I once saw the big Colo-Colo v Universidad de Chile derby in Santiago. It was the craziest game I have ever attended by far - riot police, water cannons, smoke bombs, the stadium being set alight (with wooden seats!), the referee having to be protected by a "turtle shell" of police shields when he came off, six players sent off, and one of the managers resigning.
Unrest at matches aside, the risk of being kidnapped or killed in the crossfire of a drug turf war would put me off playing in large parts of Latin America when an air conditioned luxury apartment in a repressive autocracy was available.
The UK exported £13bn to Saudi last year. We supply approximately 20% of their total arms purchases representing approximately 40% of our arms exports. Many of those arms have been busy killing people in Yemen. If we want to be moralistic towards Saudi, lets primarily target our justifiable moral outrage at our Government and large companies and not at a handful off footballers earning a final payday before retirement.
It's always either or with you. I think it's fine to be morally outraged at both of those things, and in fact it's utterly bonkers to be morally outraged at one and not the other.
Henderson played in a game on Saturday night for Al Ettifaq in front of 2800 fans (snigger) in Dammam. The game Kicked Off at 7pm when the temperature was still 37* even though the sun had set.
By the end of the game it was a much more reasonable 34*.
I mean who wouldn’t want to play in front of 2800 fans in 37* heat.
He must have looked a bit sheepish when walking back into the Harrogate Town dressing room, while the club owner will be slightly annoyed at the expected £500k going down the toilet.
I must be bonkers then. I can see quite a lot of difference between selling weapons to a regime that then uses them to fight a proxy war in a neighbouring country and some footballers earning a living in what is still allegedly an ally. Honestly while the former seems indefensible, can’t say I am overly fussed about the latter. We all have different moral compasses I suppose.
For me I find it distasteful but can see the reasoning behind the lowly sportspeople who see easy money from the Saudi.league or LIV....but multimillionaires who claimed to have a conscience being revealed as the personification of 'virtue signalling' once a wad of notes is waved at them is very disappointing. Henderson's agent should have stopped him digging with that article.
The only tradesman/ex-con moral dilemma I find hard to answer is Fred West turning up to do your patio. On one hand he's done some questionable things, on the other hand he's really good at patios.
I don't think anyone is arguing that Jordan Henderson is the moral equivalent of an arms trafficker , but he did make support for LGBT rights a meaningful part of his public profile - I don't think it's all that surprising that people expected more of him than they did of , say , Neymar. And sure, this country is absolutely hugely complicit in the atrocities of Saudi Arabia (which are by no means limited to the LGBT community) as are most of its citizens , but Jordan Henderson has affirmatively chosen to be part of that nightmarish regime's flagship PR project! He's not as complicit as the Prime Minister or the president of an arms company but he's far more complicit than the majority of us. He's heading to a state that's killing a specific minority group after having presented himself as a champion of that specific group and he's talking like the real outrage here is that people are saying he's not a very good person. I really don't think you have to think he's History's Greatest Monster to be mad at him a bit here
You must be disappointed in the drop in Russian arms sales on the international market since they invaded a neighbouring country . Walk in our enemies shoes eh, Frankly your one sided moralising makes me sick up a little bit every time I read it.
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My fav is 'O'Higgins'. Sounds so out of place
Or the Gasroom.
Is that Bolivia? I thought it was Chile. There are some good'uns all over South America.
I once saw the big Colo-Colo v Universidad de Chile derby in Santiago. It was the craziest game I have ever attended by far - riot police, water cannons, smoke bombs, the stadium being set alight (with wooden seats!), the referee having to be protected by a "turtle shell" of police shields when he came off, six players sent off, and one of the managers resigning.
It was a pre-season friendly.
Unrest at matches aside, the risk of being kidnapped or killed in the crossfire of a drug turf war would put me off playing in large parts of Latin America when an air conditioned luxury apartment in a repressive autocracy was available.
