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| Sepp Blatter & Rupert Murdoch (Image: Fifa.com) |
Coincidently, these arrests came two days before Fifa's Presidential Election polling day. There had been talk about these arrests happening due to heightened press speculation of bribery on the back of Qatar 2022 World Cup hosting bid. Now finally, police in the States acted the heroes in this latest soap opera twist.
Since 'Fifa' and 'corruption' were seen in the same sentence, Blatter has been at the centre of it. As President, it's really his primary duty to know everything his closest colleagues do and some feel that therefore, he should be held accounted for. When the arrests came to public knowledge, Blatter came out and defended his stance claiming he doesn't in fact know everything his closest colleagues do. However, as the FBI state, Fifa bribery and corruption has been going on for a colossal 24 years, well before Blatter won his first Presidential election in 1998. It is fair to say that Fifa is in a mess at the moment and with little responsibility taken by anyone, they will continue to be ridiculed by the global media.
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| Prince Ali bin Al-Hussain (Image: BBC) |
Naturally, there were backers of Blatter including a number of smaller African and Caribbean countries that get the sufficient investment and equal democratic voice to the larger nations - all thanks to the 79-year-old. Also, we heard Russia's President, Vladimir Putin, backing him as he knows how much revenue the World Cup can give a country. Russia are on the verge of genuine financial struggle due to their political troubles, already facing potentially crippling sanctions. They have seen Brazil gain $7.2billion worth of tax revenue as a result to last year's tournament and Putin wants a similar effect to his country's World Cup in 2018.
Football finds itself in a strange situation. A game on the field adored by billions and brings the global community together, but the latest off-the-field antics has put that in the backseat. With the latest Fifa arrests, resignations and boycott threats, where does this leave football as a sport?
This 'scandal' reminds me of the phone hacking scandal that hit the British press from ten years ago. The intercepting of phones by journalists from hugely popular tabloids brought the industry into disrepute. The public were angered by what happened and after late intervention from the government in 2012, saw main culprits of the crime, News of the World close its doors and their owner Rupert Murdoch, backed out on a chance to fully own BSkyB where he has a majority stake in the broadcasting giant anyway.
The phone hacking scandal is still talked about and certain personalities receiving damage pay-outs is ongoing with recently, the likes of Paul Gascoigne and Sadie Frost gaining six-figure sums after the Daily Mirror listened to their voice messages and wrote stories about what was discussed. The press industry is still recovering but their way of reporting is still very much on people's mind. The trust, if there was any, has certainly been lost by the majority, or angry minority - whichever way you look at it.
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| Recent anti-Fifa protest (Image: The Guardian) |
Comparing these two sagas, Sepp Blatter found himself in the same shoes as Rupert Murdoch who was at the centre of the phone hacking scandal so no doubt, in the shape of the FBI investigations, we'll see Blatter in a Leveson-like inquiry into football ethics. Now these arrests have taken place and the revelations we've discovered this past week is just the beginning of a global football shakeup. The main difference of course is that Blatter resigned and Murdoch is still at the heart of some of the world's leading media publications.
I am totally against bribery of any sort and I stand by the notion that match-fixing in football is the biggest hidden problem. But with this going on for 24 years, I am bewildered as to how no action was taken beforehand. There has been talk of it and particularly The Sunday Times highlighting unethical activity regarding Qatar 2022 bidding campaign and events prior but even they recognised problems in Fifa too late. I suppose now it's better late than never to take bold action.
However out of all the latest revelations, what bothered me the most were the boycott threats. For me, boycotting only fuels the issue. I feel if Uefa for example condemn the bribery claims, they could have consulted with other sub-Fifa continent board in Asia and America, and create a 'new Fifa' - a clean slate if you like. But that notion seems out of the question as without Fifa, they're insignificant.
Boycotting is simply a silly thing to do. It's like boycotting Sky because Murdoch is corrupt, RBS because of bankers bonuses, political activities because MPs are liars, petrol stations because oil companies are corrupt, Primark because of their mistreatment of workers in India. We are denying ourselves simple freedoms because people we're not likely to come across aren't clean. It is important to realise that there is a problem with any organisation or individual. Even if you think an 'ethical' organisation or individual is perfect, one of these days, they could be exposed in some shape or form. Let's find solutions rather than pointing fingers.
Nobody is perfect and while there is a catalogue of problems at Fifa, that isn't going to stop me from buying their official products or get excited over their future competitions in Russia and Qatar - if they'll ever take place there of course. With that in mind, again, let us focus on solutions rather than focusing on looking for issues. Sepp Blatter asking for his P45 may help but is there a guarantee that his successor is 'clean'? Time will only tell.
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