F I F A - Fine For England, Wales, Scotland

[sunny-dave]

FIFA ("proud to be the most corrupt organisation in the world") has now decided to fine our Football Associations for the players wearing poppies.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/dec/19/fifa-fines-english-fa-poppies-scotland

Is it time for us to say "feck off - we don't need either your bankrupt morality or your stinking competitions" and just walk away?

We might then find out who needs the other more - I suspect FIFA need us far more than we need them - at least in financial terms. I'd bet on them making appeasing noises pretty quickly.

If our bluff is called and we wind up outside the FIFA tent then so what?

We never win anything, the odds are stacked against us ever hosting anything again - so let's start our own international competitions and see who prefers us to the corrupt stench which emanates from Zurich and is bankrolled by the even more corrupt arabs.

[jno]

better than those corrupt countries who do observe the playing rules, you think?

Obviously, England would have a better chance of winning against minnows like Iceland.

[bhg481]

Yes, tell them to stuff their fine and, if necessary, leave and start a rival organisation.

[RandyMarsh]

Just pay it and move on.

[wolf63]

I know nothing about the game. I support our national team but never expect them to win.

1. What was the situation before FIFA?
2. Why was the organisation set up?
3. What are they supposed to do?
4. How big is the organisation and has it been effective?

[vulcan42]

I had thought FIFA would have seen sense and realise wearing and displaying the poppy was an act of remembrance and not political,and drop the fines. Unfortunately their greed and insistence to punish outweighs their understanding of what the poppy actually means. We should ignore the fines.

[New Judge]

"Just pay it and move on. "

So you agree with their ruling that the poppy is a political emblem?

There are times when you should not just pay up and move on. My advice would be to refuse to pay up and see what happens. If we're ejected from FIFA it would be no big deal. International football is a fairly low quality affair played by teams who usually do not gel together all that well. In a competition such as the World Cup or the European Championship it is rare to get one or two decent games in the entire competition. Neither would be any great loss.

[New Judge]

And I forgot to add that there seems to be no end of supra national organisations, from the EU downwards, that seem insistent on imposing their ridiculous ideals on other people. The supply of busybodies seems endless.

[RandyMarsh]

We could cluck our tongues for a while before paying it NJ but what is the point?.

Pay it, move on, get knocked out at the group stage next time.

The fine is less than Wayne Rooney earns in a weekend.

[ichkeria]

and N Ireland
Thr fines against Scotland and England, while regrettable, are at least consistent with FIFA's policy daft tho it may seem to us.
Wales and N Ireland however seem to have been victims of a spot of goalpost-moving as these associations complied with FIFA's diktat and yet found themselves 'guilty' of an extension of the ruling relating amongst other things to what the fans were wearing in the ground. It seems that FIFA, generally acknowledged as one of the most corrupt bodies on earth, sees fit to lay down the law on what it and it alone deems 'politically acceptable' I hope they are challenged all the way

[trt]

If we pay the fines, we are just lining their pockets with more money to stifle away!

[bhg481]

The fine may be less than Wayne Roonet earns in a weekend but the principle isn't.

[Old_Geezer]

I'd be tempted to tell them to go whistle and see what happens. It would be unfortunate if the situation escalated but one can not have a football organisation dictating by themselves what a political emblem is, getting it ridiculously wrong, and benefiting from their incompetence from the victims of it. Perhaps exiting is the way to go anyway.

[ichkeria]

The fine which N Ireland received is considerably more than the one the FAI received for putting Easter Rising commemoration badges on its shirts earlier this year. That was something which we all wisely turned a blind eye to at the time but when the poppy controversy blew up it was understandably pointed out to FIFA. You can imagine the fuss that is now causing in N Ireland.
Political controversy actually caused by a rule seeking allegedly to avoid political controversy. Genius, FIFA

[jourdain2]

Just don't pay. When they witter, point out yet again that the poppy is not a religious or political symbol - they will then be glad to accept that.

[ichkeria]

Surely if that happens you just shrug it off. It might be irritating but ultimately harmless. I doubt if they would do that anyway

[SIRandyraven]

Refuse to hand money to FIFA and instead give the money to help the heros.

[Togo]

I am sure I said that we should not accept any judgment by FIFA(sounds like thiefa) on an earlier thread. We refuse to pay a fine, they say you are out of the World Cup. Result. We do not go to Russia, or Qatar, who are both hosting the tainted competitions after a massively corrupt "voting" process. Politically expedient at the moment as well. By we, I speak for the EFA, the WFA an NIFA's must use their moral compasses.

[ichkeria]

Great idea in theory but I can't see it happening sadly

[nannybooby]

No way do we pay .