The name of Sepp Blatter, top man in FIFA, is most generally linked with his fetish about suspenders and women’s shorts, corruption, bribery, and the comments by a judge in the American courts that FIFA lies and lies and lies in its dealings with the outside world. You can get some of the background on the Wiki article about him.
But now Blatter has gone further, claiming in a BBC Radio interview that he has never heard of anyone who does not want international football to continue. Quite clearly the man has never had any consultation with Arsenal supporters.
Of course there are some Arsenal fans who like internationals – but many that I speak to at the games, and whose blogs I read through the week – clearly hate them. In particular they dislike the way players are used and return injured (often having played with an injury thus making it worse), miss out on club games to play for their country (particularly with African matches), and the way in which the flow of the football season is interrupted by the need to stop for internationals.
Quite often these international breaks then lead to players having to fly half way around the world to get back and try and play a third game in a week for their team.
And beyond all that there is the quality – or lack of it. Internationals are generally way below the standard of Arsenal – and who wants to watch second rate games?
Earlier this year Blatter had his chance to redeem himself slightly after he commented on the fierce attack on Eduardo, and he said he would look into the matter. But pressure from the equally corrupt FA made him retreat on that.
