because I can't be arsed.

Amen sister.

[scotsgary1]

Try it this way for a change.

We can not stop this game going ahead.

We are Scotland fans and we want to watch our team play. we do not choose who they play.

If we stopped going to all football games that has a Human Rights issue we would have to stop most games.

In a lot of Countries the only way out of the lives that these people live is through sport you take that away they have nothing.

I know it doesn't make it right but it does give them some hope.

You may shoot me now for putting it this way.

Great post..

If the media want to build this up to fill there pages and try and lead there political views then let them.

Its a Scotland game.. boycott Easter Road !! Then go and pay sky sports to watch game makes no sense to me what so ever...

[stitch]

MacWalka I never said the Qatar team are full of people who are from there slums I said a lot of people make a good like for themselves and there families

from making it in sport it is a way out for them

I Know what Qatar are up to with them paying for people to move to there country and how they are treating the people there it is not right.

[KirkieRobRoy]

There is no TA position on this because, as others have pointed out, there's no TA, not officially.

However, there is an Amnesty International view, which opposes a boycott but suggests supporters use other means to raise concerns about human rights in Qatar. Lesley Riddoch says a lot of good stuff (and made a right good job of showing up that Giardian eedjit Michael White the other week) but here she's way off. Is she going to slag off Amnesty for not supporting a boycott.

Still not sure whether to go to the game, and there'll need to be pay at the gate if I do go, but I also object strongly to Friday Night games when 3pm on Saturday is free, and to Strachan's continuing failure to pick Graeme Shinnie.

[scotsgary1]

Lets take out the game what we need then move on to Dublin.

Let the others pick the bones out of it eh !!

[wanderer]

Reports now that "the Tartan Army" along with TUC will be leafleting before the game tomorrow night to raise awareness of what is happening in Qatar.

[mariokempes56]

Reports now that "the Tartan Army" along with TUC will be leafleting before the game tomorrow night to raise awareness of what is happening in Qatar.

Oh good I will be able to get one of these..