Football and ethics

[Paulus]

I admit my reaction to yet another round of corruption exposures at FIFA tends to be a bit of a shrug of the shoulders and a "well what did you expect" and I seriously doubt they will ever really get to the bottom of it but that football will carry on anyway. And we as Blades mutter from time to time about whether it matters or not if a bloke turning out in the red and white is an absolute toe rag or not; some arguing that what his character is like is irrelevant if he is a better player than player B who's an alright geezer and some others taking the opposite view. We can add corruption through betting and the more murky area where the rich and powerful set the game up so that the rich and powerful continue to be the rich and powerful, yes EPL I'm referring mainly to you and Murdoch. As I say these moral dilemmas seem to be a constant part of football and most of it offends me but I guess I've just grown to accept it as a necessary part of the game I love. But this is starting to nag away at me and I wondered what other Blades felt about it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-34982154

I know that for the last 40 years or so, basically since the '74 oil crisis as no one really gave a crap about them before that, we have been encouraged to look benevolently on Saudi Arabia. Yes, they don't get democracy, but they're very civilised aren't they? And after all, they've got shed loads of oil and it wouldn't do to be too rude about them would it? But the bottom line is we are 50% owned by a member of this Government and it's starting to look as though Saudi Arabia is less and less like a benign dictatorship and more and more like a pretty nasty totalitarian state.

 

[JJ Sefton]

Football and ethics? Well, there's really only Southend United.

 

[BushBlade]

Football and ethics? Well, there's really only Southend United.

Bit harsh on Colchester. I once went to a seminar on ethics and said to the speaker after 'great talk, it's always been one of my favourite counties. She wasn't impressed.

 

[BushBlade]

I admit my reaction to yet another round of corruption exposures at FIFA tends to be a bit of a shrug of the shoulders and a "well what did you expect" and I seriously doubt they will ever really get to the bottom of it but that football will carry on anyway. And we as Blades mutter from time to time about whether it matters or not if a bloke turning out in the red and white is an absolute toe rag or not; some arguing that what his character is like is irrelevant if he is a better player than player B who's an alright geezer and some others taking the opposite view. We can add corruption through betting and the more murky area where the rich and powerful set the game up so that the rich and powerful continue to be the rich and powerful, yes EPL I'm referring mainly to you and Murdoch. As I say these moral dilemmas seem to be a constant part of football and most of it offends me but I guess I've just grown to accept it as a necessary part of the game I love. But this is starting to nag away at me and I wondered what other Blades felt about it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-34982154

I know that for the last 40 years or so, basically since the '74 oil crisis as no one really gave a crap about them before that, we have been encouraged to look benevolently on Saudi Arabia. Yes, they don't get democracy, but they're very civilised aren't they? And after all, they've got shed loads of oil and it wouldn't do to be too rude about them would it? But the bottom line is we are 50% owned by a member of this Government and it's starting to look as though Saudi Arabia is less and less like a benign dictatorship and more and more like a pretty nasty totalitarian state.

Bunch of cunts mate. It's been bothering me for a while.

 

[boo radley]

So how many are getting or got meh about it all?

 

[United Aren't Back.]

No ethics at all in football.
However, it seems that fans who think a player is good, will defend the same player through thick and thin, covering rape charges, rape convictions, etc .
A few idiotic displays in a pub condemn McNulty, but if McNulty had got 30 goals for us it would be maybe leave McNulty alone.All depends on the individual fan I suppose, but it is,seriously warped the way the walking on their knuckles section of the fanbase, will boast about Evans and his exploits.
Even if you "think" Evans is innocent, it is grotesque to hear gobshites singing Evans will shag who he wants.
Sorry but everytime ethics and football are mentioned, this whole topic of fans' attitude to Evans, really sticks in my craw.

 

[Alfreton14Blade]

Football & ethnics? A bit racist?...

 

[JJ Sefton]

On a serious note, I just read Chris Eubank's book on Ethics. It was the follow up to his book about Kent.

 

[United Aren't Back.]

You also have the situation of people who work hard for a pittance, including nurses etc, while Baxter and co get thousands a week for at best doing nothing of any use to anyone.
This is especially the case when your team is as shit as we are right now.

