England is Making Noise and they have every right to do so.
I am one of those who believe that the English press over hype and over-rate their country when it comes to matters pertaining to football. This weekend, all major sections of the British media were at it again, after losing the 2018 world cup bid and this time I think they have every right do so. Last Thursday, FIFA the game’s governing body, decided to award the right to host the 2018 World Cup to Russia in preference to bids by England and some other countries. As was to be expected this has led to recriminations from countries that didn’t get the nod of approval led by England. The politicians, the media and not to mention the country’s long-suffering fans are all bashing FIFA and its 22 man committee and why shouldn’t they.
Those in support of FIFA claim that the reason for rejecting England’s 2018 bid (and that of the US in 2022) was because FIFA wanted to take the game to countries that have never hosted the event. Fair enough. It is a plausible and just principle but the way in which it was executed smirks of favouritism and lends credence to those crying out ‘corruption’. If ‘being first time host’ was criteria to be used in determining the country that would host the world cup, FIFA should have stated it right from the beginning and that they will be doing this in the interest of spreading the game. That way countries like England, USA and others who have hosted before would not have wasted a lot of time and money putting bids together. Indeed competition between countries like Russia, Qatar, Australia etc would have been fair and any decision would most certainly not be questioned.
Trouble is that in FIFA we have the highest form of authoritarianism in the world, everything they do is shrouded in secrecy and chaos and cannot be questioned. Because they wittingly benefit from this chaos, they have refused to heed to any calls for reforms in the game both on and off the pitch. They continue to rule the game with an iron hand like a cartel of mafia, not answerable to any one. They cannot be questioned by players or fans and any government that dares question their actions legally will have its national team banned from all international events. They are simply untouchable. They exported this mentality to our banana republics, which has had a huge influence on the level of the game in most African countries. Almost all African governments withdrew their support from the game because they cannot continue putting money where they have no say.
This status quo cannot continue and for once, I agree with those suggesting secession from this monster called FIFA in its current form unless they are ready to reform. All it takes is three countries, Brazil – the most internationally recognised and supported national team, Spain – the country with the best league in the world and England – the best publicists of the game to break away and rest of us shall follow. There is something entirely wrong if more than a billion people support a game and only 22 people who have no direct mandate make decisions for us yet they are not answerable to any one, not the players, not us the fans and not our governments.
Those in support of FIFA claim that the reason for rejecting England’s 2018 bid (and that of the US in 2022) was because FIFA wanted to take the game to countries that have never hosted the event. Fair enough. It is a plausible and just principle but the way in which it was executed smirks of favouritism and lends credence to those crying out ‘corruption’. If ‘being first time host’ was criteria to be used in determining the country that would host the world cup, FIFA should have stated it right from the beginning and that they will be doing this in the interest of spreading the game. That way countries like England, USA and others who have hosted before would not have wasted a lot of time and money putting bids together. Indeed competition between countries like Russia, Qatar, Australia etc would have been fair and any decision would most certainly not be questioned.
Trouble is that in FIFA we have the highest form of authoritarianism in the world, everything they do is shrouded in secrecy and chaos and cannot be questioned. Because they wittingly benefit from this chaos, they have refused to heed to any calls for reforms in the game both on and off the pitch. They continue to rule the game with an iron hand like a cartel of mafia, not answerable to any one. They cannot be questioned by players or fans and any government that dares question their actions legally will have its national team banned from all international events. They are simply untouchable. They exported this mentality to our banana republics, which has had a huge influence on the level of the game in most African countries. Almost all African governments withdrew their support from the game because they cannot continue putting money where they have no say.
This status quo cannot continue and for once, I agree with those suggesting secession from this monster called FIFA in its current form unless they are ready to reform. All it takes is three countries, Brazil – the most internationally recognised and supported national team, Spain – the country with the best league in the world and England – the best publicists of the game to break away and rest of us shall follow. There is something entirely wrong if more than a billion people support a game and only 22 people who have no direct mandate make decisions for us yet they are not answerable to any one, not the players, not us the fans and not our governments.
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