"Carry On" FIFA

As if the dubious back-room dealings in awarding the World Cups of 2018 and 2022 were not an affront to all right minded football supporters, Sepp Blatter then announced unilaterally that the 2022 World Cup may be played in the winter: thus disrupting two seasons in the professional leagues around the world and Europe in particular. Swiftly afterwards, Michel Platini, who now appears to be Sepp Blatter’s ever faithful lap dog, announced that the event may be played out in several other Gulf States. Thus two key elements of the bid process: where and when, don’t appear to have been even considered in the vote process. In RTG’s business experience, the question of timing and location are almost always the most important factors in any bid or pitch.

In Sepp Blatter’s FIFA world, what he wants, he always gets. However, if the Qatari proposal had specifically highlighted a winter timetable, they surely would not have won the bid. At best, this was an amateurish and unprofessional process. At worst, it was yet more devious skulduggery from football’s bete noir. RTG is thinking the worst. Intriguingly, the Qataris themselves have dismissed these two proposals out of hand immediately.

It would appear, though, that the latest shenanigans around the Qatari bid may be the first salvos in a bitter FIFA Presidency election battle between Mohamed Bin Hammam, the Qatari FIFA Exco member, and the present incumbent Sepp Blatter. Given that Bin Hammam has been a shady financier and backer of previous Blatter elections, even if Blatter gets his just desserts in the upcoming election, we should be very wary of someone who has been an integral player in the FIFA “carry on”. The fact that he has mentioned the word “transparency” in his opening gambit for the FIFA Presidency does not bode well.

Those of you who are familiar with Andrew Jennings’ journalistic investigations – both on the Panorama programme and especially in his eye-opening book – will recognise the Sepp Blatter modus operandi:

• say the word FIFA and “transparency” together in the same sentence many times;
• deny vehemently any wrongdoings by him or any of his colleagues;
• when forced by the weight of media pressure, buy some time by announcing a new anti-corruption initiative;
• give the initiative a terms of reference that renders it powerless and unable to do its job properly;
• make sure no significant change happens and if any wrongdoing is found, make sure any sanctions imposed are light – and don’t collect any fines.

Thus, last week, a senior German lawyer, Guenter Hirsch, resigned from the FIFA Ethics Committee citing his belief that the Committee were not interested in sorting out corruption within FIFA.

Recently ex-England manager, Graham Taylor, told the press that, following a visit to FIFA HQ in the 1990’s, he was actively encouraged by a FIFA official to set up a Swiss bank account so that he could defraud his expenses. The official told him that they were all at it and that it was normal. Clearly, the climate of corruption is well established within FIFA’s corporate culture.

It is a climate that also means that genuine supporters find it increasingly hard to attend matches at the World Cup. FIFA officials help themselves to seemingly unlimited amounts of tickets which then make their way onto the black market – and with the proceeds being deposited into secret Swiss bank accounts. When Nigerian FIFA officials were recently investigated for fraud, including tickets for the World Cup, Sepp Blatter played his trump card. He simply suspended Nigeria and all its clubs from all FIFA and African Conference competitions. Hey presto, investigation stopped.

Prior to the recent World Cup bid fiasco, many football supporters had never truly appreciated the levels of corruption that exist within FIFA. This appalling sham of a process revealed to all the atrocious levels to which Blatter and FIFA will go to ensure their lucrative supply of dirty money is maintained. The truth is they have been getting away with this for over 30 years using underhand tactics to sweep allegations under the carpet in the hope that supporters will ignore or forget. For the most part it has worked.

This year Blatter comes up for re-election as President of FIFA. This time, supporters must not forget what happened and join together to bring pressure to bear to get rid of this odious man. However, RTG believes that this on its own is not enough. The culture of corruption is too deeply ingrained within FIFA. As an organisation that runs the game across the world, it must surely be disbanded in its current form and with its current executive members.

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World’s Football Supporters Hung, Drawn and Qatared

Ten days ago, FIFA announced that Russia was to host the 2018 World Cup and Qatar was to host the 2022 tournament. FIFA President, Sepp Blatter wanted Russia as 2018 hosts and, what Blatter wants, Blatter gets. The strange choice of Qatar is more easily understood when one considers the facts that journalist, Andrew Jennings, has unearthed about the machinations of the FIFA gravy train. Qatari FA President, Mohammed Bin Hammam, has been a long time Blatter supporter, dubiously funding Blatter’s re-election to the FIFA Presidency, as well as providing material support in the form of private jets for his election campaigning, against FIFA’s own rules.