Well knock me down with a feather! I always thought they were Bolivian. But you are right..Chilean.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernardo_O%27Higgins
Interesting reading
The UK exported £13bn to Saudi last year. We supply approximately 20% of their total arms purchases representing approximately 40% of our arms exports. Many of those arms have been busy killing people in Yemen. If we want to be moralistic towards Saudi, lets primarily target our justifiable moral outrage at our Government and large companies and not at a handful off footballers earning a final payday before retirement.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochabamba_Water_War
This also blows my mind!
It's always either or with you. I think it's fine to be morally outraged at both of those things, and in fact it's utterly bonkers to be morally outraged at one and not the other.
This is the Other Football thread @DevC Spart tinged outrage at International Affairs is better addressed on the Not Football thread.😉
It’s cold here!
Henderson played in a game on Saturday night for Al Ettifaq in front of 2800 fans (snigger) in Dammam. The game Kicked Off at 7pm when the temperature was still 37* even though the sun had set.
By the end of the game it was a much more reasonable 34*.
I mean who wouldn’t want to play in front of 2800 fans in 37* heat.
💰 💴 💵
Those Al Ettifaq fans never show up, Dammam.
My mate is a UAE teacher in Ra's Al Kaimah. Iniesta has just enrolled his kids. I suspect Iniesta thought he was playing somewhere else 🤣
RAK is where all the cool people in the UAE live.
He already could though
So the Wrexham signing of Luke Armstrong turned out to be a non-event:
Luke Armstrong: Wrexham apologise to Harrogate Town and their striker over failed transfer - BBC Sport
He must have looked a bit sheepish when walking back into the Harrogate Town dressing room, while the club owner will be slightly annoyed at the expected £500k going down the toilet.
I must be bonkers then. I can see quite a lot of difference between selling weapons to a regime that then uses them to fight a proxy war in a neighbouring country and some footballers earning a living in what is still allegedly an ally. Honestly while the former seems indefensible, can’t say I am overly fussed about the latter. We all have different moral compasses I suppose.
"earning a living"
What if a plumber accepted a well paid job fixing toilets in Saudi Arabia? Would that be OK?
What if a footballer was also an arms dealer would you deny him that useful second income?
Tjay always looks so isolated up front fir Gibraltar. Probably because half the midfield is defenders.
For me I find it distasteful but can see the reasoning behind the lowly sportspeople who see easy money from the Saudi.league or LIV....but multimillionaires who claimed to have a conscience being revealed as the personification of 'virtue signalling' once a wad of notes is waved at them is very disappointing. Henderson's agent should have stopped him digging with that article.
The only tradesman/ex-con moral dilemma I find hard to answer is Fred West turning up to do your patio. On one hand he's done some questionable things, on the other hand he's really good at patios.
Morals are meaningless until tested.
If you knew he was a mass murderer of young girls not sure there would be a dilemma despite his crazy paving stills.
I don't think anyone is arguing that Jordan Henderson is the moral equivalent of an arms trafficker , but he did make support for LGBT rights a meaningful part of his public profile - I don't think it's all that surprising that people expected more of him than they did of , say , Neymar. And sure, this country is absolutely hugely complicit in the atrocities of Saudi Arabia (which are by no means limited to the LGBT community) as are most of its citizens , but Jordan Henderson has affirmatively chosen to be part of that nightmarish regime's flagship PR project! He's not as complicit as the Prime Minister or the president of an arms company but he's far more complicit than the majority of us. He's heading to a state that's killing a specific minority group after having presented himself as a champion of that specific group and he's talking like the real outrage here is that people are saying he's not a very good person. I really don't think you have to think he's History's Greatest Monster to be mad at him a bit here
Dev would still employ Fred to lay his patio as soon as he got out on parole.
Just saw that Cheltenham have not scored yet this season. Yikes!
You must be disappointed in the drop in Russian arms sales on the international market since they invaded a neighbouring country . Walk in our enemies shoes eh, Frankly your one sided moralising makes me sick up a little bit every time I read it.
Really great post. Perfect analysis
He couldn't though, as a player as limited as Hendo wouldn't be commanding anywhere near 700k a week here.
And despite the cynicism no-one pays "No" tax, just that they pay a lot less tax than us norms as a pro rata.