Act of tyranny whitewashes World Cup probe
EVERY industry has an evil empire. College athletes bow to the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletics Association). Super PACs (political action committees) devour politics. Comcast complicates our technological needs. Gannett ruins newspapers. Reagan railed against an evil empire. Rage Against the Machine named an album after one. Darth Sidious oversaw another.
Soccer’s evil empire is an imperious, sinister and immune overlord sweeping from the Seychelles to St Lucia.
Fifa’s only allies are the ones stuffed with riches. Federation Internationale de Football Association sounds as sweet as Swiss chocolate; it goes down the gullet like shards of glass.
Fifa’s latest act of tyranny was a whitewash of Michael Garcia’s investigation into bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
Hans-Joachim Eckert, the chairman of the adjudicatory chamber of Fifa’s independent ethics committee, said the investigation had not yielded evidence of corruption and there would be no re-vote on awarding the tournaments to Qatar and Russia.
Garcia, a former US federal prosecutor, begged to differ, saying Eckert’s summation contained “numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations of the facts and conclusions detailed in the investigatory chamber’s report. I intend to appeal this decision to the Fifa Appeal Committee”. Good luck, Mr Garcia. You’re not at the Seventh Circuit anymore.
Nailing Fifa is more difficult than landing a space probe on a comet 500km from Earth. Think about it: Sepp Blatter is more elusive than a rock travelling 136 795km/h.
This is the way it is. If Fifa wants the 2026 World Cup played in Antarctica, the 2026 World Cup will be played in Antarctica. Penguins, be damned. Nothing will stop Fifa. Nothing will slow it down. Evil empires work that way. Through brute force and alternate reality, Fifa will do as it pleases.
Russia will host the World Cup in 2018, by which time Vladimir Putin will have expanded his borders. Qatar will host the World Cup in 2022 – in the winter instead of summer, with no regard for European club seasons, massive TV contracts, mistreated migrant workers or spectators’ sweat glands. The Women’s World Cup will not be played on grass in Canada next summer because Fifa says so.
When the dust from Garcia’s report settles, a few executives may get the boot or have to return their party favours, but Fifa’s rotten fundamentals will remain intact.
The British press and American fans can huff and puff all they want. The Fifa way will always win out. It’s as predictable as last Friday’s Euro qualifier between Germany and Gibraltar.
Americans, with a growing appetite for soccer, are angry and disappointed the World Cup is not coming to the US in 2022. Chin up, friends. The World Cup will, one day, return. Not in 2022, but someday. The profit margin is too great for it not to be played here again. Fifa will praise US stadiums and infrastructure, but what the organisation covets are the sponsorships and ticket-sales records, set by the US in 1994.
Frankly, there is no rush to bring the World Cup back to these shores. It was here just 20 years ago. Heck, stoppage time in Manchester United matches under Sir Alex Ferguson was longer.
Brazil had to wait 64 years. Argentina last hosted in 1978, Spain in 1982. England hasn’t welcomed the world since 1966. Australia and China are awaiting their first turn.
As long as Americans have disposable income for travel (re: South Africa in 2010, Brazil this summer), wide-screen TVs and neighbourhood watering holes, the World Cup will never fall out of reach.
Are there ways to effect change in Fifa? Protests and boycotts will not accomplish it. The World Cup is, by far, the most pop- ular sporting event the planet has ever seen and there is no shortage of followers, only expanding markets in Asia.
Even if, say, England, Germany and the US took a moral stand and sat out the next World Cup, the show would go on.
Unlike the Olympics, soccer is not dependent on a few elite nations to hold interest. And soccer fans in countries with an insatiable passion for the game – almost every last nation has caught the bug – will not support such drastic acts.
Perhaps the one party with leverage are the sponsors. We’re looking at you, Adidas, Coca-Cola, Hyundai, Sony and Visa. Surely, other global brands would leap at the opportunity to align with the World Cup and fill the void, not to mention the pockets of Fifa.
But the threat of a shakeup would, at the very least, grab Fifa’s attention.
From the spectators’ perspective, Fifa’s ruinous ways are beyond control. So what is a fan of the beautiful game to do? Enjoy the beauty: the elegance of Lionel Messi, the grace of Cristiano Ronaldo, the power of Germany, the inspiration of Costa Rica and the excellence of the American women’s team.
Separate the game from the sport. Because while Fifa may hold dominion over the sport, the game will forever belong to the people. – Bloomberg-Washington Post