Reading the English press in the wake of their failed bid to host the World Cup 2018 tournament, you could be forgiven for believing the FA had lost out to FIFA in a longstanding war to remove corruption from the game. Sensationalist headlines, accusations of “treason” and “betrayal”, and a sense of outrage that England might not be everybody’s first choice for everything are the main themes of the day. England is now presenting a united front, and they’re (quite ridiculously) talking of revenge.
http://thefreekick.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/england_bid-300x205.jpg[/url]Owen Gibson, writing in the Guardian, has [url=“http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/dec/04/world-cup-2018-how-england-bid-failed”]a ridiculous piece under the very understated headline: “World Cup 2018: The men who betrayed England and why they did it.” The article cites the example of Jack Warner who “shook hands with Cameron, had his picture taken with Prince William, then promptly took his three votes to Russia.” The cheek of the man. That’s a future king we’re talking about. What’s the use in having colonies if the subjects won’t play ball?
Mr. Warner was not alone in his deceit. We’re told that Turkey’s Senes Erzik even shook hands with Geoff Thompson but that pledge was also broken. Chung Mong-joon, the Korean delegate, apparently sealed his pact over a whiskey with David Cameron but his “treachery” was switching his allegiances for “political gain” according to Gibson. The implication that a deal done with David Cameron wasn’t political at all is astonishingly myopic.
Paul Hayward is equally apoplectic in the same newspaper. He alleges Thompson was only on the committee to provide a “veneer of English representation.” There’s a real sense of entitlement about these statements: obviously England should have a representative because they’re England, and it’s particularly unfair for that representative to have only one vote. The blame for the failed bid is laid squarely at the door of the English media “who are oddly resistant to the idea they exist to conspire in the concealment of corruption.” England would not stand idly by and watch a corrupt process so they’re punished for speaking out.
The reality of course is that BBC produced an excellent investigation into corruption at FIFA but the bid team tried their best to suppress this sort of lunacy. David Cameron said the timing of the broadcast was “frustrating” and the bid team (including one Lord Coe who is also Chairman of FIFA’s Ethics Committee) issued an official statement describing the programme as “an embarrassment to the BBC.” David Conn was scathing of those tactics[/url] before the bid went so badly wrong, and has rightly [url=“http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2010/dec/02/world-cup-2018-fifa-england-bid”]pointed out since that the protests of corruption now are too late to carry any meaning.
The always under-stated Daily Mail joined the witch-hunt with characteristic gusto[/url] leading with the headline [i]The Guilty Men! FIFA Five Who Betrayed England Are Named.[/i] [url=“http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3260095/7-FIFA-Bigwigs-who-vowed-to-support-England-bid.html”]The Sun goes two better and opts for: “EXPOSED We Name the Seven FIFA Fat Cats Who Betrayed England’s Bid.The Mail suggests the FA should look at the £600,000 they spend on football development aid around the world. Richard Littlejohn was marvellously patriotic in his rhetorical question: “Was it really necessary for the heir to the throne to prostrate himself over breakfast before an 82-year-old Paraguayan crook?”
Other than the excellent David Conn in the Guardian the views of the English media are universal. They’re not terribly clear on why votes were promised to England in the first place but they’re all very sure that the switching of allegiances amounted to a serious betrayal and reeked of corruption. The latter may be true but it’s far too late in the day for England to distance themselves from an organisation they’ve spent the last couple of years buttering up for this purpose.
The real stars of the show in the reaction have been the England bid team themselves however. The acting FA Chairman has opted not to take the job on a permanent basis as a result of the “night of the long knives.” Andy Anson, the chief executive of England 2018 has really stolen the limelight with some terrific quotes. “It’s not the way I’m used to doing business, making promises to the future king of England and the Prime Minister and not keeping their word.” The righteous indignation at the maltreatment of the monarchy is such irrelevant nonsense for the rest of the world that you begin to understand why a bid from England’s elite might receive such pathetic support. When only 3 people bothered to obtain a copy of a book that cost £3m to produce tells you just how out of touch England’s bid team were. The fact that they’re cancelling a friendly in Thailand (arranged to drum up support for their bid in the first place) tells you just how shallow and conniving the English bid was too.
This wasn’t necessarily a positive outcome for the World Cup and there are serious questions to be asked of FIFA. The fact is that very few would have been asking those questions if the World Cup was heading to England.