FIFA: Dancing Shadows on the Wall of the Cave

    The current posturing of the major players in this FIFA soap opera is as captivating as the OJ trial was in its day. One cannot help but worry, that this drama is nothing more than it appears, an orchestrated show, designed to fool the populace once again as maneuvers are made to continue the good ship on its intended path.

    When Mohammed bin Hamann, the Qatari President of the Asian Federation, began his campaign on the promise of reform and transparency there was an air of mockery. The current storm was born out of the ashes of that 2-22 decision, and would it not be fitting of the dance that a key perpetrator behind that swindle cheekily waltzed out to offer us a “better” way. The two votes for the English bid for 2018, one from their own Ex-Co Member, appeared an intentional two-fingers-up at the British FA, the future King, David Beckham, the media, and the general public. It was a clear display of contempt for the haughty approach of “after all it is our game, old chap” and endless investigations conducted and to be conducted into the secret machinations of FIFA.

    Whenever the evil empire that oversees the World’s Game is involved, it effuses the distinct taste condescension for the public they are meant to serve; that they know better and are merely here to help the simple folk govern the simplest game. These stages of action and reaction: the debacle of two tournaments awarded in one voting, their peculiar destinations, bin Hamann running, Blazer calling out Jack and bin Hamann, Sepp being implicated in turn by the accused, the farce of a “press conference” where no questions were truly answered, suspensions issued or charges dismissed, the lawyers are brought in, only to be asked on what authority they are investigating by another set of lawyers, etcetera, etcetera, and round and round.

    The whole thing smacks of a grand theatre, to lure concerned consumers in, to entertain, annoy, disgust, and distract simultaneously while the real moves are being made out of the public eye. The magic of deception is an old trick, one that FIFA and her cronies know all too well. Fear that this is just another example of the public being had, tricked by the shadow and the flame, as the reality goes down just out of view.  

Perhaps this was just a touch too optimistic.