FA Humiliation at FIFA

[Southern Toon]

The thing I find most staggering about that Grondona remark is that this is the first time we've heard about it.

Why would the FA not have said something a) at the time, since that made it clear the issue was not being decided on footballing/bid grounds or b) immediately after the vote.

In both cases it would paint him in a very bad light, maybe get him thrown out (yeah, ok that's dreaming a bit).

What else is there we don't know about?

It came from the daily telegraph
Fifa congress and presidential election: live - Telegraph

 

[eastlondonseagull]

Interesting article - I'd heard about the 1966 conspiracies before (did you know that the England v Portugal semi-final was supposed to be played at Goodison Park, until Rous intervened?), but for me misses the point.

The point (or one of the points) Vickery seems to be making is that the main reason these latest FIFA revelations cut so little ice with other footballing nations is because the English are perceived to have had a kind of historical attitude of football colonialism, looking down on others, setting the rules to suit themselves etc. Therefore, goes the subsequent thought, who are the English to complain?

However, my point is, does it matter who is complaining - as long as someone highlights this FIFA behaviour? And so what if it is the English? What does that change?

If, for example, the German FA can get its teeth into the story, maybe others well pay attention.

Fascinating article on Sports Illustrated. Never knew about the 1974 incident - shocking!

 

[eastlondonseagull]

10.55: Senior Fifa vice-president Julio Grondona of Argentina, 81 and an executive committee fixture for years, has taken the floor and launched a direct attack on England, accusing them and the media of peddling "lies".

He demanded that England "leave the Fifa family alone" and hinted that the privileged seat on Fifa's executive committee reserved for the Home Nations could be lost.

“We always have attacks from England which are mostly lies with the support of journalism which is more busy lying than telling the truth, this upsets and disturbs the Fifa family," he said.

"I felt it myself, that to present such a project as David Bernstein presented this is like shooting a penalty, because it cannot be always from the same place that the insults and problems come from. I don’t understand how this works I have been in this for so many years I see it at every congress.

“It looks like England is always complaining so please I say will you leave the Fifa family alone, and when you speak, speak with truth.”

And speaking to a German news agency he went further...

He describes the English as "pirates", said he asked the 2018 World Cup bid to hand back the Falklands before he would consider voting for them. Diplomatic incident ahoy...

"Yes, I voted for Qatar, because a vote for the US [who were beaten by Qatar in the race to host the 2022 finals] would be like a vote for England. And that is not possible," the Argentine said.

He described the English as "pirates" and said that he had never asked for anything for his vote. "But with the English 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."

What an utter cock.

 

[Horsham Gull]

BBC Sport - Sepp Blatter wins re-election as president of Fifa Blatter voted back in

 

[perseus]

In the early 1970s, Blatter was elected president of the World Society of Friends of Suspenders, an organisation which tried to stop women replacing suspender belts with pantyhose.

Maybe we ought to have a female Stalking Horse? i.e. a Nightmare.

 

[Triggaaar]

I like that Blatter only needed 1 vote to win

 

[Questions]

We'll have to disagree on that one, I think the FA has the moral authority over FIFA every time. They have to answer for what they do (or don't do) to the likes of us.

I'm not here to defend all their actions, they get it spectacularly wrong sometimes. But to take your example above, what would you have done/who would you have sent? Beckham worked for the Olympics. Those people knew we could lose, but were prepared to risk making fools of themselves to get us the World Cup. As it turned out, a sackful of roubles would have worked better, but they were naively in denial about that at the time.

Please direct us to the Russian bribery report. I haven`t read it yet.

 

[Questions]

Based on the amount of money generated for UEFA/FIFA funds? Don't think so. Time to hit them in the only place they understand or care about - their pockets.

The only money Fifa make is from selling the World cups basically.Nothing we can do will make any difference financially. Only the big companies such as Coca-Cola and the like can dent their income.

 

[Gritt23]

I was just thinking that the most he could hurt Blatter if he wanted to, was to try to get him not elected, but it's probably too late for that.

I thought that at first, but the reality is he would then have withdrawn from the election and vanished. But NOW, he's must stand there and deal with the outpourings of scandals, be the man at the head of potentially a crumbling organisation, with his only means of escape being a shameful resignation, which is virtually an admission of guilt. By winning the election he could now be faced with death by a thousand scandals.

 

[perseus]

Reminds me of Gordon Brown. Cannot see the wood for the trees.

 

[DT Withdean]

We are just 1 of 200.

Just because we have the history and monied PL, why should the other 199 care?

If the FA took a strong stance throughout, that would make Fleet Street happy, but be meaningless as the rest of the world laughed at our inconsequential voice.

Corrupt we all know. Just hope one day that some honest FA's join up to start up a rival organisation.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I can't be arsed to read all this thread but whilst I agree FIFA needs a total overhaul this latest sorry incident demonstrates what little grasp the English FA has of politics and the mechanics of organisations like FIFA. The FA should have first sought out and/or engendered some support for this stand off, and timed it better.

 

[Twinkle Toes]

I'm sick to the pit of my being by the immoral SCUM that run our game - & that includes the cretinous, self-satisfying WANKERS at the FA too.

Mega bag o' shite. And then some. :explodesinmassivefitofrage:

 

[vegster]

Interesting to see that Blatter only managed to garner 186 votes from a possible 203 in a one horse race.