 

[HighfieldBlade]

I admit my reaction to yet another round of corruption exposures at FIFA tends to be a bit of a shrug of the shoulders and a "well what did you expect" and I seriously doubt they will ever really get to the bottom of it but that football will carry on anyway. And we as Blades mutter from time to time about whether it matters or not if a bloke turning out in the red and white is an absolute toe rag or not; some arguing that what his character is like is irrelevant if he is a better player than player B who's an alright geezer and some others taking the opposite view. We can add corruption through betting and the more murky area where the rich and powerful set the game up so that the rich and powerful continue to be the rich and powerful, yes EPL I'm referring mainly to you and Murdoch. As I say these moral dilemmas seem to be a constant part of football and most of it offends me but I guess I've just grown to accept it as a necessary part of the game I love. But this is starting to nag away at me and I wondered what other Blades felt about it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-34982154

I know that for the last 40 years or so, basically since the '74 oil crisis as no one really gave a crap about them before that, we have been encouraged to look benevolently on Saudi Arabia. Yes, they don't get democracy, but they're very civilised aren't they? And after all, they've got shed loads of oil and it wouldn't do to be too rude about them would it? But the bottom line is we are 50% owned by a member of this Government and it's starting to look as though Saudi Arabia is less and less like a benign dictatorship and more and more like a pretty nasty totalitarian state.

It's the elephant in the room, isn't it? It's troubling to think that we are 50% owned by a member of the royal family - a government whose record on human rights isn't exactly exemplary, to put it mildly.

 

[William Henry Foulkes]

I admit my reaction to yet another round of corruption exposures at FIFA tends to be a bit of a shrug of the shoulders and a "well what did you expect" and I seriously doubt they will ever really get to the bottom of it but that football will carry on anyway. And we as Blades mutter from time to time about whether it matters or not if a bloke turning out in the red and white is an absolute toe rag or not; some arguing that what his character is like is irrelevant if he is a better player than player B who's an alright geezer and some others taking the opposite view. We can add corruption through betting and the more murky area where the rich and powerful set the game up so that the rich and powerful continue to be the rich and powerful, yes EPL I'm referring mainly to you and Murdoch. As I say these moral dilemmas seem to be a constant part of football and most of it offends me but I guess I've just grown to accept it as a necessary part of the game I love. But this is starting to nag away at me and I wondered what other Blades felt about it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-34982154

I know that for the last 40 years or so, basically since the '74 oil crisis as no one really gave a crap about them before that, we have been encouraged to look benevolently on Saudi Arabia. Yes, they don't get democracy, but they're very civilised aren't they? And after all, they've got shed loads of oil and it wouldn't do to be too rude about them would it? But the bottom line is we are 50% owned by a member of this Government and it's starting to look as though Saudi Arabia is less and less like a benign dictatorship and more and more like a pretty nasty totalitarian state.

I admit my reaction to yet another round of corruption exposures at FIFA tends to be a bit of a shrug of the shoulders and a "well what did you expect" and I seriously doubt they will ever really get to the bottom of it but that football will carry on anyway. And we as Blades mutter from time to time about whether it matters or not if a bloke turning out in the red and white is an absolute toe rag or not; some arguing that what his character is like is irrelevant if he is a better player than player B who's an alright geezer and some others taking the opposite view. We can add corruption through betting and the more murky area where the rich and powerful set the game up so that the rich and powerful continue to be the rich and powerful, yes EPL I'm referring mainly to you and Murdoch. As I say these moral dilemmas seem to be a constant part of football and most of it offends me but I guess I've just grown to accept it as a necessary part of the game I love. But this is starting to nag away at me and I wondered what other Blades felt about it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-34982154

I know that for the last 40 years or so, basically since the '74 oil crisis as no one really gave a crap about them before that, we have been encouraged to look benevolently on Saudi Arabia. Yes, they don't get democracy, but they're very civilised aren't they? And after all, they've got shed loads of oil and it wouldn't do to be too rude about them would it? But the bottom line is we are 50% owned by a member of this Government and it's starting to look as though Saudi Arabia is less and less like a benign dictatorship and more and more like a pretty nasty totalitarian state.

Saudi Arabia is undoubtedly an unpleasant place in many ways - but what about the systems of power in the UK?

At the moment we don't go on for public beheading but if you scratch the surface of our society there is an awful lot of brutality, and plenty of it is deadly.

It's just much more insidious.

Related is the idea of Schreibtischtater or Desk-Murderer ie a bureaucrat who by placing a tick or a cross on a form, or filing paperwork in one drawer or another has the power of life or death, and sometimes on a large scale.

For whatever reason this quiet destruction incurs little or no opprobrium although the victims are just as dead.

If you want to look at it through a particular lens maybe culture and society closer to home are as vile as anything we see anywhere else in the world.

