Sepp Blatter blathered on this week about how he once refused a bribe, that he could not refuse, but he returned the money or something like that. The whole saga is really quite tiring, seeing an elderly gentleman, struggle in a modern media world that he just does not understand, being made the fool.
One cannot really blame the old school ethics of the grandfatherly members of FIFA; that was the way of the world in their formative years, heck, in many places that is still how the world works. The real tragedy-stroke-crime of this ongoing finger pointing is that the organization has not made the required effort to rise above this base nature and be the beacon of light they aspire to be. Football in particular and sport in general, has the power to lift us up, out of the mire of our everyday existence and into the sublime. To strive for excellence is the aim of sport, through perseverance and justice to achieve one’s goals, to entertain onlookers and make the world a better place… for everyone.
And that is where FIFA has let the world down, if they truly desired to be a shining light in a world of darkness, they long ago should have realized the weakness of a comfortable man secure in his position and imposed limitations on their own power in the name of something better. Transparency, term limits, awards based on merit and completely equitable distribution of funds, as well as the usage of the building power of the game to assist struggling nations, as opposed to crippling them financially by feudal reverse taxation requirements, should be the method and the aim of the governing body of the world’s game.
On the other hand, these current backlashes from the decisions on the awarding of the next two big world tournaments do have an air of prejudice whirling around them. To paraphrase ‘How could these obscure places, deserve to host our game?’ Is this just a clever FIFA manufactured smoke screen designed to impact on the Western World’s sensitivities causing it to recoil from direct allegations, or is the current air of disillusionment valid?
Will this current charade lead to a better future? One can only hope.
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