Posted May 19, 201113 yr The Football Association's board has decided to abstain in the vote for the presidency of Fifa.Sepp Blatter, the current head of football's world governing body, is being challenged by Qatari Mohamed Bin Hammam, the president of the Asian Football Confederation. But the FA has chosen not to vote after allegations of corruption against Fifa in recent months. The presidency vote will take place on 1 June. In a statement, the FA said: "The FA board has today [Thursday] agreed to abstain in the vote of the presidency of Fifa. "There are a well-reported range of issues both recent and current which, in the view of the FA board, make it difficult to support either candidate. "The FA values its relationships with its international partners very highly. We are determined to play an active and influential role through our representation within both Uefa and Fifa. "We will continue to work hard to bring about any changes we think would benefit all of international football." Continue reading the main story Two Fifa executive committee (ExCo) members were suspended from voting in the bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups following allegations they had offered to sell their votes. More corruption claims concerning a further six ExCo members were made last week by former FA chairman Lord Triesman and the Sunday Times. While England won a meagre two votes in its bid to host the 2018 World Cup, Qatar was successful in its bid to stage the 2022 tournament but its team has been accused of paying bribes to win votes. Fifa has launched an investigation into the allegations but they have cast a shadow over both Blatter, 75, and Bin Hammam, 62. The latter was an influential figure in securing the 2022 World Cup for his country. Before the FA took its decision to abstain, Blatter had stated: "I think it is a little bit strange when the number one association in the world, i.e. the FA, have two candidates in front of them and cannot make a decision which one to support." Blatter, who is aiming for a fourth term as Fifa president, also stated that Fifa is to interview a whistleblower concerning the allegations made about the Qatar bid. "We have organised and the newspaper have agreed we will bring this whistleblower to Zurich and then we will have a discussion, an investigation," said Blatter. Asked if the decision to award the 2022 World Cup could be reversed if the bribery claims were found to be true, he answered: "This is an idea circulating already around the world which is alarming. "Don't ask me yes or no, let us go step by step." Blatter added: "We must know if the allegations are true or not true or unproven. If they are not true, then this case is over. "Then we will see which instrument will work. It is of paramount importance that we have this situation clarified on the 27th [May]. "The [Fifa] ethics committee is already alerted and alarmed - they are not just lying on the beach - and the members will come for the congress and can convene at very short notice." At last the FA make an official stand.
May 19, 201113 yr I must be losing my mind, but it almost seems like the FA has grown a pair of well sized gonads. Ferguson being banned, Rooney being banned etc. And now this. "Drop your trousers, FA and let me see them balls!"
May 19, 201113 yr Author I like this bit ..... Before the FA took its decision to abstain, Blatter had stated: "I think it is a little bit strange when the number one association in the world, i.e. the FA, have two candidates in front of them and cannot make a decision which one to support." And the FA come back with this..... "There are a well-reported range of issues both recent and current which, in the view of the FA board, make it difficult to support either candidate. Your move Blatter. Edited May 19, 201113 yr by coco
May 26, 201113 yr I think this is one bunch of useless w*nkers, moaning about a bunch of corrupt useless w*nkers.. now I hear this Qatar bloke who is running for the presidency is calling for Blatter to be investigated..... blah, blah, blah It is clearly corrupt or they would open up their finances and internal comms for audit, clearly something to hide All the main protagonists seem to be from massive footballing playing nations, like Qatar and Switzerland etc etc... the whole thing including our own FA and Uefa who are incompetent at best, needs a tearing down and starting again.
May 26, 201113 yr Wouldn't do any good really. Can start again as many times as you like, but it will always end up the same. People + Money + Power = Corruption
May 27, 201113 yr Olympics commitee is not perfect but far more transparent. A major overhaul would not make everything perfect, but would be vastly better than currently
May 27, 201113 yr looks like big trouble for Splatter and Co, bribery, corruption, bungs. Looking forward to seeing this unfold. I daresay it will come to nothing if they are investigating themselves.
May 29, 201113 yr Oh how I hope some of the bribes has "Barcelona" written all over them Wist the FAI grew enough gonads to quit post Henry-gate... still f**king sweet to see anyone give those scumbags the two fingers... Qatar my arse . As anglophobic as Irish politics can be at least we know ye're a proper footballing nation :P
May 29, 201113 yr Author FIFA have managed to upstage the match last night Bin Hamman has pulled out of the election for the FIFA presidency, leaving Blatter with NO competitors for the forthcoming ballott. His excuse is he "did not want to see Fifa's name "dragged more in the mud". So why leave it until 3 days before the election date ? Surely all the damage has already started to happen ? FIFA and it's members are treating us the football people/fans of this world with utter contempt. I'm expecting the Swiss Govt to kick FIFA out of their country very soon, it's already been talked about, the Swiss dont want to host such a corrupt organisation as FIFA in their country. Edited May 29, 201113 yr by coco
May 29, 201113 yr This is an absolute farce. The FA need to get in talks now with Spain, France, Italy, Germany etc. and get their support for a pull out. We need to make it clear that this absolutely cannot go on. Blatter getting an uncontested presidency? Him coming out as perfectly clean whilst everyone around him is neck deep in mud? Sorry, there are two possibilities: Blatter is as corrupt as the rest of them, Blatter is so utterly incompetent that he let this farce go on around him as president without knowing a thing about it. The Russian bid is passable but raises eyebrows. England's lack of votes despite having the best technical bid was appauling. However Qatar... Homosexuality is illegal there Alcohol is illegal outside of specific venues They have a population of just 300,000 (so much for spreading football to wide audiences) They have no stadia as it stands. They'll have no stadia after the tourny The games will be played in the middle of summer in the desert. They have lots and lots of money There's no way a non-corrupt process could end up choosing them.
