Some of you may remember that little rumpus back in May. You know the one — where the FBI indicted fourteen individuals, seven of them current FIFA serving members, on counts ranging from racketeering to money laundering. And within the shadow of the biggest corruption scandal ever to engulf football, Mr Sepp Blatter, the seemingly invincible President, won yet another term as figurehead of the organisation.
And now, Blatter has again taken to his soapbox, accusing England of a forty-year grudge against FIFA in an interview with a Swiss magazine. He claims this ‘envy’ against him and his governing body stems from Englishman Sir Stanley Rous being defeated in a 1974 Presidential election, and the perception from there on in that England lost their supremacy over the rest of world football. He also cheekily suggested that the recent own goal from England’s Laura Bassett which condemned her side to a last gasp World Cup semi-final defeat against Japan should be deemed his fault.
Poor Mr Blatter shows no sign of shaking off the delusions of grandeur that have become his trademark. So I would like to put a few points across to him and see if he can find that fiendishly difficult distorted line between reality and fantasy. Because I couldn’t care less about events of 1974, and although I think Bassett’s own goal was probably not his doing, I am still considering whether he had a hand in the collapse of the Greek economy, or, more importantly, that time in 1999 when I had a night out and lost my wallet in the back of a taxi cab.
Whilst there has been no suggestion that Mr Blatter himself has been one of those FIFA officials conducting illegal activities, as the head of his organisation and therefore its mouthpiece, the point is that he must take a lion’s share of responsibility for the dark events that have been so sensationally uncovered in recent months. He doesn’t have to have been implicated in the soiled and morally bankrupt shenanigans of those now under investigation — by association of his position, he is the custodian of those values so ridiculously jettisoned by his employees.
There is no English agenda, evidenced by the fact that at public events in Seoul and Frankfurt (2006), and the Confederations Cup in Brazil (2013), Blatter was roundly booed by crowds which led to no speeches at all being made at the 2014 World Cup to avoid controversy (not something, it has to be said, that has ever seemed to trouble the President in the past). I wonder how the man himself reconciles these incidents with his laughable perception of the anti-FIFA English agenda.
In any walk of life, a ‘democratically’ elected leader of any organisation should oversee term(s) in office with grace, dignity, transparency and goodwill. Blatter has made a habit of dropping offensive remarks with astounding regularity — my particular ‘favourite’ in terms of crass, unbelievably ill-advised soundbites was the one where he claimed acts of racism on a football field could be resolved with a simple handshake at the conclusion of the game. Or on reflection, perhaps it was the suggestion that women footballers should wear tighter shorts. Priceless.
Blatter’s reign has been well documented over many years and the startling point he misses is that there have been so many gaffes, so many own goals and so few examples of accountability that FIFA as the governing world body of football lost credibility many moons ago. There is the unshakable image that a figurehead who oversees such calamitous events without even considering stepping down is simply only interested in clinging on to every last ounce of power. Yes, it does now seem that Blatter has decided that his departure will be confirmed by next year (although there remains a large degree of scepticism at large) but is there any footballing nation who does not believe that FIFA is a corrupt, tainted organisation and has been for many years?
Football heads across all continents are convinced that wrongdoings by the world’s premier governing body have been frequent and almost the norm. The charges already levelled against the perpetrators and those yet to come out confirm this. This isn’t a mud slinging exercise: the reality is there for all to see. If Blatter really does believe that this is an English-led campaign, then perhaps his own comments become contradictory. Because if that were to be true, then clearly England do still have their own hold on World football — if indeed they have influenced those many nations who are disappointed and exhausted by the gloom surrounding the game.
Perhaps we shouldn’t get too upset or bothered by the anti-English sentiment. Because the game we gave to the world will survive long after those that have tarnished its reputation will. And as a realistic Englishman, I have no illusions that England’s prowess on the world stage disappeared long ago.
