There was always another for this story and there may well be a few more the way things are going.
This one could easily have been titled "The Blat is Back"! Bit unsteady, hair ruffled, arse out of his pants and one shoe missing - but the Blat is Back! The age of the "family" is to hand. Worst possible outcome for Football.
The Blat continues with his delusionary commentary, comforted that he is re-elected unopposed as FIFA President. And unopposed is the key word. Where is the moral authority in that position?
After declaring that there was "Crisis. What is a crisis", The Blat has turned his attention to identifying the real source of his discomfort and with the assistance of some of the family, it seems its the English FA. Then this rapier like piece of analysis - water, weather, storms, pyramids and ships all combined to give him a serious pain in the posterior. Poor old bugger! Now its time for a good old "get square", Blatter style and straight from the the "Family". Even Henry Kissinger gets a mention - strewth! Groan again and again.
Anyone heard anything from the FFA? Suppose they sent a congratulations card - hope it was on recyled paper!
"I am the captain weathering the storm ... Not only is the pyramid shaking but our ship has drawn some water. We must do something because I do not want ever again that we face this undignified situation"
Sepp Blatter, Fifa president
The English FA Predisent had this to say (and he got it absolutely right):
On the election
"The election has turned into a one-horse race. Only with a contested election will the winner have ... a proper, credible mandate"
David Bernstein, FA chairman, England
There are lessons in all this for our local football orgniastions - Capital Football and the FFA. Fail to communicate effectively with the Clubs, be less consultative or collaborative than is necessary to run a diverse constituencey and we risk making our own little "family", a famil that does not include or listen to all that inhabit Football. The primacy of healthy Football communities and the "wisdom of crowds" around decision making is at the heart of a community football orgainsation. The FIFA debacle holds lots of lesson for us. For example:
- Capital Football Board is presently undertaking the development of a "strategic plan" which will lay down the way ahead for the development of Football in our region for several years. Has your club been invited to attend or provided input to this process, do the Regional reps particpate in this process in a substantive way (if not why not?), will there be a public forum(s) conducted by the CF Board (not the CEO) to aid the process and test ideas and subsequently take views on a draft? Seen any timetable and schedule of activites on the CF website that might give you a clue? Is their a hotline / point of contact you can ring ring, write to or email with submissions or points of view you would like considered in the Strategic Review process. Know who is facilitating the process? And so on.
- "Communication"- shine a light on the strategic planning process and do the hard work to get people and clubs engaged! If all the CF Board has is itself for advice, we will most likely get less than could have, had we looked more widely in our football community. Worst case - we kid ourselves that all is well and what we have done in the past is the answer for the future - you really are in trouble when you get to this position.
Have a read of this article - its a beauty.
Sepp Blatter allies dismiss Fifa corruption charges as 'English lies'FA's effort to delay vote sparks vitriolic attacks – but re-elected president promises reforms
David Conn in Zurich guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 1 June 2011 21.18 BST
Sepp Blatter, re-elected president of Fifa, admitted its image had been damaged and proposed a strengthened ethics committee.
After a series of corruption scandals which have beset football's governing body in recent months, Fifa's re-elected president, Sepp Blatter, promised to implement reforms, while arguing repeatedly that the "family" must address its governance problems from within.
Blatter admitted that great damage has been done to the organisation's image during four tumultuous days in Zurich. But that did not stop him from being overwhelmingly re-elected for a fourth term, his challenger, the Qatari Mohamed bin Hammam, having been suspended for alleged bribery.
Blatter's principal proposal is to have a strengthened ethics committee which will govern conduct internally, its members elected by the national football associations whose conduct it will police.
Later, Fifa's president announced a "grand committee of corporate governance and compliance" and a "committee of solutions".
At his victory press conference, Blatter announced that a key member of the new internal structure to clean up the governance of Fifa will be the former US secretary of state, Henry Kissinger. His precise role is as yet unclear.
He also pledged that the World Cup host country will be decided by the associations, 208 in total, not just the 24-man executive committee, a widening of influence portrayed as lessening the risk of corruption in the bidding process.
Following his unopposed victory in the ballot of the 205 national associations present at Fifa's 61st annual congress, in Zurich's Hallenstadion arena, Blatter told the delegates: "Reforms will be made, radical decisions. We must do something because I do not want ever again the institution of Fifa to face a situation which is undignified. Football belongs to everyone and we are the ones in charge. We will have four years."
A recurring theme in all Blatter's statements is that football's world governing body must remain immune from government influence, and keep control of the Fifa football "family".
In Switzerland, Fifa, and other sports governing bodies, enjoy historic exemptions from tax and immunity from anti-corruption treaties. This protected status is currently subject to an investigation by the Swiss government, expected to take three years.
