THE Scottish Football Association are coming under pressure from Holyrood and even some of their own supporters over Friday night's friendly match with Qatar at Easter Road, but football and politics should not mix.

I have always felt that way.

I am as disheartened as anyone else by the way workers are being treated in Qatar.

I understand the concerns and the outrage over the reported death toll among labourers that have been brought in to build stadia for the 2022 World Cup finals.

However, that is nothing to do with the footballers from Qatar who will be coming to Scotland to play in a high-profile match.

They are trying to lift their nation while the game, itself, is a worthwhile outing for Gordon Strachan's side ahead of the visit to Dublin for the crucial European Championship qualifier with the Republic of Ireland.

We should not be boycotting the match.

We are free to stand up and say that we have concerns over what is happening in Qatar right now.

Everyone has done that and the SFA made its own stance clear in a statement released on Monday.

This is a football match, though.

The players should be allowed to get on and play their football.

Anger over what is going on in Qatar should not be taken out on the people who are travelling to Edinburgh this week to play the sport they love.

Let's try to get a full house at Easter Road and cheer on Scotland.

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