Worawi’s futile dribbling after final whistle
There is always a chance that the fall from grace of a fat cat, however controversial the person may have been, can evoke some mixed feelings.
However, the news of former Thai football chief Worawi Makudi being slapped with a five-year Fifa ban has largely generated sighs of relief in the country.
A Fifa anti-corruption court said on Tuesday Worawi was found guilty of forgery and falsification of documents and refusing to cooperate with investigators.
The man who had been a Fifa executive committee member for 18 years before losing his seat in May 2015 was also fined 10,000 Swiss francs (approximately 350,000 baht) by the adjudicatory chamber of Fifa’s ethics committee.
A Fifa statement said: “Due to the fact that Mr Makudi made alterations to the FAT statutes without the approval of the FAT congress, the adjudicatory chamber of the ethics committee found Mr Makudi guilty of forgery and falsification.”
As expected, the former Thai football strongman says he will challenge the verdict which has banished him from all national and international football activities with immediate effect.
But what national interest would the appeal serve?
Let us take a brief look at the key issues that culminated in Tuesday’s five-year ban, which many are seeing as the last nail in the coffin of Worawi’s career as a football administrator.
Worawi was put under the microscope in July last year after the Southern Bangkok Criminal Court convicted him of forgery ahead of the FAT presidential election in 2013 which he won.
Worawi, who began his reign as Thai football boss in 2007, was given a suspended 16-month jail sentence, and is appealing that ruling.
Worawi was first suspended by Fifa for 90 days in October last year for violating an ethics code of the sport’s governing body and it was followed by a 45-day extension.
Fifa then imposed another threemonth suspension, just weeks before February’s FAT presidential election, for not respecting the provisions of the original ban.
The three-month ban came after Worawi, who was suspended from all football-related activities, reportedly met FAT presidential candidate Charnwit Phalajivin, seen by many as Worawi’s proxy, at a restaurant.
Worawi was succeeded as head of the FAT by former police chief Somyot Poompunmuang who comfortably beat Charnwit in the polls.
An appeals court, looking into the earlier decision by the Southern Bangkok Criminal Court, is expected to announce its ruling next month.
Worawi is entitled to make an effort and clear his name and if the Thai appeals court’s is sympathetic to him in its verdict next month, he should be contented with that.
But once again, the most pertinent question at this moment is that what purpose this whole exercise of challenging past verdicts will serve?
The Thai national team, despite suffering four straight losses in their bid to qualify for the 2018 World Cup finals in Russia, have been showing encouraging signs.
The Thai League continues to be as popular as ever and the country is experiencing an improvement on all fronts.
And though it may not be to the liking of both Worawi and his supporters, all this is happening under a management full of novices, who have stumbled time and again but have still pushed ahead.
In short, the old administration has hardly been missed. Good or bad, the new set is there to run Thai football for more than three years so we might as well give it our support for the sake of the country.
Moreover, Worawi and his men would do themselves a great favour by learning from what happened at the FAT presidential polls in February this year and it would be better if they do so before making any drastic moves.
At the election, Somyot received 62 votes. His main rival, Charnwit, received only four votes with Bangkok FC chairman Natthaphong Teepsuwan claiming one.
How did this happen?
All those who once used to make extra efforts to satisfy Worawi’s whims jumped from his sinking ship and embraced the safe harbour offered by his opponents.
If it can once, there is a big chance that it may happen again. In a war there is always collateral damage. In this case it is quite possible that the biggest causality may turn out to be Thai football itself.