Can Norway Fjord to Make a Stand?

Great article by Håvard Melnæs in The Guardian asking if Norway will boycott the Qatar World Cup. Feels like there is a growing appetite to not just make a statement but not be complicit in a tournament that will take place in stadiums where thousands have needlessly lost their lives. What would have been it worth to Qatar to have proper health and safety and building standards? What would it have meant to them to have the World Cup in new stadiums that showcase the best of what people can do rather than the worst?

 

 

FIFA Manifesto

Good article from Owen Gibson on how to reform FIFA.

I'd like to see something about the safety standards used by construction companies to build the stadiums and infrastructure for a World Cup. What's happening in Qatar must never be allowed to happen again. Why not require safety standards that meet, say, the International Code Council. or the country where FIFA is based (I imagine Switzerland has developed safety standards). If bidding countries can't meet them then they get ruled out. It doesn't have to be any harder than that.

As Owen Gibson mentions, the FIFA footprint should be a force for good given the focus it brings to a host nation and not leave behind unfinished roads and stadiums that merely burden the residents when the show leaves town.

As for the World Cup bidding process I'd like to see the event rotate through the FIFA confederations so that it's not perceived as favouring or neglecting any one zone. Each confederation can then plan how to bid better, whether to host in one nation or to share it as it was in Japan/South Korea 2002. Imagine a Caribbean World Cup.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, FIFA President

During the recent FIFA presidential election I was reminded of Smiley in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy where he unravels the way by which Karla has placed a mole at the heart of Britain's secret intelligence service.

Others have described the plot better than I can but what Smiley calls the 'last clever knot' that is turning the Circus inside out is where the brilliance of the story lies. British Intelligence seems convinced that it is getting valuable intelligence from a Russian with nothing of any significance going in the other direction. Cleverly, the seemingly helpful Russian based in London is in fact enabling Karla's contact with his mole who is giving secrets ('the crown jewels').

Back to football. With so many associations voting for Sepp Blatter in the FIFA presidential election I wondered what kind of 'clever knot' might be at work here that is turning FIFA inside out. FIFA investment in grassroots football in developing countries and World Cups in Japan/South Korea and South Africa have made Blatter a popular figure outside Europe and I can see that these countries might feel some loyalty even though these things would surely have happened anyway. But what are we missing? Is the relationship as simple as that? Using the template of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is the apparent fortune to non-European football associations been a smokescreen for something else?  I feel there is more to this 'knotty' problem than meets the eye.




Recommended reading:
John le Carré’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1974)

Alice in Wonderland and other stories

Good to hear David Bernstein add his views to the current controversy about FIFA, telling BBC Sport "Fifa is sort of a totalitarian set-up. Bits of it remind me of the old Soviet empire. People don’t speak out and if they do they get quashed. The choosing of Qatar was clearly one of the most ludicrous decisions in the history of sport. You might as well have chosen Iceland in the winter. It was like an Alice in Wonderland sort of decision".

Is there something of the Hatter about Sepp Blatter? Or is he more like the Cheshire Cat, slowly disappearing from view leaving only his grin and a load of unanswered questions about how FIFA really operate? I can't help thinking of the Eddie Barzoon character in The Devil's Advocate, the man who Kevin Lomax sees in the basement frantically burning incriminating files, which then begs the question, who would get to play Blatter's boss in the film of his life?

Back of the net!

Great to see Gary Lineker's comments today on FIFA calling into question the propriety of the Qatar bid and conduct of FIFA officials.  

‘Fifa makes me sick and Blatter runs it like a dictator’ he said in an interview with GQ magazine. Nice to hear a forthright opinion from an internationally respected player. A player who was never booked, Golden Boot winner in 1986, England's greatest goalscorer after Sir Bobby Charlton, and part of the magnificent 1990 side that narrowly missed the final by the width of a goalpost (yep, it still hurts).

Eric Cantona has also made his opinions on FIFA known and made excellent documentaries like 'Looking for Rio'. It's odd that honest people who know and care about the game passionately have to be on the sidelines watching it being eaten from the inside. As Greavsie might say, it's a funny old game.

Reality bites

I question the fairness of a four month ban for Luis Suarez and am perplexed at the the overreaction to the incident. Kicking lumps out of each other is one thing but is biting lumps so off the scale that it merits such a long ban? While Suarez finally admitted that something happened and apologised the severity of the ban still seems unjust. Even Chiellini thought that the ban was too harsh.

Twenty years ago in the 1994 World Cup in USA Leonardo elbowed Tab Ramos and got a four match ban. That seemed about right, it was an ugly incident, dealt with promptly and left at that.

The four-month ban seems to be a knee-jerk reaction, more a case of FIFA wanting to manage the incident with attention grabbing headlines and show how importantly it holds the values of the game by issuing a severe penalty.

I don't think a lesser ban would mean that the event was taken less seriously. Players bring all kinds of issues on to the pitch some of which lead to violent conduct. Long bans won't stop this happening and whatever happens next, it's certainly something to chew on.

John Oliver on FIFA

John Oliver goes through some of the issues with FIFA running the World Cup in Brazil, in a funny way, and admits he feels conflicted in still being excited about the World Cup despite the many issues that appall us.

It's true that the love and fascination of the World Cup is ingrained within us from an early age, the exotic magic of the competition. Mexico 86 was the first tournament I properly enjoyed from start to final with that handball, the Group of Death, the Group of Sleep, the goals, the almost goals (Lineker in that match, again), the heroic performances, the upsets, the drama, the elation and the point where the dream wilts and dies in the blazing sun. It almost dazzles us to the point where any questions about running the tournament become forgotten amongst the spectacle.


Does this mean the issues aren't really important? Like lifting the Brazilian ban on beer in stadiums that has happened despite public health opposition. Well, Brazil must have thought the issue was important enough to introduce the ban in the first place. And in terms of ethics it is not up to FIFA to change host nations' ways of running a football match. In terms of fairness the benefits of changing the law won't accrue to Brazil and in terms of accountability if there are problems will FIFA be lobbying the Brazilian authorities to claim its share of responsibility?