https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apartheid#Cultural_boycott https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apartheid#Cultural_boycott The UK officials (as did other western Europe

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apartheid#Cultural_boycott https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apartheid#Cultural_boycott The UK officials (as did other western European officials) did boycott the world cup. It is a really weak message. A real message would have been to boycott the world cup entirely (not just the UK, but all of Europe). It would not only have sent a strong message to the Russian government—but more importantly the Russian public would have hated it. Imagine your country can finally hold the World Cup, only to have your military ruin it by doing something stupid like annexing a peninsula you don’t care about.