- How long can a keeper hold on the ball for; and how many players missed the WC through injury?
- We don’t need Fifa = and the sooner they are thrown out, the better
By Tony Attwood
Gary Neville called Fifa “a dictatorship” when, as the Independent paper put it, no evidence was presented “after a failure to release a VAR replay used to decide a tight semi-automated offside call during Switzerland’s draw with Qatar.”
Replays suggested that there was an offside offence, but Fifa’s VAR let the decision stand, even though the replays used and the lines created by the automated offside system were not revealed to those in the stadium who had actually paid to be there and watch the game. Presumably, the feeling was that fans could not be trusted with such information. Or maybe they were still believing that all the empty seats at matches were only empty because all the fans were in the bars, and thus likely to be drunk. (There’s still be no apology for that comment).
Of course, it is good to see that ITV pundits can get annoyed with Fifa and its eternal “lack of transparency” as the broadcasters and increasing numbers of newspapers call it, (even though the media has come to the realisation that Fifa have no idea what they are doing, very late in the day). After all, everyone else in the football world has known that Fifa has no sense of the world that supporters (or come that these days, even TV journalists) live in.
The fact is that for Fifa, the world of football that they present is perfect and cannot and indeed must not be challenged. Empty seats? The supporters are all in the bars. Although, as Neville said, “Fifa are the host broadcaster, they’ve got the evidence of the semi-automatic decision that they can show us. Why are they not showing us? They did this in the last tournament. Fans are already distrustful of Fifa and technology to start with. There is a massive question mark over that because that is offside in my eyes until they prove me different.”
Certainly, the notion of fans disrupting Fifa is one that the media has hidden from for years and years, but now that it is out in the open, maybe we can start having a debate on this issue. Does anyone trust Fifa?
For if the clubs, and from them the national football associations, begin to realise the contempt in which many people hold Fifa, then ultimately some sort of reform might come to pass.
As things stand Fifa is a laughing stock, and the commentaries from its top man appear to be the remarks of someone who has both drunk too much and is living on another planet.
But we need to move on to the next step, which is to recognise that the power exists with the electorate – in this case the countries that are part of Fifa. If they can get together, note how useless Fifa are (simply reciting the quote about the stadia being 98% full should be enough) and then universally resign from Fifa), and at once things will start to move.
After the mass resignation, the 200+ countries that are members, everyone interested can get together, form their own new group (The International Football Federation, for example). They can elect their new officials, and start planning their own World Cup for four years time. Fifa will of course, claim this is illegal, and throw all the countries out, which then means no country has to pay dues to Fifa anymore, leaving its highly disreputable senior officials liable for the debts the current show has generated.
Now of course, we never like to be unfair about such things, so I guess we could give Fifa’s membership a few months’ notice and then start the new organisation. There’s no problem with that, but really all one has to do is to take the current official statements about grounds being 98% full, and compare them with reality, to show that at present those running Fifa are either a) blind b) liars, c) drunk or d) all three. Either way, surely it is time for them to be thrown out.
However, failure by the members of Fifa to act together now will show them for what they are: complicit in the Fifa show, and thus not to be trusted.
Of course, there is a possibility that Fifa’s top dogs, who have been drawing private fortunes in payments from the association for years, will refuse to step down. Fine, let them carry on with any countries that prefer to work with Fifa rather than a new democratic organisation that can see that a half-empty ground is not a full ground. Even I can see that, and my eyesight has been in decline for years.
