CANCELLED WC Prep Match #1: Canada vs Iran - Sunday, June 5 BC Place, Vancouver

[Corazon]

FWIW, I am now seeing Trudeau's comments being posted on social media accounts.  Most comments seem to think it's ridiculous to be affiliating sport and politics for various reasons.

[RS]

Just now, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

Divisive?

Yeah, I'm not sure how his comments are divisive.

[nfitz]

2 hours ago, SpursFlu said:

To think Trudeau and our government wasn't aware of this game happening and couldn't have stopped it is completely laughable 

Mr virtue signal says its not a good idea but I would love for him to take a moment and explain the actual reasons to the Canada public why it shouldn't happen. Or is that just too much reality for the average Canadian? Or maybe he hasn't figured out how to monetize hating Iran yet

I could care less what that arrogant jerk thinks. I definitely do not look to him for my moral compass and what should or shouldn't happen

Please avoid the partisan political stuff here. Why pretend this is about Trudeau - the Conservative front runner pretty much said the same thing - and has been far more anti-Iran than Trudeau.
 

 

[CCrTFC]

In an age where seemingly everyone was fine with sanctioning Russian athletes despite they're little involvement in a stupid war, I reckon the pandora's box had already been opened. I really hope this doesn't become a bigger fuss.

[Gian-Luca]

3 minutes ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

?

Divisive?

Sounds like he just passed the buck as he often dies when something controversial occurs.

 

Yes, divisive because people will either agree its a bad idea and pressure to have it cancelled, or they will argue it won't. And the usual Trudeau haters/supporters will flock to either side of the divide. I'm now seeing it all over social media as well. He's created a public controversy where previously there wasn't one, even though the game was announced several days ago and no-one (other than the occasional poster not known for having all of their screws fully tightened) said a word initially. The controversy has only come from him speaking out on it.

Hopefully it will all blow over, but either way, no good can come from his comments.

[canucksfan]

3 minutes ago, Gian-Luca said:

Yes, divisive because people will either agree its a bad idea and pressure to have it cancelled, or they will argue it won't. And the usual Trudeau haters/supporters will flock to either side of the divide. I'm now seeing it all over social media as well. He's created a public controversy where previously there wasn't one, even though the game was announced several days ago and no-one (other than the occasional poster not known for having all of their screws fully tightened) said a word initially. The controversy has only come from him speaking out on it.

Hopefully it will all blow over, but either way, no good can come from his comments.

He didn't come out and announce it to the world, he was specifically asked a question about it by the media. If he had said "no comment" it would have also been a major story and people would be complaining about that being divisive or too wishy-washy or whatever. Kind of can't win with this one as any politician. Honestly, CSA should have anticipated this controversy, especially with how many of those who were killed were from Vancouver and were actually flying back to Vancouver. I hope it doesn't get cancelled but this is all fully on them.

[SpursFlu]

His comments are divisive in that now we're all supposed to decide whether or not thinking this game should happen or not makes us some kinda person or another type of person. Even worse imagine if I bought a ticket. OMG am I bad person? Aren't I bad person? Oh God, let me check social media and see if I support women not being able to attend a sporting event. Oh my God..  I do, I'm bad let me change my profile to a rainbow flag and denounce this event and anyone else who supports it happening. Thank you Mr Trudeau for pointing out I'm supposed to hate Iran when all you had to have done was nix the game in the first place or keep your mouth shut and this would never have ever happened.

When is the roster being announced? Who cares.. lets all argue for the next couple weeks about whether this game should or shouldn't have happened. What a time to be alive 

Edited May 17, 2022 by SpursFlu

[Obinna]

9 minutes ago, RS said:

Yeah, I'm not sure how his comments are divisive.

"I don't think it was a good idea to play the Iran soccer team"

If he were speaking from the context of a soccer fan the comments would not be divisive, but he's the PM of Canada speaking from the context of politics, so I would say divisive is a fair characterization of that quote. 

And for the record the same is true for PP. Like Trudeau, he is commenting on a non-political event, but in doing so he's doing his part in turning it into a political one. That's what politicians do best, unfortunately. 

[narduch]

15 minutes ago, nfitz said:

Please avoid the partisan political stuff here. Why pretend this is about Trudeau - the Conservative front runner pretty much said the same thing - and has been far more anti-Iran than Trudeau.
 

 

Seeing the opinion of Millhouse here confirms for me I am on the right side of this debate.

[sandman]

The CSA rightly is on the hot-seat. Who thought this was a good idea? It was a slam dunk to become a political nightmare. 

Lets arrange some games with Russia and NK im sure they want a competitive game and will play on Turf. 

 

[Gian-Luca]

10 minutes ago, canucksfan said:

He didn't come out and announce it to the world, he was specifically asked a question about it by the media. If he had said "no comment" it would have also been a major story and people would be complaining about that being divisive or too wishy-washy or whatever.

Anyone who wants the game cancelled now has the fuel added to their fire because they have the backing of the PM who offered his political opinion on the matter (and there's a big gap between that and "no comment"). What would happen if Canada were to play Iran in the World Cup? Instead of saying "I think it's a shit idea, but you'd have to ask the CSA for their reasons" he should have just left it at the latter part of that sentence. The CSA should have an easy enough time explaining that playing another country as preparation for the World Cup is in no way an endorsement of that country, or their politics, nor were any of the Iranian players responsible for the actions of their military. The game is about helping Canada to prepare as best it can for the World Cup, it's not about politics or any political statement.

Edited May 17, 2022 by Gian-Luca

[Obinna]

3 minutes ago, narduch said:

Seeing the opinion of Millhouse here confirms for me I am on the right side of this debate.

