Don't know about being so knowledgeable tc811 .
Football has been riddled with corruption for a long time back to the time of Il Duce fixing results in the 1934 World Cup, Hungary being denied in 1954 by some extremely off refereeing decisions in the final inc. Puskas's perfectly legitimate equalizer with full time approaching.
Brazil being kicked out of 1966 with Argentina then getting a German referee in their quarter final and Uruguay playing Germany getting an English referee.......
And Sir Stanley Rous though he used to be a headmaster at my old school here in Watford was a stick in the mud.
As with cricket under the MCC, rugby union under the IRB the administrators mainly from England I am disappointed to say had a rather parochial view of developing the sport globally.
Then we can go into 1978 with a military junta celebrating to 2002 with it's dubious refereeing allowing South Korea to get to the semi finals and so on and so forth.
They are completely incompetent in every respect from comments like Blatter's about women footballers to members like Grondona comments on Jews being unfit to referee to Warner's racist comments towards the English.
But they can do this because they are untouchable. The countries they come from are mired in corruption and a lack of transparency themselves.
They are children of such systems and see nothing wrong in what they do. And the problem is not just this generation but the next one because all the current incumbents are grooming their children who are middle aged by now to take over their spots in rubber stamp elections.
Bloater distributes bribes himself in the form of grants and aid to extremely poor associations and using the entirely equitable system of 1 vote 1 member maintain his grip on power.
His subordinates like Warner for instance then distribute this to their friend and use it as a weapon against their opponents. And because most of the world is entenched in corruption and lack of democracy witness the appalling horrors in Syria at present it reflects the world.
FIFA continually turns a blind eye to these places because their own members come from the ruling classes of such places.
And the system will continue because of the fortunes to be made associated with football. The gravy train of luxuries, world travel, free tickets and other salubrious gifts makes it a hotbed for taking bribes and gifts.
Who would want to give it up ?
The IOC was mired in corruption as well at one stage under the former fascist Samaranch which culminated in the scandal of Salt Lake City where the bribery was exposed by a vigilant media leading to the IOC being shown up for what it was a collective of old men out of touch with reality ,taking gifts in granting games to cities.
Being thoroughly discredited and embarassed reform was undertaken such as not allowing IOC members to visit bid cities who previosuly engaged in the nefarious practice of offering all sorts of riches to these people.
The same should and could happen to FIFA. However it is an organization even bigger than the IOC where vested self interest means that they will shut up shop as a bloc to all inquiries and demands they reform.
They are indeed more powerful as has been shown in South Africa thn sovereign governments forcing the RSA administration to pick up the costs , leave them in debt whilst creaming off the profits of sponsors no doubt some of which ends up in private bank accounts in Switzerland.
They can not even be investigated in Switzerland as a non profit making organzation another clever move from their former executive.
So they despite being grossly out of touch as with regards to technology in matches and a more equitable treatment of fans seem impervious to any criticism and pressure to change.
We saw it with Bloaters re-election. It was a farce almost reminiscent of a Politburo election yet Bloater lacked any embarassment or humility afterwards. It's as if it's business as usual.
Not that his opponent Bin Hammam is any better. What with journalists being arrested in Qatar, absolutely no doubt bribes were given , Grondona is alleged to have received some $4M in the Argentine press and so on it just shows the calibre of individuals within the organization.
And because of it's power people like Beckenbauer who might show more backbone in his role at the DFB make toadying comments towards Bloater.
And then you look at possible sucessors like Platini ? Also mired in the past in terms of technology, a new world calendar for the game and so on.
That they can get away with this is because of the intrinsic appeal of football. No matter who might be running it international events still would attract huge audiences and sponsors.
You do not need to be a genius to run the organization and make a financial sucess of it. Hence Bloater is secure in that aspect too and even more sickeningly wants to make even more money from events like the WC recently demanding that in countries where it is free to air people ought to pay per view.
The world's game ? Deny access to the millions of poor unfortunates who could not afford to watch ?
Fair Play, Respect are a hollow joke played on the masses of people who love the game while the real game is being played behing closed doors , in secret ballots and under the table deals.
The whole system needs reform with open transparent ballots, committee members being unable to visit host cities, an independent ethics committee to oversee abuses, an independent financial body to distribute the monies appropiately and not on the basis of favouritism in return for votes and many other recommendations.
Will it happen ? There may be a cosmetic move towards it until sponsors decide to withdraw as that is all that counts at FIFA.
Will sponsors do that ? The potential effect of withdrawing is probably more deleterious to them as no doubt some other sponsors would happily take their place.
Frankly I cannot see unless members spill the beans on each other which they have decided not to do in order to protect their cosy club, any real change occurring at all.
It will be the same people making the same decisions in perpetuity.
I have absolutely no doubt Qatar 2022 was bought and even Russia 2018 where rich oligarchs like Abramovich sucking the blood of ordinary Russians, no doubt offered gifts, stays in hotels and yachts, women and so forth and in the end they will benefit because the construction projects for infrastructure will be taken by companies they own.
Rarely do such events benefit the local people. We saw it in South Africa where townships were demolished and people have not been rehoused. street vendors arrested for selling non licensed FIFA products etc etc.
And the FA could breakway and be joined by the USSF , Australians perhaps Germany, the Scandinavians but beyond it ?
Brazil is run by the corrupt Teixeira, Argentina by Grondona. And they are big draws to the global audience.
We are stuck unless a miracle happens.
Like the poor Gracchi brothers.
