[Submitting Soon] About a Boycott

[West Barack and East Obama]

[title] About a Boycott

[desc] The regional governing body of football, the @@REGION@@ Football Association (@@REGIONINITIALS@@FA), has announced a boycott of all football matches involving @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ teams due to the nation's appalling civil rights record.

[validity] has sports, not an autarky, low civil rights

[option] "Seems like your insistence on tyrannical rule has cost us an own goal" sighs @@RANDOMNAME@@, the head coach of the @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ National Football Team, who hasn't had much to do since the boycott was announced. "Without our clubs' participation in prestigious regional tournaments such as the United Champions' Conference Cup, our league is going to miss out on tons of money and fall way behind others. Plus, our national team is as good as eleven planks of wood on the pitch now that we can't play anyone! The catastrophic effects of this boycott will kill off our entire football scene. We must get the ball rolling on a few reforms to show the @@REGIONINITIALS@@FA that we are willing to listen to their concerns. Playing a little defence never hurt anyone, right?"

[effect] @@LEADER@@ doesn't have the balls to resist peer pressure

[option] "This is just the IFA moving the goalposts as usual" huffs @@RANDOMNAME@@, your Minister of Sports, as @@HE@@ slips your chequebook into @@HIS@@ back pocket. "If they really cared about civil rights and all that jazz, they wouldn't be so eager to cozy up to oil-rich dictatorships like Maxtopia and Althaniq! Their main focus is on their image and how much money it makes them, and at the moment associating with us is apparently 'bad optics'. All we need to do is wire them a few billion @@CURRENCYPLURAL@@ to 'compensate' for the potential losses of getting back into business with us, and they'll be backtracking on their boycott in no time."

[effect] government accountants struggle to keep clean sheets

[option] "You should see this situation as a blessing!" chuckles controversial Marche Noirian football administrator Florence Bagnelli, whose nation was also embargoed by the @@REGIONINITIALS@@FA. "For too long, our countries were hamstrung by those corrupt scumbags and their arbitrary guidelines on ethics, but now we have been liberated! Instead of running back to those ingrates, your football teams should associate with likeminded outcasts like ourselves. We'll form our own international football association - with Blackacre and bookies!"

[effect] opponents are neutralised on and off the pitch

[title] About a Boycott

[desc] The regional governing body of football, the @@REGION@@ Football Association (@@REGIONINITIALS@@FA), has announced a boycott of all football matches involving @@NAME@@ in any capacity due to its appalling civil rights record.

[validity] has sports, not an autarky, low civil rights

[option] "Seems like your insistence on tyrannical rule has caused us an own goal" sighs @@RANDOMNAME@@, the head coach of the @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ National Football Team, who hasn't had much to do since the boycott was announced. "Without our clubs' participation in prestigious regional tournaments such as the United Champions' Conference Cup, our league is going to miss out on tons of money and fall way behind others. Plus, our national team is as good as ten planks of wood on the pitch now that we can't play anyone! The catastrophic effects of this boycott will kill our entire football scene. We must get the ball rolling on a few reforms to show the @@REGIONINITIALS@@FA that we are willing to listen to their concerns. A little bit of backing down never hurt anyone, right?"

[effect] @@LEADER@@ has the balls to concede defeat and change for the better

[option] "This is just the corrupt @@REGIONINITIALS@@FA moving the goalposts as usual" huffs @@RANDOMNAME@@, your Minister of Sports, as @@HE@@ slips your chequebook into @@HIS@@ back pocket. "If they really cared about civil rights and all that jazz, they wouldn't be so eager to cozy up to slavers like Althaniq! Their main focus is on their image and how much money it makes them, and at the moment associating with us is 'bad optics' apparently. All we need to do is wire them a few billion @@CURRENCYPLURAL@@ to 'compensate' for the potential losses of getting back into business with us, and they'll be backtracking on their boycott in no time."

[effect] government accountants struggle to keep clean sheets

[option] "You should see this situation as a blessing!" chuckles controversial Marche Noirian football administrator Florence Bagnelli, whose nation was also embargoed by the @@REGIONINITIALS@@FA. "For too long, our countries were hamstrung by liberal scum and their arbitrary guidelines on ethics, but now we have been liberated! Instead of running back to those ingrates, your football teams should associate with likeminded totalitarian outcasts like ourselves. We'll form our own international football association - with Blackacre and hookers!"

[effect] away games in Maxtopia truly are a matter of life and death

[Pacific Haven]

An option which could be added is "Sports is becoming so politicised, you should ban sports entirely to stop this propaganda from reaching our people!", or something along those lines. Given the fact that there's a policy about it (well, sort of), we might as well use it.

[Verdant Haven]

- I don't believe we can pull a region's initials (somebody correct me if I'm wrong here?). We can do the nation itself, in multiple forms, but I'm pretty sure the region is limited to just the region's name.

