World Cup or World Cull?
I'll be the first to tell you that I don't know a ton about soccer. Just like hockey the whole off sides thing throws me every time I go to see my niece play. I don't watch a ton of soccer on TV, but occasionally when I am surfing through the channels I will stop on a game.
I do enjoy the World Cup. I try to watch some of the games when it comes around. I don't hate soccer, I just find it relatively boring. I know that a lot of people think baseball is a slow game, but in certain circumstances I think soccer takes the prize.
There was an old Simpson's segment that perfectly captures my sentiments about the pace of play in the game. That's not what this post is about though.
I remember when I was a kid the World Cup came to Detroit Michigan. More specifically Auburn Hills/Pontiac at the Silverdome. It is actually pretty sad to drive by the Silverdome these days and see the state of disrepair it is in. At one point it was the largest domed stadium in the world I think.
As I said, last I knew it was still standing and that is really the reason I am writing this post.
I saw this article on Yahoo and I felt I needed to give it some space here on Sportstalk.
Don't get me wrong, I am not naïve enough to think that something the mainstream media puts out is 100% accurate, but like many things, if even 1% of this is true, it should be a big deal to a lot of people.
So here is the deal, Qatar gets awarded the World Cup in 2010. They need facilities to handle all of the people that are going to be coming to their territory for the matches in 2022, so they start building. Much like we have seen with the Olympic villages that seemingly pop up out of nowhere they are building structures in Qatar.
The problem, nearly 6500 plus workers have died in the building of these structures and facilities. Even worse than that, the majority of the workers are not from Qatar. They are immigrants from countries like India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Pakistan.
You can see it in the article that equates to about 12 deaths per week since they started working.
That is just nuts to me. They actually think the death toll is much higher, they just don't have the exact facts and figures to support it.
Unfortunately, I am guessing due to Covid restrictions, many of the workers can't just go home and find different work. They are stuck inside the country and basically being forced to work.
Oh yeah, did I mention they are actually "building a city from the ground up", and the temps during the day can reach 120 degrees +?
This is crazy to me. Is a single sporting event worth the cost in human life?
I guess that is a decision you need to make for yourself...
I'm like you, I only watch soccer when it's the world cup, and I find the working conditions in some arab countries really inhumane, I've been told other similar stories, it's crazy.
That sucks! I am not even sure I want to watch this event knowing what it cost!
I think like you, we must start giving value to what really deserves it.
The whole thing was a crooked deal for Qatar getting the World Cup in the first place. The games are played in their summer months as well plus it is a dry country as in no alcohol so what is the point. Big back handers and greased palms got them this event so what are the deaths of 6000 or 10 000 workers to them. Who is going to use these facilities afterwards as that should be the biggest concern when these things are awarded to various countries. I know South Africa had them in 2010 and only now are the stadiums being used as the government has forced teams to move. One team in Durban has threatened to move up the coast away from the city as they have been threatened for the last 10 years.
Wow, that is horrible. Maybe they should just start only having them in one place. Or like a rotation of three places. I know that sucks for the countries that try to host them, but at this point it feels like the cost far outweighs the money that they will actually make off of them. If only human life had more value to them they would care a little less about the bottom line!
This is really shocking. 10000 workers dying in qatar in construction activity in itself is a huge number. Those poor guys go there to earn extra bucks are now losing their lives. If this toll is bigger then these countries like Bangladesh n India should voice it out.
Yeah, I am not sure how this is being allowed. I guess when the workers go there voluntarily they can't do much. It seems that now they are stuck there though.
The sad part is Qatar was never a great country on sports map. I dont know which games they dominate. I read another post on #sportstalk about it being the Middle East hub for world championship tournaments. https://www.sportstalksocial.com/hive-101690/@gimmetricks1/table-tennis-is-changing-its-international-competition-structure
Congratulations @bozz.sports! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Your next target is to reach 1500 replies.
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPCheck out the last post from @hivebuzz:
It's just like everything else in this world, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Only in this case, they can get killed as well. The corruption at the top in soccer and the Olympics has long been glossed over. You hear the stories but nothing every changes. There's too much money involved. Really sad.
Yeah, you hit the nail on the head right there. It has been happening for years and it will continue to happen. Remember a couple of years ago when the buildings were falling apart before the Olympics even started because they were thrown together so quickly?
I knew that there were bad labor practices there but had not heard the death toll was that high. How is it that the sporting world is not completely outraged about this? This should be on the main page of every sports-oriented website in the world. I look at a lot of them on a regular basis but of course: crickets.
I wouldn't have even known it was this bad if you hadn't written this. It is outrageous and someone should really have to answer for this.
Yeah, it is pretty bad. Like I said, not sure you can believe everything you read, but even if 1% of it is true then that should be enough for people to be outraged.