Both of the winning bids were widely thought to be the weakest technical bids and both will require the most amounts of stadia and infrastructure building projects. Whilst the choice of Russia could easily be explained away, in typical FIFA smokescreen bull manure speak, by the old ‘spreading the game throughout the world’ adage, the choice of Qatar is just an affront to the world’s football supporters, and even more importantly, an affront to the world’s environment. Outdoor air conditioned stadia, with outdoor temperatures at 40-50 degrees centigrade, powered by solar energy – all to be dismantled after the hoopla and re-located elsewhere. Carbon footprint? Who cares? Legacy - to a population of native Qataris, who number in six figures? Ridiculous. And once again, Blatter has got away with his subterfuge.

It seems that every move by the current FIFA President is designed as yet another ruse to not only get his way, but also to provide scope for the powerful members of FIFA’s ExCo to do more deals. This time around it was the double bid process which gave more deal mileage to be claimed. It has reached the stage where RTG views FIFA so cynically, that maybe even footballing decisions, such as FIFA’s reluctance to consider technology is motivated by their own desire to have referee control of matches – and referees can be lent on.

It can’t be a coincidence that the two big oil and gas rich states amidst the bidding countries, won their bids. Equally so, bigger game politics – especially France’s courting of Qatar’s resources - played a huge part. How much, we’ll probably never know. But yet more allegations of bribery have subsequently been made, which if true, makes RTG wonder why England and others bothered in the first place. After all, England had its Prime Minister, next but one King and… wait for it… a moderately good footballer who is the darling of OK magazine, as our “three lions”. Actually, maybe our bid wasn’t so good after all.

Irrespective of the technical bid, its praised presentation and the quality of the people who represented England in schmoozing with the FIFA crooks, England were never going to win their bid. Andy Anson, Chief Executive of the England bid, admitted as much afterwards. However, the process that the bid went through legitimised FIFA and its corrupt methods by allowing us to believe that England had a chance of winning, thereby forcing our bid members to kiss the proverbial FIFA arse and criticise our own nasty free press for pointing out what a bunch of crooks they are!

It’s clear that FIFA needs to be completely done away with in its current form. FIFA was set up in the days when football was trying to fend off commercial interests and remain true to a more idealistic amateur spirit. That all changed in 1974, with the election of Joao Havelenge and his subsequent handover to his heir alter ego, Sepp Blatter. Since then, it’s been run like a mafia, involving ever increasing amounts of money and dubious goings on, protected by Swiss financial laws and with no-one daring enough to take on the corruption from within or outside of the game – with notable noble media exceptions.

It is highly unlikely that we will see a World Cup in England in the next two to three decades. England gave the world football. It might be time for England to think again how best it could lead the world in football again. As RTG has long argued before, the organisation of football in this country needs to be totally revamped to deliver a winning football team and a contribution to the nation’s health. The game in this country needs to be in a better place and yes, free from the corrupting influence of commercialism, before it could counter FIFA’s hegemony.

If we can do this, then maybe England will be in a position to challenge finally FIFA’s strangle on the game, get rid of the Blatters and Warners and deliver to the world a game which truly transcends political, secret Swiss bank accounts and commercial interests, for the whole world to enjoy.

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The Keeper

...Riyals or Roubles anyone?

The Keeper, of course, had to focus on the disappointing result to England’s 2018 World Cup bid. England, sadly, only got two votes, one of which was our own (although we’re not even sure about that). But not to worry we can leave Zurich with our heads held high. The England bid centred on football as a sport that crosses boundaries of culture and class. A sport for all. That’s why, for the pivotal part of the presentation, we sent out the future King of England, our Old Etonian Prime Minister and a multi-million pound footballer. Three chaps who can really speak for the common man.

But, to be fair, the lads really pulled out all the stops, working into the long hours to try and rally support for Team England’s challenge. They apologised for the BBC Panorama allegations and refused to accept that it could possibly have damaged our chances, or that FIFA would take any notice of anything other than the quality of the bid on offer. They were dubbed in the press “The Three Lions”. Perhaps “Three Monkeys” might have been more appropriate. See No Evil. Hear No Evil. Speak No Evil!

But sadly England came up short. FIFA assessed each bid on merit (not oil reserves and available cash), what they could do for developing the game of football throughout the world (definitely not oil reserves and available cash) the suitability of the facilities on offer (absolutely not oil reserves and available cash), the summer temperatures (most certainly not oil reserves and available cash) and the transport infrastructure in place (without doubt not oil reserves and available cash).

The end result of course was that Russia won the bid to host 2018 and Qatar, a desert state the size of East Anglia with one stadium holding over 50,000, and summer temperatures of 50°C plus, won the bid to host 2022. The Keeper would like to pose a question of his own at this point. How much money might it take for the 2018 Winter Olympics to be held at the Milton Keynes Snow Dome, Alaska to hold the 2015 Cricket World Cup and China to host the next Tour De France?

Enjoy your sporting memories everyone.