- Option 1: I think "caused us an own goal" probably should be "cost us an own goal." Opportunity for a minor soccer/futbol pun on that last line – maybe something like "Playing a little defense never hurt anyone…" (unless "backing down" is a term from the sport that I don't know – I'm not an avid follower). "Backing down" also carries the assumption that this is actively a point of contention. For all we know, Leader is newly elected on a platform of improving civil rights, and hasn't had a chance to do so yet.

- Effect 1: This comes across very strongly as a judgment of/against the player and of Leader. Who says it's a defeat? If this is what Leader wants, then it is a victory, right? Changing for the better? That's subjective and values-based.

- Option 2: Slight wording quibble – calling Althaniq "slavers" carries the implication that NAME itself is *not* slave-holding, which is something we can't assume – especially given that this draft is targeting the nations with the lowest Civil Rights levels.

- Option 3: This is also carrying a fair amount of judgment and assumption about how Leader (the player) views their nation. Try to make sure it's not caricaturizing the player or their nation according to your own views – the same ideas can be transmitted without quite as many dog whistles. The "Blackacre and hookers" line is hilarious in context, and a solid reference, but I could see that pushing the issue into Adult territory for the sake of a joke (as it is literally encouraging a policy decision to establish government-sponsored prostitution). You could perhaps go for "Blackacre and hookahs" instead, which would likely expand drug use, but wouldn't trigger that same concern.

- The second effect line is splendid. Final one is a bit meh.

[Trotterdam]

The "Blackacre and hookers" line is hilarious in context, and a solid reference, but I could see that pushing the issue into Adult territory for the sake of a joke (as it is literally encouraging a policy decision to establish government-sponsored prostitution). You could perhaps go for "Blackacre and hookahs" instead, which would likely expand drug use, but wouldn't trigger that same concern.

Drug use is more family-friendly than sex? I find it disturbing that you feel that way.

[West Barack and East Obama]

- Effect 1: This comes across very strongly as a judgment of/against the player and of Leader. Who says it's a defeat? If this is what Leader wants, then it is a victory, right? Changing for the better? That's subjective and values-based.

I've changed it to being about failing to resist peer pressure, which seems a lot more objective given the situation. But do you think it still reads as a bit too judgmental of Leader? If yes, would changing it to 'the government' help to make it seem less like attacking the player themself?

- Option 3: This is also carrying a fair amount of judgment and assumption about how Leader (the player) views their nation. Try to make sure it's not caricaturizing the player or their nation according to your own views – the same ideas can be transmitted without quite as many dog whistles.

I've removed the references to 'liberal scum' and being 'totalitarian', is that sufficient to alleviate the concern?

The "Blackacre and hookers" line is hilarious in context, and a solid reference, but I could see that pushing the issue into Adult territory for the sake of a joke (as it is literally encouraging a policy decision to establish government-sponsored prostitution). You could perhaps go for "Blackacre and hookahs" instead, which would likely expand drug use, but wouldn't trigger that same concern.

Now I'm tempted to change the entire issue to being about rugby so 'hookers' makes sense

I've changed it to bookies, which while sadly doesn't rhyme as well as hookers or hookahs makes more sense in a sporting context and retains the vibe of something unethical.

- The second effect line is splendid. Final one is a bit meh.

I agree, I was drawing blanks when writing up the first draft. I've changed it now though.

[Verdant Haven]

Apologies that this comes after you edited, but I just did a bit of hunting and was able to kludge together a way to extract a region acronym. If you feel that would be more interesting, feel free to put that back in!

[West Barack and East Obama]

Apologies that this comes after you edited, but I just did a bit of hunting and was able to kludge together a way to extract a region acronym. If you feel that would be more interesting, feel free to put that back in!

hooray!

It's been reinserted into the draft, thanks! :>

[Australian rePublic]

Would a country with such low civil rights be too happy to see their players play in freer countries?

[West Barack and East Obama]

Would a country with such low civil rights be too happy to see their players play in freer countries?

The draft only talks about players playing for @@NAME@@ clubs and national team on foreign soil, which seems pretty reasonable. North Korea did make a World Cup Quarterfinals once upon a time.

Oh, and I'm also submitting this soon. It's WC season!

[Outer Sparta]

It's a nice premise, especially involving the regional association taking action against your authoritarian nation. One thing to be made clear: are all your clubs and the national team itself banned from continental competitions? Do individual players from your nation still get the freedom to move around and play for other teams in that said competition on a club level? My hunch is that this is a similar situation to UEFA's ban of Russian clubs and the NT from all officially sanctioned competitions.

[West Barack and East Obama]

It's a nice premise, especially involving the regional association taking action against your authoritarian nation. One thing to be made clear: are all your clubs and the national team itself banned from continental competitions? Do individual players from your nation still get the freedom to move around and play for other teams in that said competition on a club level? My hunch is that this is a similar situation to UEFA's ban of Russian clubs and the NT from all officially sanctioned competitions.

Right on. I've clarified the intention by changing it to sanctions on teams.