The English Football Association's place in the family might now be characterised as errant, grumpy uncle, after its chairman, David Bernstein, failed with his call for the uncontested election to be postponed.
Bernstein had explained his reasons against the backdrop of scandals which have led to 10 of Fifa's 24-man executive committee being accused, suspended or investigated for alleged corruption.
"We are subject to universal criticism from governments, sponsors, media and the wider public," Bernstein said. "A coronation without an opponent provides a flawed mandate. I ask for a postponement for an additional candidate or candidates to stand in an open and fair process."
The FA's secretary-general, Alex Horne, said later he had been taken aback at the vitriolic attacks on England and the English media by delegates supportive of Blatter, before the vote which overwhelmingly approved the election to go ahead.
A series of speakers, the presidents of football associations in Haiti, Congo, Benin, Fiji and Cyprus, lined up immediately afterwards to support Blatter and, in increasing degrees, suggest the corruption affairs were an invention of the English media.
"What a beautiful English word, allegations," said Costakis Koutsokoumnis, president of Cyprus's FA.
Those criticisms were followed by a broader assault on England itself by the Argentinian Julio Grondona, a senior Fifa vice-president and long-term Blatter ally. "We always have attacks from England," Grondona said, "mostly with lies, and the support of a journalism which is more busy lying than telling the truth. Please leave the Fifa family alone!"
Despite accepting repeatedly the need to reform Fifa's governance and procedures from within, Blatter nevertheless also suggested that the scandals besetting Fifa emerged due to English jealousy, after England was not awarded the 2018 World Cup.
"Where does all this evil come from?" he asked. "It has to do with the popularity of our competition, the World Cup, and everything around the vote. That kicked off a wave of accusations, allegations, criticism."
This widely expressed view – that the wave of scandals was an invention of the English media – came as a shock after days in which the Fifa president had pledged "zero tolerance" against corruption.
The first revelations of impropriety at Fifa's top table came before December's World Cup vote, when two members of the executive committee, Amos Adamu of Nigeria and Reynald Temarii of Tahiti, were suspended. They asked an undercover Sunday Times reporter for cash in return for World Cup votes – and were suspended by Fifa itself, which found the story true and their behaviour improper.
Subsequent allegations against four others – Nicolás Leoz of Paraguay, Jack Warner of Trinidad and Tobago, Worawi Makudi of Thailand and Ricardo Teixeira of Brazil – were levelled by the former FA chairman, Lord Triesman, not by the media. Fifa claimed this week that an FA report into those allegations, by James Dingemans QC, completely cleared all four men of any issues worthy of consideration by its ethics committee.
The most recent and damaging scandal, the alleged payment of $40,000 (£25,000) bribes by Bin Hammam and Warner to 25 Caribbean member associations in return for votes for Bin Hammam, was exposed by Fifa itself, not the media. Chuck Blazer, an executive committee member, turned whistleblower against the two men, and gathered the evidence against them.
At the end of a day of attacks on the English, Geoff Thompson, a former FA chairman for eight years who is stepping down from Fifa's executive committee after serving since 2007, was handed a pennant as a memento. Not even referring to the remarks about the English, Thompson thanked Fifa's delegates for their "friendship, support and loyalty".
In his victory speech, Blatter, who has been president for 13 years and now for another four, told the delegates: "I am deeply touched, honoured, I thank you. Something marvellous has happened today in this unity."
And the chief administrators of football, the world's most popular team sport, rose to give the head of their "family" a standing ovation.
What they said
"With the English [2018] bid I said: 'Let us be brief. If you give back the Falkland Islands, which belong to us, you will get my vote.' They then became sad and left ... We always have attacks from England which are mostly lies. This upsets and disturbs the Fifa family"
Julio Grondona, Fifa senior vice-president, Argentina
"The problem of some comments in the paper came from some people who may have lost in the World Cup elections. They associated us with crimes we have not committed, they insult, they attack our freedom. It's enough"
Angel María Villar Llona, Fifa executive committee member, Spain
"What a beautiful English word: allegations. Somebody stands up, says a few things in the press, then these things take ... a seed in our minds, without most of the time, a single shred of truth"
Costakis Koutsokoumnis, FA president, Cyprus
"I am the captain weathering the storm ... Not only is the pyramid shaking but our ship has drawn some water. We must do something because I do not want ever again that we face this undignified situation"
Sepp Blatter, Fifa president
"I'm ill at ease that this comes from a country like England with its football standing ... We must massively express our support to President Blatter. Please applaud"
Moucharafou Anjorin, FA president, Benin
On the election
"The election has turned into a one-horse race. Only with a contested election will the winner have ... a proper, credible mandate"
David Bernstein, FA chairman, England
We need pathways for our elite players.
ReplyDelete