 

[BushBlade]

Saudi Arabia is undoubtedly an unpleasant place in many ways - but what about the systems of power in the UK?

At the moment we don't go on for public beheading but if you scratch the surface of our society there is an awful lot of brutality, and plenty of it is deadly.

It's just much more insidious.

Related is the idea of Schreibtischtater or Desk-Murderer ie a bureaucrat who by placing a tick or a cross on a form, or filing paperwork in one drawer or another has the power of life or death, and sometimes on a large scale.

For whatever reason this quiet destruction incurs little or no opprobrium although the victims are just as dead.

If you want to look at it through a particular lens maybe culture and society closer to home are as vile as anything we see anywhere else in the world.

Sorry but did you just say we're more insidious than the Saudi regime? To our own people?
There's a lot wrong with this country, a hell of a lot, which is not for this thread, but comparing us with Saudi?

https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/middle-east-and-north-africa/saudi-arabia/report-saudi-arabia/

 

[BushBlade]

It's the elephant in the room, isn't it? It's troubling to think that we are 50% owned by a member of the royal family - a government whose record on human rights isn't exactly exemplary, to put it mildly.

It's not that he's a member of the Royal family that I object to, that's not his choice. It's that he's a member of the government that I find problematic.

 

[bladeinspaceandtime]

Saudi Arabia is undoubtedly an unpleasant place in many ways - but what about the systems of power in the UK?

At the moment we don't go on for public beheading but if you scratch the surface of our society there is an awful lot of brutality, and plenty of it is deadly.

It's just much more insidious.

Related is the idea of Schreibtischtater or Desk-Murderer ie a bureaucrat who by placing a tick or a cross on a form, or filing paperwork in one drawer or another has the power of life or death, and sometimes on a large scale.

For whatever reason this quiet destruction incurs little or no opprobrium although the victims are just as dead.

If you want to look at it through a particular lens maybe culture and society closer to home are as vile as anything we see anywhere else in the world.

Utter poppycock

 

[HighfieldBlade]

It's not that he's a member of the Royal family that I object to, that's not his choice. It's that he's a member of the government that I find problematic.

Point taken and I agree. I didn't make that distinction clear.

 

[robbiez666]

Saudi Arabia. It's a difficult one. Most club owners are 'interesting' in some way in terms of ethics. Most millionaires have used ethically dubious business practices at sometime to get where they are (or inherited wealth from someone who has). He's a member of the House of Saud but a lower ranking relation. It's difficult to hold the actions of someone's country against them, and although he's a member of the ruling family he has zero power to change anything there. Having said that, his money will undoubtedly be tainted.

In terms of football itself, it's ethically dubious. At the top end you have betting syndicates, agents, performance enhancing drugs, embezzlement, bribery etc.

As a fan, I'm more concerned of the conduct of our team. Whilst footballers are never going to be the best (as a group) in terms of ethics and morality, I expect much more from some of our players. Several have disgraced the club by their actions (one costing us promotion). However, the fans also play a part. Enough fans were quite happy to have an unrepentant rapist in the team as long as he's scoring goals and even persist in singing vile songs. That, for me, is a lot worse than a stupid footballer.

 

[Rodders]

Saudi Arabia is undoubtedly an unpleasant place in many ways - but what about the systems of power in the UK?

At the moment we don't go on for public beheading but if you scratch the surface of our society there is an awful lot of brutality, and plenty of it is deadly.

It's just much more insidious.

Related is the idea of Schreibtischtater or Desk-Murderer ie a bureaucrat who by placing a tick or a cross on a form, or filing paperwork in one drawer or another has the power of life or death, and sometimes on a large scale.

For whatever reason this quiet destruction incurs little or no opprobrium although the victims are just as dead.

If you want to look at it through a particular lens maybe culture and society closer to home are as vile as anything we see anywhere else in the world.

Outstanding.

 

[raul]

Saudi Arabia is undoubtedly an unpleasant place in many ways - but what about the systems of power in the UK?

At the moment we don't go on for public beheading but if you scratch the surface of our society there is an awful lot of brutality, and plenty of it is deadly.

It's just much more insidious.

Related is the idea of Schreibtischtater or Desk-Murderer ie a bureaucrat who by placing a tick or a cross on a form, or filing paperwork in one drawer or another has the power of life or death, and sometimes on a large scale.

For whatever reason this quiet destruction incurs little or no opprobrium although the victims are just as dead.

