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| livederby.com |
“FIFA has provisionally suspended two members of the executive committee, Nigerian Amos Adamu and Tahitian Reynald Temarii, over allegations the pair were bribed to sell their votes for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup finals.
The duo was in the 24-member committee that would vote to decide the destination of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups on December 2 in Zurich
Temarii is accused of demanding around 1.5 million pounds from undercover journalists in order to build a sports academy, while Adamu was videotaped asking for around 500,000 pounds for a "personal project".
Four other officials who appeared in the undercover footage - Slim Aloulou, Amadou Diakite, Ahongalu Fusimalohi and Ismael Bhamjee - have also been suspended for 30 days on the same terms, the Guardian reports.” More …
It will be noted that Sepp Blatter, president of football’s governing body FIFA is “extremely distressed’ and has appeared on TV footage with a matching face. "I am extremely distressed, it's true," said Blatter in Essen
With great respect we should not buy it. We cannot buy his posture of shock and disappointment.
The reason is quite simple. The bad news should not come as any kind of shock to anyone.
Please contact any reputable criminologist or forensic auditor and you will be told that that any person or entity that is content to have systems that admit of, or permit fraud and corruption is already inherently corrupt, as matter of probability.
The fact of the matter is that football, and its administration, has been plagued with corruption, particularly “match-fixing” for a very long time now.
As regards match fixing, this has a very long history. See – “One of the earliest examples of this sort of match fixing in the modern era occurred in 1898 when Stoke City and Burnley intentionally drew in that year's final "test match" so as to ensure they were both in the First Division the next season.” More …
It is not as if concerns about possible “match fixing” at this particular World Cup had not been raised. See for instance – “Match fixing allegations hit Fifa World Cup in South Africa
See also this 2005 report – “FIFA has expressed its deep shock at the news that the German referee, Robert Hoyzer, has confirmed the veracity of match-fixing allegations levelled against him. The match official has admitted that the charges are in essence true” More ...
To this Blatter, in response stated - "Referees are guarantors for impartiality and fair play and for ensuring that matches are conducted impeccably. They therefore have greater moral and ethical responsibilities. FIFA is deeply concerned that a promising young referee has violated those requirements in the worst possible manner, as well as by the fact that his actions went undetected for so long."
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| Alessandra Tarantino |
That this was obvious became blindingly obvious during the last World Cup when several “game breaking” decisions were seen on TV by the whole world as being 100% wrong. This led to the World Cup being dubbed “the Home of Bad Decisions”.
The Tarantino picture shows clearly a goal scored by Frank Lampard in the German encounter. How was it disallowed by three officials? How did they rule that it had not crossed the line?
Long before the World Cup, simple video replay technology, now used in other sports like cricket, tennis and rugby, was available as an effective practical tool, to ensure that mistakes and corrupt decisions are prevented regarding “game breaking” decisions, i.e. ball crossing goal line, foul in penalty area, “hand of God goals … etc.
Sepp Blatter blocked its use! He blocked its use in the full knowledge that even honest officials will make mistakes and that the door was being left open for dishonest officials.
Long before the World Cup, simple video replay technology, now used in other sports like cricket, tennis and rugby, was available as an effective practical tool, to ensure that mistakes and corrupt decisions are prevented regarding “game breaking” decisions, i.e. ball crossing goal line, foul in penalty area, “hand of God goals … etc.
Sepp Blatter blocked its use! He blocked its use in the full knowledge that even honest officials will make mistakes and that the door was being left open for dishonest officials.
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| guardian.co.uk |
Speaking at the Soccerex conference in Dubai
He blocked it even though as early as 2005 he had complained that detection was a serious problem. WOW!
It matters not that Blatter may be innocent of corruption. What matters is that, under his stewardship, perfectly reasonable measures to prevent corruption were not being employed, let alone embedded.
Our criminologists will also confirm that once you have this situation, i.e., the deliberate passing up of measures that serve functional integrity, the culture of the relevant entity will blend and harmonize to the signal being given. People within the entity will not see it as being “risk averse”. They will not see, feel and live any commitment to functional integrity. In part, that is what is meant by the saying "the fish rots from the head". The subliminal message will be “… well just make sure you just don’t get caught”.
It is therefore not in the least bit surprising that one of Blatter’s team has confirmed, whilst being secretly taped, that the acceptance of bribes by his officials was par for the course. My criminologist friends and I say –“what else would you expect?”
It is also not at all surprising that we now have “Foul”, a book about shenanigans within FIFA –
“Andrew Jennings, the world's foremost investigative sports reporter, spent four years delving into the dark side of 'the beautiful game'. The result? This explosive and damning exposé of football's world governing body FIFA – a story of racketeering, bribe–taking, election–rigging, illicit trading, and dirty tricks.
No individual has managed to penetrate the sanctified domain of FIFA or to probe successfully into its often criticised yet unproven corruption of the world game... Until now.
Author Andrew Jennings will demonstrate how FIFA president, Sepp Blatter, and his army of supporters have misappropriated their positions at the head of the world game in their desire for power, control, and a lucrative payoff. How did these bizarre characters manage to take such control? Foul! has the story.” More …
What is also of relevance (and significance) is that this latest exposé was not effected by FIFA itself, but by an outside agency. This is not surprising, given the lack of a risk averse culture godfathered right from the top.
Sepp Blatter is the president of FIFA. The buck stops with him! Members of his team have been caught out in very serious corruption. They were not caught out by systems embedded under Blatter’s stewardship. It took an outside agency to expose his administration for what it was – inherently corrupt. That state of affairs was facilitated, at the very least, by his stance on preventable match fixing.
In terms of trite governance principles, Blatter is accountable
He must resign
2 comments:
His resignation is surely a given!
Helen,
Don't be so sure. It certainly should be a given. But the book "Foul", by Andrew Jennings,seems to make out a case that Blatter and gang are deeply entrenched.
The point is really a very simple one. The World must insist that it cannot have a president of such an important organization who is not risk averse and who is happy to live with "loop holes" that facilitate corruption.
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