This Rotten FIFA...God Of Justice Finally Catches Up With FIFA!
It was bedlam all over the globe...
As news headlines the world over screamed...
"Sepp Blatter resigns barely 24 hours after re-election!"
"Eight senior FIFA executives including its Vice-President arrested by the FBI!"
"Another FIFA executive admits receiving bribes!"
"South Africa accused of paying $20 Million bribe to FIFA to secure hosting rights for 2010 World Cup!"
"Russia and Qatar alleged to have bribed FIFA executives to win as hosts of 2018 and 2022 World Cups!"
"Irish FA confirms receiving $5 Million from FIFA to stop litigation against Thiery Henry's hand-propelled referee-assisted goal!"
Sounds too good to be true! As rotten as it is... More like a pleasant dream you get irritated being roused from...as you promptly hop back into bed, close you eyes shut, hoping this blissful dream "movie" would "unpause" itself and roll its wondrous tape to the end!
Just as the Under-20 World Cup got under way in New Zealand and preparations get into top gear to commence the Senior Women World Cup!
And I was hoping and praying that match referees would just umpire the games and refrain....this time around...from being the main determinants of match scores!
You see, FIFA has always been corrupt. Its history has always been rife with "fixed" matches so much so that even Brazil was so nakedly cheated out of matches in those days before they found favour with FIFA.
"Daylight Robberies"...the euphemism affixed to such unparalleled perversion of justice.
Referees carried on in ways highly suggestive of playing out pre-match scripts...
The sheer impunity knew no bounds!
And grumblers were dealt harsh punishments for having the audacity to grumble!
No one was spared... Players. Coaches. Even national football associations!
We were told "referees are human and are bound to make mistakes" but this rotten FIFA refused to allow technology come to the aid of its referees!
Ever basking in unalloyed support of African and Asia nationals whose insistence that an "infusion of technology would take the shine out of the game" should lead you to doubt their paternity!
This putrid FIFA, by disallowing tech come to the aid of its "just human" referees was thus surreptitiously leaving loopholes for manipulation of match results by referees!
Such brazen match thefts...and such "human errors" were being committed against less-preferred teams, disfavoured nations, loathed continents and hated peoples of the world!
It came to be accepted as "an inevitable fact of life" that an Eastern European team may not win the European Nations Cup in the next 500 years! It may never even win it. The world cup is a no-go-area for African, Asian or East European nations!
It's got little to do with amounts invested or "standards"!
We recall the withdrawal of sponsorship of the Under-17 World Cup by Kodak because Nigeria won the maiden edition in 1985!
They were hoping that "big names" like Germany, Brazil or Argentina would win it...
And we recall the "exploits" of the match referee in that game between Nigeria and Germany!
Perhaps with this latest development, my interest in soccer may be rekindled...a game I also play and enjoy. They killed my love of the game!
These rotten bunch of rogues!
So, why bother inviting us to their "fixed" competitions...
...just to make up the numbers?
Dr. Tosin Akindele is a medical practitioner and public affairs analyst.