NFR - How did we let our game to be kidnapped

[Peabody]

Well, there we have it, there is no crisis in FIFA! I bet old Sir Stanley Rous is turning in his grave. Just how did we allow the likes of Sepp Blatter to hijack football? I am astounded that a major figure in world football blatantly get away with murder.

[finnster01]

Because of greed, Mr Peabody.

People have been greedy since the snake visited Adam and Eve

[Peabody]

Greed for power Finn. The men in suits are gradually killing our game, at all levels.

[Abbotsbury White]

The man is a law to himself,no one is brave enough to stand up to him,it's an absolute disgrace,FIFA= farce and should not be running football.
Apparently the Aussie Fa,not the richest league in the world spent 20 mill on their bid after they were told they were in with a good shout,we spent much more also after votes were promised that never materalised.
I wish our FA had the bottle to tell them to get stuffed I am sure other football associations would follow.

[finnster01]

Greed for power Finn. The men in suits are gradually killing our game, at all levels.

Agree. But the thick brown envelopes is a good vehicle to trigger it. I am embarrassed and quite frankly disgusted with how off the kilter it has all become.

And the sad thing is I am pretty sure if someone looked closely under the hood at the FA they would find quite a few skeletons in those cupboards as well but that is just my personal opinion.

Those money should end up at the kids and coaches doing it on their spare time, not Sir Trevor Brooking or his mates pockets or the overpaid players. The reason England is sh1t and will not win a world cup for at least another decade is exactly that.

[fulhamguy]

The man has too much power and loving it. Absolute farce.

Problem is we can't withdraw from FIFA, or we would have nobody to play...

[MJG]

I wish our FA had the bottle to tell them to get stuffed I am sure other football associations would follow.

100% agree, they should contact the top ten-twenty associations and look to pull out unless Sepp steps down, or even put our own man to step up and at least challenge for election.
I do think if england pulled out and said they were not going to take part in the next WC qualifying games and said the reason was The joke FIFA are, others may follow.
BUT as we all know the FA is so badly run anyway no one would have the guts to put this forward because in the end its all about MONEY, feck the fans.

[Peabody]

The English FA is not highly regarded by world football, they would love it if we withdrew. No, that is not the answer, because we need world football more than they need us.

[TonyGilroy]

The corruption problem isn't specifically at FIFA. It's endemic in too many of the national FAs that comprise FIFAs membership. The last thing they want is to clean up FIFA.

There's too big a money trough in football and plenty of room for all the snouts. 

   

[MJG]

I think if a few sponsors decided to ask some questions and pull money things will deffo change.

[jarv]

FIFA, like all football authorities, know they can get away with what they want. They know, no matter what, the fans will still pay a bucket load to watch football.Think about it, finals in Qatar, you are seriously kidding! :tom: My country, Scotland could have had a shot at winning back in the 70s if they had played at home. Seriously, they went undefeated in qualifiers for about 22 years at home. They had no chance, too SMALL, not enough grounds etc.  I think Scotand is a little bigger than Qatar.

Didn't see too many empty seats at Wembley, despite the cost, to watch an English team get humiliated.

Keep pushing the price up, they will still come. Personally, I have no interest in international football any more. Watched about 5 games in the last wc, all in the knock out stage.
I wouldn't watch Capello's England if they were playing in the local park.
Fulham, now that is a different story.

[nevzter]

As stated above, there's an absence of incentive to bring about any change, and an impotence to effect it, with the current FIFA system.  However, MJG made a good point: Coca-Cola and Adidas questioning (finally) the legitimacy of FIFA will be the only impetus to change...possibly if they threaten to pull sponsorships.  When all the pigs can't fit at a smaller trough we may see a different system...maybe. 099.gif

[HatterDon]

Mr. Peabody, Blatter reminds me of Avery Brundage -- who was a similar sort of dictator with the IOC.

One thing's for sure: the next head of FIFA won't be as untouchable. Even they have to be embarassed at all this.

[TheDaddy]

I was embrassed today watching that farce on SSN .The game i love being gragged into the gutter.Sepp you asked for respect a number of times during your speech on how your not going to do any thing. So with due respect resign sir .

