Russia Banned From 2022 World Cup

[Albatros]

The Premier League also suffers of a bad atmosphere though. I don't think it would be miraculously better or worse than other World Cup tournaments.

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

The US has a long history of turning a blind eye to doping and protecting their star athletes as best as they can. Russia actively participated and encouraged a doping program. There is a huge difference between those two things.

Sort of. Commercial-privatized cheating covered by sympathetic authorities is really just a different structural setup for the same sort of operation as Russia’s program. Morally both represent a win at all cost mentality.

 

[maclean]

Sort of. Commercial-privatized cheating covered by sympathetic authorities is really just a different structural setup for the same sort of operation as Russia’s program. Morally both represent a win at all cost mentality.

At the very least one of them is smarter

If it's separate from the oversight body, then even if the oversight body has been complicit, when caught it can go "Oh dear, bad people, tsk tsk!" and plug up one certain hole so that dopers have to be more creative. What Russia has done when caught is just say "screw you, you're biased against us, everyone does it so f*** off". They act like the rules aren't important and I don't think it should be a surprise to anyone that the global regulatory authorities can't just let that happen.

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

The thing is Russia has been doing this stuff for ages. A lot of these structures and people go back to Soviet times. And of course many Soviet Bloc doping specialists went on to commercially provide their services elsewhere in the 90s and 00s - something rarely discussed at the time or now. When Australia went from a sporting nobody to a contender just in time for the 2000 Olympics and Britain did the same for 2012, it was pretty obvious that these were driven efforts to justify the expense of hosting the events and to boost national morale with a good performance at the games. Neither was much scrutinized in the West.

What I am saying is that doping only ever seems to become a major issue for the media and so forth when the country doing it is a geopolitical adversary of the West. When Russia was courted as a new ally and eventual NATO and EU member noone gave a damn about their doping, it only became a matter of urgency when they instead decided to go in a different direction. Its just a weapon used vs Russia in this new crypto Cold War v2.0.

 

[Albatros]

When Russia was courted as a new ally and eventual NATO and EU member noone gave a damn about their doping, it only became a matter of urgency when they instead decided to go in a different direction. Its just a weapon used vs Russia in this new crypto Cold War v2.0.

No one would still give a damn about their doping if they wouldn't have crossed the line and manipulated the anti-doping system as a whole in Sochi.

 

[Havre]

I'm not sure if I agree that no-one would give a d#¤# if they hadn't taken it one step further.

For example looking African runners there seem to be a much higher focusing on them now than what it used to be. Or cycling. Cycling used to be "Russia", but even if I doubt it is anywhere near clean I am quite convinced it is a lot cleaner than it used to be.

 

[Elliman]

So they won’t be entered into the WCQ then? So how could they send an unflagged no anthem team if they are not allowed to attempt to qualify?This isn’t the CIS Team or the olympics it’s the World Cup. If they don’t enter qualifying they ain’t going to Qatar.

 

[Albatros]

So they won’t be entered into the WCQ then? So how could they send an unflagged no anthem team if they are not allowed to attempt to qualify?This isn’t the CIS Team or the olympics it’s the World Cup. If they don’t enter qualifying they ain’t going to Qatar.

It will not affect their WCQ campaign, they will compete normally as Russia. How the final tournament will look like if they do qualify is another question.

 

[Elliman]

It will not affect their WCQ campaign, they will compete normally as Russia. How the final tournament will look like if they do qualify is another question.

I don’t get it. Why attempt to qualify for a World Cup you are banned from? Why would FIFA even allow them to try and qualify for a tournament they have been banned from? Where is the logic?

 

[Albatros]

It would likely look much like 2018 Olympic hockey, a nominally different identity but no real change beyond that. The fans will do the anthem and the flag waving enthusiastically anyway so playing as Independent Athletes from Russia or whatever is fairly meaningless in the end.

 

[Henkka]

CIS national ice hockey team - Wikipedia

It just goes like this.

No nation, no flag, but guys together.

 

[KingLB]

But like he said, there is no qualifying for hockey. Soccer on the other hand does, and by having a team qualify for an event they are banned from - well it makes it even more laughable a ban than “independent athletes from”