As the English public battled with record inches of snow falling, icy roads and sub-zero temperatures leaving some people stranded miles away from home, they were not the only ones feeling frustrated as England`s bid to bring the World Cup 2018 back to these shores was also frozen out.
Sepp Blatter, the FIFA president announced that Russia and Qatar had won the bidding war to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cup events respectively. Except it wasn’t a respectful victory, and it certainly was a bidding war. FIFA`s voting strategy was found to have more holes in it than a piece of Swiss cheese as the results were revealed in Zurich and the England committee smelt a rat.
It was no surprise to see the television cameras zoom in on Roman Abramovich, smiling like a Cheshire cat with Abramovich being the main benefactor behind the Russian bid. Sepp Blatter may not have been smiling but inside he would have been as happy as Larry as he continued his legacy of taking the World Cup to new avenues like South Korea, South Africa, Brazil and now Russia and Qatar.
England had been promised votes that would have ensured them at least getting past the first round. However when their backs were turned, the knives were out and so were England. England received one solitary vote, believed to be from Japan.
England had the best stadiums, transport links, hotels, as well as the best technical and commercial bid but yet still lost miserably. 15 million pounds were spent on a campaign lasting 30 months along with millions of air miles covered to promote our bid, to create the awareness of how the country who gave football to the world, wanted it back.
I`m sure that Russia at least will put on a good show and that FIFA will be justified in giving them the greatest sporting showcase on Earth. The bigger picture however is how England received only one vote. The BBC programme Panorama was broadcasted on Monday night and accused some FIFA delegates of taking bribes over a ten year period from 1989 to 1999. These FIFA delegates had England`s bid in their hands were to vote three days later.
Jack Warner, one of the accused delegates, promised that the programme highlighting corruption would not have an effect on their votes. In my opinion, he was telling the truth. In my opinion, the deal had already been sealed. The honour of hosting the World Cup had not been earned; it had been sold to the highest bidder.
The World Cup 2018 had been sold to Russia just like a bottle of Vodka. A country so bothered about hosting the event that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin didn’t even turn up. Perhaps because it’s a country run by the mafia, a domestic league that attracts average attendances of 13,000 and a country whose fans parade banners with racist messages about their own players. Maybe Abramovich and his roubles had something to do with it.
The World Cup 2022 was sold to Qatar, a country where drinking alcohol in public is banned, a country with day temperatures of 104 degrees which could lead to the event being hosted in January. I wonder what the Premier League bigwigs would make of that. A country where kissing in public can result in jail, a country which has one football stadium, with the rest needing to be built with air conditioning. Could it be that Blatter is taking the World Cup indoors?
In what I believe was the correct decision, journalism was put before politics and the programme was broadcasted. It didn’t cost us the chance to host the World Cup, we didn`t win but we can hold our heads up high knowing we could not have done anymore and that hopefully a full investigation will take place.
Panorama`s investigative journalist Andrew Jennings said these secret documents were delivered from a `trusted source’. I don’t disagree with him. In my opinion though, on one hand some would argue that they fell into the wrong hands, I would suggest they fell into the intended hands of the BBC all along. This was a planned stunt and one which would put the final nail in England`s coffin. Which country`s media would be the only to broadcast allegations of corruption against FIFA members 3 days before the voting?
These documents were delivered from Russia with love.
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