A Discredited Republic

Given that FIFA get away with so much in general, I am enjoying it that at least Joseph Blatter (no matey ‘Sepp’ here) is squirming in his own ordure. It proves Socrates’ point (via Plato) that while good men will tend to unite around a noble cause, bad men will eventually fall out with each other, creating disorder.
The conniving and chicanery involved is astounding. It seems that to scupper Mohammed bin Hamman’s candidacy, Blatter got his ally, Chuck Blazer, to accuse bin Hamman and the latter’s ally, Jack Warner, of corruption, thus removing a serious threat to Blatter’s power. If so, it is a pyrrhic victory for although Blatter will now be, Soviet-style, the only candidate for the FIFA presidency, Warner knows where all the bodies are buried and is intent on blackmailing the (un)ethics committee into rescinding his suspension. Given the ethics committee lacklustre performance into FIFA governance (Committee: “Did you know of or were involved in any corruption.” Blatter: “No.” Committee: “Okay. Fine by us.” Five months earlier, replace Blatter with Spain/Portugal and Qatar), it is extraordinary that they did act against bin Hamman and Warner and Warner clearly feels the ethics committee is politically compromised. That they are the only source of 'authority' to which FIFA is accountable is akin to getting bent detectives to investigate criminal conspiracies.
Blatter runs as the candidate to clear up the mess in FIFA yet the Augean Stables are in such a state largely because of him. When the sponsors get jittery and FIFA Executive Committee members start slinging mud at each other, this is more than sour grapes from British journalists bitter over the failed 2018 bid. It is fascinating. It’s just a pity that the sclerotic and feeble FA is incapable of taking advantage to instigate reform. It needs to sort itself out before it can properly represent England on the world stage, which hopefully the parliamentary investigation going on will force upon it. Bleating about postponing the FIFA presidency election along with the Scottish FA (hardly a paradigm of efficiency) is the same as Lear raging at the wind with his fool. The trouble with taking a principled stand is that a lot of football associations around the world come from countries where corruption is endemic and those in high positions (such as head of a sports association) have got there by connections and nefarious means and the shenanigans at FIFA must come across as small beer. Also, they are fully aware that those in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.
Warner, though, isn’t prepared to take the humiliation being suspended lying down. An odious man at the best of times, I am loving his declaration of war against FIFA. The email about Jermome Valcke (a man convicted in an American court of being a compulsive liar as commercial director, stepping down for a year before being brought back by Blatter in an even more rarefied role as FIFA General Secretary) was alleging that Qatar had bought the 2022 bid, according to Warner is not even the start of the tsunami he is going to unleash on world football – such a sensitive person to choose such a word a few months after the devastation in Japan.
Another intriguing facet of FIFA is that they are all men. Maybe Blatter banned women from important positions because they wouldn’t wear tight-fitting tops and shorts.