 

[drew]

Best thing that can happen to world football is a plane carrying the whole rotten structure of FIFA, the FA etc were to have "engine difficulties" on route to one of their congresses; and start a fresh. Unfortunately I don't think there's a plane big enough. Besides, knowing my luck it would land on my house...

If the FA disappeared then the Premiership would assume total control and that would be even worse.

This shows how the corrupt members are attempting to silence those that are honest!!

Concacaf general secretary Chuck Blazer, who made bribery allegations against Fifa, appears to have survived an attempt to sack him.

Lisle Austin, the acting president of Concacaf, had sent Blazer a letter saying he was "terminated as general secretary with immediate effect".

But Concacaf's executive committee has said the sacking was "unauthorised".

You should have mentioned that Lisle Austin was acting in place of Jack Warner who had been suspended because of Chuck's allegations. Makes you wonder how suitable Austin is to be a president?

But it's not N.Africa (not best example given the subject is corruption!) it's an elected body e.g. democratic world organisation. Nobody else feels the same as we English, so either we're grossly out of touch, very naive or both? It would help if our own FA was consistently fair or had the nous to handle the required reform. But they don't. This is the body that built Wembley for just shy of a billion pounds remember!! I despise FIFA, but the FA are up there with the Premiership as a force for good outside the elite few!

You are mistaken if you think no one else feels the same. 17 voted for not proceeding and 17 abstained, which is as good as voting for a delay. That is not standing alone. In the actual election, 17 abstained again, including the FA. Would be interesting to find out who the 17 were.

I think you have to be a member of FIFA to play in a World Cup. There are 208 countries in it, who plays in the WC who aren't members ? If we organised ad-hoc games against others, I would guess we'd have to find our own refs too, they're all FIFA I think. I don't think leaving is a realistic proposition, despite the attractions of it. Change it from within is the only way.

We wouldn't be able to play ad hoc games. Fifa wouldn't allow any other country to play against us otherwise they would be suspended.

Quite simply why don't we quit FIFA, we don't want to be part of such a corrupt organisation, especially when we hold a lot of cards in that we house the biggest league in terms of revenue and viewers in the world and are still one of the biggest draws at international level.

If we left Fifa unilaterally then all Fifa would do is ban players from representing their countries if they play in England which wouldn't be recognised league. All the top players would leave and the best English players would be checking their geneology for overseas grandparents.

The World Cup managed quite happily without England in 1994, 1978 and 1974. We were not at the Euros in 2008 and it was a very enjoyable tournament from a fans' perspective.

More fans attended the WC from the USA last year than from England.

Wrong, England were in the those world cups but just didn't reach the finals.

I like that Blatter only needed 1 vote to win

He didn't, he needed a percentage much higher than that.

I suspect that there is a lot more political plays being made behind the scenes that we may only become aware of if there are developments. For example, if the 17 that voted include the main European associations then Uefa hold a strong hand. Whilst Platini would not relish being seen to support English allegations, he must have his own ambitions within Fifa and if Uefa were to walk away from the organisation then it is more likely that others would follow. Europe, whilst not perfect, is likely to be far less corrupt than Africa, South America and Asia where bribery and corruption are more readily accepted within most walks of life. The question is whether Platini has the balls and the support to make a move!

 

[Triggaaar]

We wouldn't be able to play ad hoc games. Fifa wouldn't allow any other country to play against us otherwise they would be suspended.

If we left Fifa unilaterally then all Fifa would do is ban players from representing their countries if they play in England which wouldn't be recognised league.

While I agree that FIFA would do those things if they could, would they not be illegal actions? Regardless, I don't think we should leave alone, we need others on side. My preference is still to put pressure on the sponsers, who would put pressure on FIFA.

He didn't, he needed a percentage much higher than that.

He needed 51% of the vote, but there were no other candidates and abstaining voided your vote and the percentage was worked out from votes actually cast.

 

[portlock seagull]

Based on the amount of money generated for UEFA/FIFA funds? Don't think so. Time to hit them in the only place they understand or care about - their pockets.

Perhaps, but how big an impact would that really have? That's based on the proviso that we would ever withdraw from FIFA. Which we won't because we're essentially on our own in terms of opinion. That much isn't in dispute after today's reaction to Bernstein's speech etc. The world of football would survive quite happily without us, in which case, we need a plan B! Or accept we need to make more friends, especially the powerful ones. I think todays lesson is that old adage in many ways e.g. if you can't beat 'em, join 'em! Sad as that may be. But with a multi-billion global enterprise comes inevitable corruption. And our FA, laundable as intentions might be, is stunningly naive in it's approach to this aspect of the world game would seem.

 

[brakespear]

Just in case anyone who is interested hasn't read it, this is a good book on the subject (well I liked it anyway ) :

Foul!: The Secret World of FIFA: Bribes, Vote Rigging and Ticket Scandals: Amazon.co.uk: Andrew Jennings: Books

 

[portlock seagull]

Just in case anyone who is interested hasn't read it, this is a good book on the subject (well I liked it anyway ) :

Foul!: The Secret World of FIFA: Bribes, Vote Rigging and Ticket Scandals: Amazon.co.uk: Andrew Jennings: Books

He's the BBC doc making guy isn't he who Blatter detests, right? Might be a 2nd or even 3rd edition coming out soon I guess!!

 

[brakespear]

He's the BBC doc making guy isn't he who Blatter detests, right? Might be a 2nd or even 3rd edition coming out soon I guess!!

He is - I know there was an abridged copy of the book given away with FourFourTwo recently, time would seem ripe for an update though