If you want to look at it through a particular lens maybe culture and society closer to home are as vile as anything we see anywhere else in the world.

Who is Number One?

 

[William Henry Foulkes]

Utter poppycock

There's no deadly brutality in our culture and/or society?

 

[William Henry Foulkes]

Sorry but did you just say we're more insidious than the Saudi regime? To our own people?
There's a lot wrong with this country, a hell of a lot, which is not for this thread, but comparing us with Saudi?

https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/middle-east-and-north-africa/saudi-arabia/report-saudi-arabia/

If you consign dozens, hundreds, or whatever the figure is, of people to their deaths by ticking a box on a piece of paper then that provokes little or no reaction.

A single cold-blooded murder otoh evokes passionate responses.

That was the point about insidiousness.

(I'm not sure how you can be insidious towards your own people.)

On a slightly different note George Orwell wrote about our attitudes in, for example, How the Poor Die.

A while ago now, but maybe still relevant.

You could say our religion is a certain type of capitalism (Chicago School, I think) which, if there's a cold winter, may mean hundreds or thousands of vulnerable people die bc they can't afford to turn the heater on.

And shareholders pick up their dividends.

Supermarkets pour bleach on the food they throw away in skips so it can't be scavenged.

Aiui reputable sources give the number of deaths as a result of the last attack on Iraq as well over 1 million, and counting.

That's not very civilised.

I think everywhere's got its bad guys, maybe the only difference is the way they go about their business.

 

[Woodwardfan]

If anyone is bothered about the right of new owners to be involved in our game then the time to pack it in was when Abramovich bought Chelsea, maybe even better examples before then, but it's a good case to make the point.

We have had various dubious owners in our past and they were born in and lived in a our own democratic country which is of course the perfect "eutopia" where everyone is squeaky clean and righteous and whom we aspire to emulate.

Forget where the man is from, there are good men everywhere, even within bad governments and countries. There are even good Wednesdayites, yes there are!

If the prince turns out to be a bad man then make your minds up then. in the meantime don't judge the man by his nationality and do not presume anything.

 

[Blade56]

Football & ethnics? A bit racist?...

Bit oxymoronish

 

[William Henry Foulkes]

If anyone is bothered about the right of new owners to be involved in our game then the time to pack it in was when Abramovich bought Chelsea, maybe even better examples before then, but it's a good case to make the point.

We have had various dubious owners in our past and they were born in and lived in a our own democratic country which is of course the perfect "eutopia" where everyone is squeaky clean and righteous and whom we aspire to emulate.

Forget where the man is from, there are good men everywhere, even within bad governments and countries. There are even good Wednesdayites, yes there are!

If the prince turns out to be a bad man then make your minds up then. in the meantime don't judge the man by his nationality and do not presume anything.

Abramovich is a very good example.

His role in our national game goes largely unquestioned.

 

[Tyler Durden]

Well, having a Saudi and a Turk on our board, it can only be a matter of time before Bramall Lane gets hit by airstrikes. We're pretty much in the Axis of Evil.

 

[blade too long]

I dont think its a human rights issue
We had executed thousands of people in the past
Henry VIII had the perfect answer to prenups in his day
We used to duck , well drown women suspected of witchcraft
our navy keel hualed insorbordenate sailors, and hang them for really petty
misdemeanours
we only recently abolished the death penalty 13th august 1964 in the UK
Some of our commwealth states took a fair bit longer
America still retains it in certain states

Saudi Arabia chooses not to remove the death penalty
Many brits would love to have it back for paedo killers and mass murderers

Its a sovereign nation and chooses to retain the ultimate punishment

The fact they are over zealous on religious grounds again is a throw back to their history

A place Id avoid visiting as they still lash people over alcohol

 

[zablade]

The more the situation deteriorates in the Middle East the more I worry about our Saudi connections, to be relying on one of the House of Saud for our financial future is.

A. Morally dudious
B. Not exactly 100 % reliable (future sanctions, and / or a coup)

If HRH does decide to sell up it may not be such a bad thing.

 

[blade too long]

The more the situation deteriorates in the Middle East the more I worry about our Saudi connections, to be relying on one of the House of Saud for our financial future is.

A. Morally dudious
B. Not exactly 100 % reliable (future sanctions, and / or a coup)

If HRH does decide to sell up it may not be such a bad thing.

Man city would be down back here with us too

 

[Harry's Game]

Man city would be down back here with us too

Is the UAE and Saudi the same then? I think they are much more out of the way of any fall out in the regard.