Most weeks, when I sit down to write my blog, the subject
presents itself quite nicely. This week however I have been staring at a blank
screen and wondering what on earth to write about, because the story that has
dominated the news is that of the circus
surrounding world football's governing body, Fifa and its president, Sepp
Blatter, and regular readers may recall that I vented my spleen on that subject
back in November (Sblatter! Are FIFA Beyond Parody?). There has been so much in the papers, on the
internet, on radio and television about the arrests of Fifa executives last
week and the re-election of Sepp Blatter as president of the organisation and
his subsequent shock resignation a few days later, that there would seem to be
little that I can add to the sum of knowledge on the subject, however as I have remarked before, ignorance is no
obstacle to having an opinion, so here goes.
This whole saga has thrown up some issues that go beyond the
specifics of the alleged bribery and corruption and the morally dubious award
of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, including the perception of Blatter and Fifa that
we have in the West as opposed to that held in other parts of the world. Both
Sepp Blatter and Qatar Foreign Minister Khaled al-Attiyah have said that the
attack on that country's right to host the 2022 World Cup is "racist"
and once the racist card is played, it is often difficult to refute. But is it
racist to condemn the manner in which the stadia are being built in Qatar?
Migrant workers have had their passports withheld, are unable to return home
without paying for exit visas and many Nepalese workers have been unable to go
home to bury their relatives who have died in the recent earthquakes.
Can we really gloss over the fact that in 2014 Nepalese
migrants working on construction of the stadiums and infrastructure died at a
rate of one every two days? According to The Guardian newspaper that figure excludes deaths of Indian, Sri Lankan
and Bangladeshi workers, "raising fears that if fatalities among all
migrants were taken into account the toll would almost certainly be more than
one a day." The Washington Post estimates that 4,000 workers will die by
the time the project to build the stadia is complete. Not since the
construction of Britain's railways in the 1880s and 1890s when workers died at
a rate of nearly 500 a year can there have been a construction project with
such a high mortality rate. Yet the reason Qatar's fitness to host the competition
is being debated is because of alleged kick-backs and whether the competition
should be moved to winter to avoid the blistering heat, not the fact that there
could be as many as 50 deaths for each game that will be played in the finals. Is human life really so cheap that we can
afford to ignore these deaths? Last
week, Fifa's sponsors, Coca Cola, McDonalds, Adidas, Budweiser et al were concerned about the
reputational damage they might suffer by association with alleged corruption
within the organisation; they seem to be much more relaxed about being associated
with a competition that, by the time it takes place, will been responsible for many thousands of deaths.
Before Sepp Blatter fell on his sword and resigned (or was
he pushed? Rumours of a "smoking gun" have been mentioned), he had
been blathering on about the support that he had from the world game, and in
Europe many people would have been scratching their heads and wondering how he
could be so deluded, except that Blatter did command a lot of support. Support
from the Asian and African nations whose profile he had raised by increasing
the number of places available to them at World Cup Final tournaments, nations
whose Football Associations have benefited from Fifa's money to support and
develop grassroots football in their countries. How much of that money went
where it was intended is moot.
Some people have questioned the role of the United States in
the arrests of Fifa officials and the potential investigation of Sepp Blatter
himself. Just recently Blatter was pontificating on the fact that Fifa is not
accountable to any other authority but for those who question the United
States' jurisdiction in this matter, remember that if you use email or transact
in US Dollars, the US will hold you accountable for any wrongdoing. Virtually
every email sent anywhere in the world will at some point pass through or be
stored on a server in the US; every time you transact in US Dollars (even if
your transaction does not got to or originate from the US) your payment will
pass through New York. By dint of these two facts the US have jurisdiction. To
have any chance of avoiding the long arm of American law enforcement, don't
correspond by email and don't use their currency. As with every person in a
position of power, Blatter and his associates became to believe themselves
fireproof, Teflon coated, able to act with impunity, until along came someone
with greater power.
It is said that "power tends to corrupt, and absolute power
corrupts absolutely,"[1]
and this is entirely apposite to the
whole Fifa scandal (or scandals, because goodness alone knows what is to come);
absolute power creates a cloak of invulnerability and self deception. The
statement last week by FIFA’s director
of communications, Walter De Gregorio, that the arrests were actually “a good
thing” showing that the organization is on “the right track," was a
delusional piece of doublespeak worthy of Orwell and typical of the fantasy that
all large organisations create in themselves that they can do no wrong and that
any criticism, any prosecution even, is either a wholly unjustified attack, or
as in this case an actual vindication of their methods.
While many have welcomed the US investigation and some
people have positively rejoiced at Blatter's resignation, including FA chairman
Greg Dyke (who is scarcely above criticism for some of his boneheaded plans to
"improve" the game in England), it would be as well to inject a note
of caution until the proposed reforms of Fifa are published and a successor to
Blatter is elected. Nothing has changed yet and there is no guarantee that
whatever change comes about will be to everyone's taste. Bowing to the
inevitable, Blatter said "Fifa needs profound restructuring," but
words are cheap, changing the culture of an organisation the size and diversity
of Fifa, where dubious practices appear to have become the norm will be an
immense challenge.
[1] John
Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, first Baron Acton (1834–1902), historian and
moralist, who was otherwise known simply as Lord Acton said it originally.
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