David Skelton

30th May 2011

More and more, football is a game played by lions and led by donkeys (and many of those donkeys have dubious ethical values as well).  The contrast between Barcelona’s sublime performance on Saturday night and Sepp Blatter’s shambolic performance in a press conference this afternoon is utterly stark.  FIFA is beginning to resemble an organisation beyond reform and beyond redemption.

Only this weekend, allegations have been flying around about the probity of a variety of FIFA members around the bizarre decision to give the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.  Lord Triesman has made a number of shocking allegations about a culture of, at best, impropriety, during the World Cup bidding process – suggesting that six Executive Committee members had asked for bribes or favours in return for World Cup votes.

Similar allegations of corruption have attached themselves to the election of President of FIFA, which has now become a walkover for Blatter.   It was alleged that Blatter’s opponent for the Presidency, Mohamed Bin Hammam, had been involved in improper practices as part of the election and that Blatter had known of the activities.  Whistleblower in this case was the USA FIFA Committee member, Chuck Blazer.   As part of the furore, an e-mail from FIFA General Secretary, Jerome Valke, came to light suggesting that Bin Hamman, “thought you can buy Fifa as they [Qatar] bought the WC [World Cup]”.

After all of this, Sepp Blatter appeared at a solo press conference this afternoon.  He carried all the conviction of Comical Ali, during the Iraq War, when he suggested that football was not in crisis and went on to almost suggest that the style of media reporting was the only real issue affecting FIFA.  It was a shocking example of the head of a major organisation placing his head firmly, and ostrich like, in the sand.  In one weekend, FIFA have shown that the world’s favourite game is being thoroughly let down by its administrators.

FIFA have completely failed to respond to the allegations of impropriety and corruption.  They have utterly failed to consider proper reform of a system that places the power about which nation will host one of the world’s richest sporting events in the hands of a handful of individual.  They have shown little inclination to address a structure that results in a leadership that is completely out of touch with football supporters around the world, from the issue of corruption to the issue of goal line technology.  No real effort has been made to create any sense of transparency around the gilded, mysterious world of FIFA, its decision making and its Executive Committee.  In effect, Blatter has flipped the bird to his critics and hoped that would resolve his problems.

This is not a situation that can go on forever.  It is rapidly a situation that is becoming intolerable.  Football and football supporters deserve so much better than the rotten state of FIFA.  If action is not taken quickly to radically reform FIFA, then the individual Football Associations that really care about tackling corruption and giving good governance to the game should take the situation into their own hands.

FIFA is quickly becoming an organisation that is beyond redemption.  It is incumbent on people in the game to devise a programme of radical reform about how football is governed at an international level.

 

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