FIFA dirty secrets

[Mr Diggles]

What do Russia and Qatar have in common that England do not?

Well, England has a free press with a tradition of investigative journalism, whilst Russia and Qatar... do not. Seeing as both countries will need to spend billions to create the infrastructure and have a tradition of kickbacks, bribes and pay offs, is it any surprise FIFA went with them? Theres a chance for the committee members to make ludicrous amounts of money in negotiating sub-contractor work, let alone in voting for the countries in the first place, and not have the local media crawling over every bit of money spent to ensure there is no corruption. FIFA committee members probably knew all their dealings would be laid bare and it would lambs to the slaughter. THis way, they can still make their money in the knowledge that the local kleptocracies will keep the media in check.

For the love of the game? Don't make me laugh. FIFA might be the most corrupt organisation in the world living under the delusional pretence of respectability.

I've thrown my copy of FIFA10 in the bin in protest. (not FIFA11 though, not finished playing it yet).

[john e]

how come holland/belgium got 4 votes in the first round by members voting for there first choice,
then in the second round when England were out they only polled 2 votes, and the two votes went straight to Russia,

hollland/belgium was never there first choice, they just voted tactically to get England out

its a fix, its there for all to see,

[MonsXI]

It's official the Beeb and the Sunday Times fucked it for England! Blatter made a 2 minute speech  just before the voting began about the English media!

If I was the FA i would get all members to boycott both organisations, MOTD should not have the contract renewed, the Times should not be allowed to use and photos of FA competitions or any access to the England team!

[damon loves JT]

Yes, those pesky journalists, exposing corruption. Bastards!

[Concrete John]

It's official the Beeb and the Sunday Times fucked it for England! Blatter made a 2 minute speech  just before the voting began about the English media!

If FIFA can't handle it's morality being questioned, then that in itself is a strong sign that they are corrupt.  The alternative would be us sweeping it under the carpet to play their game and even then I doubt we wouyld have got it anyway.

OK, we're not hosting the World Cup, but I think the moral victory of showing we wouldn't play their dirty little games is important.

[MonsXI]

Yes, those pesky journalists, exposing corruption. Bastards!

Couldn't the BEEB put the show out next week,month or year? As far as I can see FIFA is like some secret society if you smear one member you smear them all!

[peter w]

Thing is if the panorama thing had been aired aftyer the vote it would have appeared as sour grapes nothing more. And let's be honest we all - i think - believe FIFA to be corrupt. Also, you can't have a free press and then decide what we want them to say. We bang on about free specch in this country and use it as a stick to beat certain countries - usually islamic - when their sensibilities are crossed over cartoons, books etc and yet moan when we haven't won a vote on the back of it.

yeah, the journalism hurt our bid but what does that say about FIFA rather than us?

[Chris Harte]

OK, we're not hosting the World Cup, but I think the moral victory of showing we wouldn't play their dirty little games is important.

...even if the cost was a reported £50 million.

[Chris Harte]

If FIFA can't handle it's morality being questioned, then that in itself is a strong sign that they are corrupt. 

That's a fair point.

[Archbishop Herbert Cockthrottle]

I think we should enter every World Cup and then as a form of protest, perform abysmally, fail miserably and return home before the semi finals.

[Darth Villa]

It's official the Beeb and the Sunday Times fucked it for England! Blatter made a 2 minute speech  just before the voting began about the English media!

If FIFA can't handle it's morality being questioned, then that in itself is a strong sign that they are corrupt.  The alternative would be us sweeping it under the carpet to play their game and even then I doubt we wouyld have got it anyway.

OK, we're not hosting the World Cup, but I think the moral victory of showing we wouldn't play their dirty little games is important.

If I were a news editor right now I'd be unleashing my darkest hoards of investigative journo's at every fifa member and throw as much shit at them as possible.

[Concrete John]

OK, we're not hosting the World Cup, but I think the moral victory of showing we wouldn't play their dirty little games is important.

...even if the cost was a reported £50 million.

In a word, yes.

[Chris Harte]

OK, we're not hosting the World Cup, but I think the moral victory of showing we wouldn't play their dirty little games is important.

...even if the cost was a reported £50 million.

In a word, yes.

I think Darth Villa's idea above might be cheaper.

Who's picking up that £50 million tab, by the way?

[MonsXI]

Thing is if the panorama thing had been aired aftyer the vote it would have appeared as sour grapes nothing more. And let's be honest we all - i think - believe FIFA to be corrupt. Also, you can't have a free press and then decide what we want them to say. We bang on about free specch in this country and use it as a stick to beat certain countries - usually islamic - when their sensibilities are crossed over cartoons, books etc and yet moan when we haven't won a vote on the back of it.

yeah, the journalism hurt our bid but what does that say about FIFA rather than us?

Good points! Like you say we can't have free speech only when it suits, the journalists showed up FIFA to be corrupt and we can take the moral high ground but that hasn't/won't put the worlds best players in stadiums around in England in 2018.

Darth Villa: I agree the press should go all out now we've got nothing to lose!

[pauliewalnuts]

FIFA and the host selection in particular are corrupt as fuck, everyone knew that prior to us entering the bid process. Jack Warner hasn't recently become dodgy, he's been that way for years and years.

It's a bit pointless us (ie the establishment) getting indignant about it now, when we knew exactly what it was going to be like when we entered the bid process. If we felt that strongly about it, we should never have got involved.

It is one thing to suggest there is moral high ground  to be had by not playing dirty games, but surely the highest ground would have been had by not getting involved in it in the first place.

Moving away from that, though, there's also to consider the fact that until quite recently the bid itself was a disaster which was allowed to drift for a long time, before even the Lord Triesman kerfuffle. That probably didn't help, either.