By Tony Attwood
“Ungracious in victory, disgraceful in defeat: Argentina attack Spain with kicks and punches” is a line from the Telegraph and from what I saw of the WC that seemed about right.
Of course we now put it all to bed for another couple of years when the prelims start again, and maybe by then we will have forgotten, but maybe the horrors of a bunch of people taking our players and doing what they want with them will still bring shudders.
For me, the great tragedy is that I was feeling so good before the WC with a daily feeling of celebration over that wonderful league title at the end of Arsenal’s 100th consecutive season in the top division. And now that feeling is intermingled with thoughts about that wretched WC competition, and even more wretched leader of the US and Fifa cosying up to each other. It really is all too depressing.
Fifa has been accused of deliberately and wantonly providing an “open door to fraud” along with allowing political influence to get inside the World Cup, to such a degree that its integrity cannot in future be guaranteed. And that is not some two-bit journalist like me saying such things. It came in a pronouncement from the Council of Europe’s secretary general. The integrity of the World Cup, he said, had been undermined by those in charge of running the show.
What is more, the denouncement, for such it was, was published in an open letter which was released in the immediate run-up to today’s final. Alain Berset who signed the letter, has also demanded a completely new framework which should be in place before the 2030 tournament. That competition is for the most part taking place in Europe, but he pointed out that Fifa had got itself so closely entangled in the issues of power and money that in effect nothing was safe.
So what we have is an enormous economic crisis and a power struggle and the tirelessly lurking shadow of the American president.
So Folarin Balogun gets special treatment. and Secretary General of the Council of Europe confirms that the WC raised question after question. For there is a difference between an outsider like Untold questioning how referees make their decisions, and Fifa doing the same thing. Especially when we now have betting on every pass.
As for the fact that Fifa signed an agreement nearly a decade ago about “human rights, integrity and good governance in sport” and then oversees an event in which the President of one of the participants can overrule a decision, it shows we are now all lost, especially when the partners of Fifa are gambling companies.
If there is any organisation that can do something about match fixing it is probably the Council of Europe. Whether they want to is another matter.
The European Parliament wrote to football associations which are within the EU and demanded to know what Infantino was up to. I am not sure that missive got anywhere near the President and even if he did, he probably simply said: “That doesn’t apply to me.”
When it comes to Trump, there is no code of ethics, so there is no point pretending. But maybe Fifa will leave that alone until he wants an involvement in the next World Cup.
A month ago, 50 members of the European parliament wrote to Infantino and Fifa asking for them to investigate how the Fifa Peace Prize was given to Trump. I am not sure there has been a reply.
Now what makes everything more complicated is that it is being reported that over 200 Fifa members have backed Infantino to be re-elected for a fourth term in office – exactly at the moment when he has been accused of a most serious breach of the rules imaginable.
Only one conclusion can be drawn – Fifa is broken, and the best thing that can be done to it is that it be given to Trump as a plaything. What we now need to do is make sure that Trump has not part to play in any of the constituent bodies like Uefa, and make sure also that he doesn’t have a way back in.
Because he everything he is involved in gets bent.