[Rambling_Syd_Rumpo]

If we pulled out of FIFA,we would need the Germans(might come) the Yanks,the Aussies,the Belgians ( they might be little but they never run away from a scrap) maybe Holland and a couple more.FIFA would then be powerless and we could bin the boad and start again,it needs a rebuild from the ground up but it will never happen,when tiny countries (Luxembourg)have the same voting rights as Germany,the USA ect-too much power to give up.

[Burt]

I think if a few sponsors decided to ask some questions and pull money things will deffo change.

Was just hearing on the radio that CocaCola and Addidas, two of FIFAs biggest sponsors, have issued statements expressing concern about all the allegations.

[Rambling_Syd_Rumpo]

I think if a few sponsors decided to ask some questions and pull money things will deffo change.

Was just hearing on the radio that CocaCola and Addidas, two of FIFAs biggest sponsors, have issued statements expressing concern about all the allegations.

that is great news,the only thing these people respect is money 092.gif

[TonyGilroy]

I've often wondered what's in it for sponsors. For an unknown company the name recognition is invaluable but what more do the likes of Coca Cola etc need.

I'd love to follow the money trail of these big sponsorship deals and see where the money ends up. Of course if corruption allegations stick to FIFA then sponsors will go elsewhere but not necessarily to more honest sports.

On a slight diversion Qatar can't have bought the finals from corrupt FIFA because what they actually needed was the votes of independent FAs who had the votes - not FIFA.

If I offer to bribe you I'm corrupt but if you take the bribe so are you and I'd be stupid to try to bribe people I know to be honest.

The corruption is in the whole football pyramid.

[richie17]

I really recommend "Pitch invasion: adidas and the making of modern sport" by Barbara Smit.

The blurb:

Unlacing the story of how sport became so full of money. Today, sport is big business, and Adidas and Puma are two of the biggest global brands, paying stars, clubs and competitions to wear their label, dominating everywhere from football pitches to magazine pages. This is the incredible story of how the rivalry between two brothers turned sport into an industry. It all began in the 1920s, when Adi and Rudi Dassler started a shoe business in a small German town. It was an instant success, but soon personal rivalries began to pull the two brothers apart, and by the end of the Second World War it was outright warfare. Forced to split the company between them, Adi and Rudi not only split their family and their hometown, but went on to divide retailers, sportsmen and countries for the next five decades with their rival brands: Adidas and Puma. Charting the story of how these businesses revolutionized the world of sport - exploiting advertising, influencing fashions and following the money at every turn - "Pitch Invasion" also tells the tales of some of the greatest sportsmen of all time, revealing the Pele pact, Boris Becker's unfortunate contribution to the demise of Puma, and just how Adidas helped Mohammed Ali win his biggest fight. Reaching right up to today's world of multibillion-dollar corporations, looking at how the arrival of Nike affected the pitch and the significance of Adidas's recent takeover of Reebok, this is an incredible sporting drama of competition, greed, bribery, passion and shoes.


Andrew Jennings' "Foul!" is also good, if a bit muddled.  From David Goldblatt's review:

Jennings's account of Warner's football and business careers is one of innumerable tales of flagrant and disgraceful gravy-training. In Warner's case, this peaked in spring 2006 when it was revealed that his family travel agency was selling World Cup ticket packages out of the football association's allocation. Asked to explain, Warner announced that he had resigned from the board of the travel agency, as had his wife. Thus a conflict of interest, if there had every been one, no longer pertained.

This is conduct so laughable that it would not survive a moment's scrutiny in the most modestly democratic public sphere. That it can continue is testament to the brazen indifference of an elite that faces no opposition and little scrutiny. The sooner they do, the sooner they can be swept away.

[LBNo11]

...Blatter's response made him look even more shifty than before. There was no apology for letting the organisation that he runs become synonymous with corruption at all levels, there was no talk of doing the honourable thing and resign - not even a suggestion that the presidential re-election should be delayed pending the outcome of the allegations - after all, he himself was cleared of any dodgy dealings by his own ethics committee.

How did we let our game be kidnapped, greed, at all levels? by letting the sport be sky-jacked...