Official Site: STRACHAN TAKES CHARGE OF SCOTLAND AT EASTER ROAD

[Diclonius]

No intention of going or watching on the TV given Qatar's blatant disregard for human rights.

[Mikey09]

Anyone know if they're selling tickets at the game??

[Johnny Clash]

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No, we've been here before - we played Chile in the Estadio Nacional in Santiago as part of our alleged 'preparation' for the 1978 World Cup, and little good did it do us.

For those to young to remember and who may not care, this was an early example of a multi-purpose sports facility - part-time football stadium, part-time detention and execution centre for the opponents of the Pinochet regime during the mid-1970's. The pitch was used as a landing pad for Army choppers coming in to load up detainees who were then transported out over the Pacific ocean before being thrown out - a method of disposal which meant that the bodies were never found. These people are referred to as 'desaparecidos ' - disappeared - and in both Chile and Argentina there are still thousands of people who just don't know what finally happened to their children, parents, brothers or sisters.

European nations refused to play there in the years of repression following the 1973 overthrow of the Allende government until Ernie Walker (SFA secretary) and Ally McLeod (team manger and resident clown) - carve their names with pride - agreed that Scotland should play Chile in the stadium as a pre-tournament acclimatisation in the alleged preparations for the WC in 1987. Just to do a really good job of pissing on the graves of the victims, Scotland followed up the Chile match with one in Buenos Aires, in another football stadium/torture and execution site run by another bunch of fascist thugs.

Walker was tarred with the same brush as the then FIFA President, Sir Stanley Rous, celebrated Fascist fellow-traveller and supporter of the white racist regimes in South Africa and Rhodesia in the 1960's and 70's. Their motto seemed to be 'Never let the the death of innocents or the flagrant outraging of human rights get in the way of a football tournament' - a sentiment it appears the present rulers of the world game share.



See above.

Great post about the shameful actions of the SFA back in the 1970s.

It now seems certain that Qatar bribed their way to hosting the World Cup. ... A rancid regime that abuses human rights. It's disgusting that so far 1,420 World Cup workers have died in what is the World's richest country. At this rate 4,000 workers will have been killed by the time the World Cup starts in 2022. Workers getting treated like slaves can't be overlooked just coz we want to watch a game of football.

[patlowe]

You have to wonder what is in this for Scotland or what the SFA have been promised. Whatever it is, it's not enough IMO. It's terrible PR and terrible for our ranking points when we are so close to getting back in with the big boys seeding wise.

[Keith_M]

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For people that are that bothered about the fixture the simple option is not to attend, quite simple really.

Or if they are really bothered, then they are also free to protest against it and highlight the reasons why.

[silverhibee]

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Ginger ?

Reported.

[silverhibee]

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Seems like there could be bigger protests outside ER against the SFA than there were against Petrie last summer. Stupid game to arrange rankings wise right enough.

I'll be outside.

[silverhibee]

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Imaginary?

Nae need.

[--------]

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For people that are that bothered about the fixture the simple option is not to attend, quite simple really.

Are we keeping you awake?

As I understand it this fixture was agreed by three SFA executives including our own dear Rod Petrie while on a luxury all-expenses-paid SFA holiday - sorry, fact-finding visit - to Qatar some months ago.

Qatar's abuses of human rights are well-documented; their treatment of the foreign workers engaged in building the stadiums for this World Cup is also well-documented.

On Friday evening Hibernian will be instrumental in helping one of the nastiest regimes in a very nasty world present itself as acceptable and welcome among the community of nations.

This doesn't 'bother' me - it makes me very angry, and I will say so, and continue to do so. The fact that a previous generation of SFA apparatchiks saw nothing wrong in having the Scottish football team play in a stadium that had functioned as a death-camp under the auspices of a thug like Pinochet was disgusting, and we got exactly what we deserved in Argentina the following year.

Now Easter Road will be the venue for a PR nose-job for the Qatari sheikhs and their loathsome regime. Nice one.