Nice. That was a neat way to skirt around the partisan, political stuff. 

[RS]

12 minutes ago, SpursFlu said:

His comments are divisive in that now we're all supposed to decide whether or not thinking this game should happen or not makes us some kinda person or another type of person. Even worse imagine if I bought a ticket. OMG am I bad person? Aren't I bad person? Oh God, let me check social media and see if I support women not being able to attend a sporting event. Oh my God..  I do, I'm bad let me change my profile to a rainbow flag and denounce this event and anyone else who supports it happening. Thank you Mr Trudeau for pointing out I'm supposed to hate Iran when all you had to have done was nix the game in the first place or keep your mouth shut and this would never have ever happened.

The projection here is palpable.

No one said that, implied that, or even hinted at that except you.

[Yoginess]

When do we expect rosters to be announced?

[Lurker]

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

5 minutes ago, Obinna said:

"I don't think it was a good idea to play the Iran soccer team"

Of course it wasn't a "good idea"! He's right. It would have been a better idea and far less controversial to host Mali, a country run by its military after a coup-d'état. Except that nobody gives a 💩 about Mali because there isn't a big Malian diaspora in Canada compared to the Iranian diaspora and they haven't been established in Canada as long so they aren't as influential in politics.

But when it comes to friendly matches, you get who you can get.

 

@Gian-Luca , @SpursFlu , @Obinna

Polievre is being more controversial than Trudeau with his hardline "no, this match shouldn't be bloody happening" than Trudeau with his lame-ass wishy-washy "ya they probably shouldn't have done that but it wasn't my fault".

[SpursFlu]

It's not the CSA. In a vacumn the Iran game is a really good opponent for them. Clearly they would have ran this game past someone and it was approved. Now the federal government is trying to play dumb while stirring up a hornets nets. I would have no problem if they came out and said look this was a difficult decision but let's separate sports and politics etc etc and just be honest for once and take the criticism on the chin. It could actually be used as an opportunity for people to make a statement about the Iranian government 

[Obinna]

5 minutes ago, sandman said:

The CSA rightly is on the hot-seat. Who thought this was a good idea? It was a slam dunk to become a political nightmare. 

Lets arrange some games with Russia and NK im sure they want a competitive game and will play on Turf. 

 

I am far from a CSA apologist, but I don't fault them for not anticipating the political ramifications of scheduling Iran. These are soccer people, after all.

Let's be honest, how many of us raised the alarm when this was announced? There was a small, spin-off discussion about the incident, but that was it. Most of us were just excited to play another World Cup team outside of CONCACAF. 

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

9 minutes ago, sandman said:

The CSA rightly is on the hot-seat....NK im sure they want a competitive game and will play on Turf. 

North Korea would be easier because there isn't much of a North Korean diaspora in Canada. Not as many potential votes to be courted by publicly denouncing it.

[SpursFlu]

6 minutes ago, RS said:

The projection here is palpable.

No one said that, implied that, or even hinted at that except you.

I'm not saying anyone here, I'm just saying this will be the general atmosphere going in to the match

[Obinna]

2 minutes ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

Polievre is being more controversial than Trudeau with his hardline "no, this match shouldn't be bloody happening" than Trudeau with his lame-ass wishy-washy "ya they probably shouldn't have done that but it wasn't my fault".

Sure, I am alright with that. At least JT didn't go out of his way to pour gasoline on it, far as I can tell!

[Obinna]

3 minutes ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

Of course it wasn't a "good idea"! He's right. It would have been a better idea and far less controversial to host Mali, a country run by its military after a coup-d'état. Except that nobody gives a 💩 about Mali because there isn't a big Malian diaspora in Canada compared to the Iranian diaspora and they haven't been established in Canada as long so they aren't as influential in politics.

But when it comes to friendly matches, you get who you can get.

Not quite sure what the point is here, that we shouldn't play teams the Canadian government has a political issue with? Or that it's fine to play said team so long as there's not a large diaspora living in Canada?

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

1 minute ago, Obinna said:

Sure, I am alright with that. At least JT didn't go out of his way to pour gasoline on it, far as I can tell!

Ya, if Trudeau was there with a rock and some flint, Polievre decided to go full matches and gasoline!

4 minutes ago, Obinna said:

Most of us were just excited to play another World Cup team outside of CONCACAF. 

We knew this friendly was with a politically controversial opponent. We were just thinking first-and-foremost with our soccer-nerd brains.

Hope to see you at the match and meet you IRL. (If it doesn't get cancelled)

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

Just now, Obinna said:

Not quite sure what the point is here, that we shouldn't play teams the Canadian government has a political issue with? Or that it's fine to play said team so long as there's not a large diaspora living in Canada?

The point is we should play everyone. Even North Korea. It's just politically easier to play certain countries. The public outrage scale, as usual, is not necessarily in line with the "human rights, oppression and military abuses" scale of that country.

[Gian-Luca]

2 minutes ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

 

@Gian-Luca , @SpursFlu , @Obinna

Polievre is being more controversial than Trudeau with his hardline "no, this match shouldn't be bloody happening" than Trudeau with his lame-ass wishy-washy "ya they probably shouldn't have done that but it wasn't my fault".

Right, and IMO he should also shut up. He isn't the PM though so opinion will carry less influence (for example, I have only seen his comments because they were posted here) and look even more like political posturing/point-scoring. I don't really care which political leaders feel the need to comment upon this, anyone who does needs to go away and stop politicizing a sporting event. Where were these folks all the many times we have played friendlies against the US, given they are hardly a nation without any blood on their hands either. If we were to only play friendlies against nations that are historically completely innocent of wrongdoing, we'd have no prep whatsoever.