England wins...nothing

Today England unfortunately did not win the right to host the 2018 World Cup. Rather predictably, some people are blaming the media, in particular the BBC for screening an episode of the documentary Panorama, in which they allege that three senior FIFA officials took bribes. The programme prompted some fierce criticism at the time, with the BBC being forced to defend itself against allegations from Andy Anson, the leader of England’s bid team, that the decision to air the programme was “unpatriotic”.

I fundamentally disagree with Anson’s assessment. I watched the Panorama documentary this evening and I would urge anyone with an interest in this story to view it, as it raises a lot of uncomfortable questions about FIFA’s conduct which I believe that they have refused to satisfactorily address. One accusation levelled against FIFA is that several key officials (who, incidentally, were being lobbied for their votes by David Cameron, David Beckham et.al. during the last few days) took large payments from ISL, a Swiss company which held media rights to the World Cup brand. In any other organisation such serious allegations would have been investigated, but FIFA has continually refused to do this, with FIFA president Sepp Blatter consistently refusing to satisfactorily answer any questions posed by journalists on the subject.

Other accusations involve Jack Warner, another FIFA official, who is alleged to have made a fortune through his company when it bought up large numbers of tickets for the 2006 World Cup Finals in Germany and then sold them on the black market to touts. After FIFA refused to investigate this at the time, he was sent a letter by them asking him to donate $1 million to charity to “compensate for the profits it had made through resale of 2006 FIFA World Cup tickets", effectively acknowledging that he had done wrong but refusing to do anything about it. The shocking thing about this is that he appears to have attempted to do it again, this time at this year’s World Cup in South Africa. The deal fell through, but yet again FIFA refused to investigate the claims. When the interviewer for Panorama attempted to question him about these allegations Mr Warner said he would “spit on him” and that he was “garbage”.

Potentially the most serious question however concerns demands that FIFA make to the host nations of the event. The Netherlands, who were vying with England to host the tournament in a joint bid with Belgium, published details of the demands FIFA made to them, even though FIFA stipulated that these should be kept secret. Among FIFA’s demands were requests for the Netherlands to waive visa restrictions on World Cup officials, lift standard employment regulations for World Cup staff and, most controversial of all, waive all tax requirements on the entire event, which would have cost the country’s taxpayers the sum of €300 million (just a shade under £250 million). These same requirements were put to all countries bidding for the World Cup, including England. The really shocking revelation raised in relation to this is that the England bid officials signed this documentation without it being raised or discussed in parliament; it seems that the ConDems are willing to cut spending on public services and transfer the financial burden of paying for these services to the taxpayer while also giving massive tax breaks to an organisation with a shabby record of investigating corruption allegations among its senior officials.

The media have every right to investigate corruption when they suspect that it is occurring, whatever the organisation. The allegations that Panorama has revealed concerning the FIFA officials are very serious and there certainly seems as though there is compelling evidence to suggest that they are not without foundation, or at the very least, are not being taken seriously by the FIFA hierarchy. For Andy Anson to call it "unpatriotic" of the BBC to broadcast their findings is quite fundamentally wrong; if bribery and corruption are taking place, the truth must be exposed and the perpetrators must be dealt with.

This is not to say that I am happy that Russia won the right to host the tournament. Given what I have learnt this evening regarding the allegations I am quite frankly unsurprised that the country with arguably the worst record among the bidding nations in terms of public accountability, freedom of speech and corruption was able to win the right to host. If Panorama’s allegations are founded then it would seem to be a match made in heaven, between a country where human rights are routinely disregarded and corruption runs rampant, and an organisation that would require a cleanup operation akin to Hercules’ cleansing of the Augean stables in order to make its operations transparent and accountable.

Don’t get me wrong, I think it would have been brilliant for the UK to host the World Cup. Sure it would have cost a lot of money and we probably wouldn’t have been able to afford it, or even cope with the sheer number of visitors (especially if there were freak weather conditions, given current events) but the benefits, like those of the London Olympics in 2012, would have been huge. I am very disappointed that we didn't get it. However I think that it now puts the UK in the perfect position to be able to join forces with other countries and make a concerted effort to hold FIFA to account and force them to properly investigate all of these claims. Then and only then can we ensure that football’s world governing body is free from any taint of corruption.

Andy Anson’s accusations are damaging because they have diverted public attention away from the real issue. It is in the interests of the public, both in the UK and the rest of the world, that the claims against FIFA are investigated and that, if any proof of wrongdoing is discovered, that FIFA officials are held to account in a court of law. I believe that the BBC were right to air the Panorama programme, as the media in the UK have the right to expose allegations of corruption in any organisation. Freedom of expression and equality before the law are respected human rights here. The world will now have a chance to look at Medvedev’s Russia and see that the same cannot be said to apply there.

Salix Babylonica

Welcome to my blog! I have finally taken the plunge and created this, as a place where I can empty the contents of my head and not have to store them on my laptop. I hope you gain some enjoyment from perusing my ramblings!

So why Salix Babylonica? The simple answer to that question would be because Blogger asked me for a name for this blog. As any writer will tell you, the name of any novel that they write is frequently the last thing that they think of; how can you possibly name something that doesn’t exist yet? Similarly (although I would never compare myself to a novelist), I haven’t written an entry into this blog yet, so I don’t really know how it will take shape or what it will contain. I intend to write about things that inspire me or that make me angry, as I find that these are the things that make me want to write.

This only partly answers the first question though. Salix Babylonica is the Latin genus of the Weeping Willow, a tree that I have always thought to be very beautiful. There was one growing on a playing field near the house where I grew up and I always used to walk past it with Mum when I was little. I always imagined that it would be a great place to hide because the branches swept down almost to the ground, and yet you could part them like a curtain and walk behind the natural screen that they created.

The name ‘Weeping Willow’ is also evocative. The alliteration of the words sounds harmonious (with the further repetition of the w at the end enhancing the effect) but also implies sadness and longing. It makes me think of memories, time past that, for whatever reason, seemed more idyllic and carefree than my grown-up life does now. That’s not to say that I am unhappy with my life now, such an assumption would be far from the truth; it’s just that sometimes I think I long for those simpler days of childhood. As this is a blog in which I would seek to retain my memories and impressions of things, I would like to think that the Weeping Willow is an appropriate metaphor for memories of all types.

The final point is something that I didn’t even realise until after I’d chosen the name. I looked up the Latin genus of Willow because I’d already had the idea of Weeping Willow in my mind but didn’t know what its Latin genus was before today. Salix has more than a passing resemblance to my own first name (Alex), and it therefore seems curiously apposite that I chose such a word to represent the work that I intend to create in future. I hope that you enjoy reading it as much as I intend to enjoy writing it!

(Incidentally, the Babylonica part doesn’t particularly signify anything to me on its own; I merely thought that the combination of the two words was euphonic.)