June 17, 201113 yr I was bitterly disappointed that we did not win hosting rights. But I wouldn't have begrudged any of the other bidders the right to host the 2022 World Cup, USA, Japan and Korea all had decent bids and I might have actually considered flying all the way over there. Not to Qatar. There's no way am I going to the furnace of the Earth for any reason; and I'm sure many will not go in 2022. Absolute farce of a decision. The population is actually closer to 2 million, abigsmurf, but about 1.5 million of those are non-citizens, who could pack up and head home at any point in the remaining 11 years. And their national team and football "pedigree" are rubbish and will never qualify for a World Cup- unless they hosted it. And all this "victory for the Arab world" is complete cack, if they really wanted a Middle Eastern nation to host it they should have let Egypt host it, as they are probably the only Arab nation that are good at football. They will be the worst World Cup hosts ever. They'll lose all 3 of their games 3 or 4-0, unless FIFA rigs the draw and puts the 3 weakest teams in Group A along with Qatar. And here's another thing, the Lusail Iconic Stadium, where the final is to be held does not exist. A bigger problem, is that the entire city of Lusail does not exist- there's nothing but sand dunes where the city is supposed to be built. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lusail I applaud the FA for taking this decision, but ultimately it was pointless. Edited June 17, 201113 yr by Crystal Phallus
June 17, 201113 yr I was bitterly disappointed that we did not win hosting rights. But I wouldn't have begrudged any of the other bidders the right to host the 2022 World Cup, USA, Japan and Korea all had decent bids and I might have actually considered flying all the way over there. Not to Qatar. There's no way am I going to the furnace of the Earth for any reason; and I'm sure many will not go in 2022. Absolute farce of a decision. I didn't realise quite how hot it is in Qatar until just now - it's currently over 40 degrees (approaching 110 for our Fahrenheit using friends). Apparently they're going to have solar powered air conditioning in the stadia, though, which would probably make it bearable
June 17, 201113 yr How do they plan to air condition a stadium when FIFA does not allow covered stadiums for the world cup? And they can't air condition the whole country, what's going to happen when people leave the stadium to go to their accomodation? Edited June 17, 201113 yr by Crystal Phallus
June 17, 201113 yr How do they plan to air condition a stadium when FIFA does not allow covered stadiums for the world cup? And they can't air condition the whole country, what's going to happen when people leave the stadium to go to their accomodation? Pretty much all indoor areas have air conditioning already so that's not a problem. They appear to be getting around the open air stadium by leaving as little space exposed as possible (See here). As for the actual air conditioning method, I'm not entirely sure what the plan is, but they've said this: "Each of the five stadiums will harness the power of the suns rays to provide a cool environment for players and fans by converting solar energy into electricity that will then be used to cool both fans and players at the stadiums. When games are not taking place, the solar installations at the stadia will export energy onto the power grid. During matches, the stadia will draw energy from the grid. This is the basis for the stadiums’ carbon-neutrality. Along with the stadiums, we plan to make the cooling technologies we’ve developed available to other countries in hot climates, so that they too can host major sporting events." Apparently they're also going to put the same cooling technology (which can apparently cool from 50 degrees to 27 degrees) in fan areas and walk ways, so that everyone stays cool-ish
June 18, 201113 yr Author If Blatter wanted football to reach the four corners, why didnt he go to the big massive corner top right, the corner where 1-in-3 of the worlds population live, China. Now that would of been a worthy frontier for football to conquer, look at how they hosted 2008. By taking it to a country with a native population smaller than Birmingham, and thousands of miles away from the masses, dont expect the stadiums to be full, imagine the atmosphere, the only people that will turn up will be the super rich. Sure Fifa will razzle dazzle it all up, but it's not going to happen, it's not a passionate footballing nation. Think of the past world cups, England 66, Mexico 70, Germany 74, Argentina 78, Spain 82, Mexico 86, Italy 90, USA 94, France 98, Korea/Japan 02, Germany 06, all of those WC's have been passionate tournaments with loads of passionate fans creating the football stadium atmosphere, then we had South Africa last year, and you get a taster of Qatar, filling the stadiums up with locals that blow horns for 2 hours, the worst WC i can remember.
June 18, 201113 yr China would have been a decent choice. At least they have a semi decent football team, aren't half the size of Tasmania, and have a footballing culture and pedigree thats far greater than Qatar's.
June 18, 201113 yr China would have been a decent choice. At least they have a semi decent football team, aren't half the size of Tasmania, and have a footballing culture and pedigree thats far greater than Qatar's. Luxembourg have a footballing culture and pedigree that's far greater than that of Qatar. Tbe indigenous population of around half a million isn't that much lower It's a little smaller than Qatar, but with a far less hostile climate and modern religious bollocks-free legislation. Bordered by Belgium, France and Germany, it should be no problem to arrange to "borrow" stadiums in one or more of those countries.
