FFA take legal action over bid claims

This from world football insider A source close to Fairfax told INSIDER: "The newspaper believes this is a tactic to stall ongoing revelations about the ethics of Australia's bid and expenditure of taxpayers’ dollars. "Every article is based on FFA documents. Any court document discovery process would presumably yield plenty more of them." This would make sense I guess. Fairfax wouldnt print anymore allegations,regardless if they were true or not, due to this legal action.

The source of the material was an FFA insider. In the rush to insinuate AFL involvement this somewhat significant fact has been overlooked. Either a) they're an AFL plant; b) they're a disgruntled saboteur; or c) they're a whistleblower who genuinely believes the wrong thing has been done. Which do you think?

Excellent post Midfielder. Yes, not sure if Spiro is a Fairfax employee or not but he makes a living from them and makes regular contributions to Fairfax media. Not surprisingly as you point out, the other Fairfax writers are also right behind their Fairfax benefactors and their corrupt FFA story and contra FFA. Well spotted.

I did not equate monoplies "per se" with rent seeking. That's a figment of your fervid imagination All I did was equate that your definition of rent seeking can also be applied to FINA, FIBA and the IAAF. They are just like FIFA. World governing bodies of other sports who have to deal with competing bidders but on a smaller scale. Your passion/emotion is clouding your ability to objectively analyse my comments. Ciao.

Where's your evidence about two sets of books, Steve? Be careful. As a rugby league journalist you're just fanning the soccer stereo type fire aren't you and should be moderated. :)

It works both ways Spiro. First you publish things that may not be true to sell newspapers - there are plenty of anti-football folk in Melbourne that would buy it. Then when the FFA/Lowy feels they are unjustly accused sues the paper sells more newspapers. Then you say that he/the FFA's just doing that to put a stop to the press. What if Lowy and the FFA are right? If what the Age/Sydney Morning Herald published was false and it costs the FFA the 2022 WC - it costs Australia and the FFA billions in revenues. Certainly worth suing over. If the Age/SMH have any other evidence to prove they are right they are free to publish the truth - aren't they?

I'm not a free market ideologue, I'm aware that the market under-performs in certain areas e.g. R&D & UHC. Don't use a straw man, because I'll just knock it down so easily every time. Just because you don't understand something, doesn't mean you have to resort to such lame tactics. The reason why I brought up market structure is because you clearly seemed to think that monopoly = rent seeking, as evidenced by your following statement, "FINA, IAAF, FIBA – examples of sole providers – just like FIFA but different sports or in your words “rent seekers” I'll take my leave from this debate seeing as you are incapable of separating my criticisms of the administration of the game, from the game itself. Your passion/emotion is clouding your ability to objectively analyse the English language.

Should have made myself clearer, my apologies. The FIFA WC is a monopoly over Association Football (not sport in general), because there is no other Association Football WC and assoc. football is a unique product with no close substitutes (that's a compliment by the way). Similarly, the IOC has a monopoly over the elite grade of several sports contained within the Olympics. If the country's bid for the Olympics is not good enough, they the buyer, cannot go elsewhere to an 'other Olympics'. One could bid for the Athletics or Swimming Championships, but I firmly believe that the Olympics as a whole is greater than the sum of its constituent parts. As you can see, the IOC wields significant power as the price-maker of the Olympics, and is open to corruption. I went to the 2000 Olympics so I still support the Olympics, but I'm not so naive as to think that everything is above aboard when we bid for such sporting events. Just because I'm criticising the admin of the game, doesn't mean I'm 'sokkah bashing', you need to calm down and actually read what I wrote.

Every time someone mentions pearl necklaces I giggle. It has an entirely different meaning in a particular genre of the film industry.

No one is pretending anything. We sinply ask that you provide evidence before you make arguments in support of newspaper articles which have defamed football in this country and the governing body in particular.

The FFA does not bring an action it does not believe it can win. It is irrational to do so. You can verbal me all you want - but the AFL's actions speak louder than its words in respect of the World Cup. I line in Melbourne and an a long student of the media (both as a consumer and practitioner). I know a 'stich up' when I see one.

You're not annoying me in the least, Kurt. These threads would be a lot less entertaining without you and Redb and the unfortunately named Beaver Fever.

The timing and content of stories - in the middle of the World Cup and supporting directly the interests of the AFL, who are implacably (and understandably) opposed to our WC bid - has to raise questions as to the sources of the material and their motives. This is simply logical. To ignore the synergies would simply be foolish. I am not suggesting that the Age is involved necessarily. I am referring to the source of the information that the stories were based on. Which in no way lessens the fact that the accusations should be rigourously investigated, as they will be now in a court of law.

To be fair to Kurt I haven't been upset by any of his comments, they seem fair enough to me. I can see why he doesn't have full clearance yet.

Did they? Will the US now pull all troops out of Iraq and invade Zurich? Seriously guys, this is much ado about nothing. The Age printed a story, the FFA posted a refuting of claims, the Age didn't back down, the FFA sued. It's not an uncommon practice. But if Kurt and RedB are on AFL retainers, are the pro-football posters just doing it for love??

That's all very nice, Beast but it's the FFA that have filed suit, not FIFA.

I may be wrong, but I thought the FFA had already done that.

If Frank Lowy sued the press every time something "bad" was written about soccer, he'd never be outside a courtroom.

In other words Theo you have got nothing on them...otherwise you would have specifically listed their 'crimes'. Could it be you Theo that has the closed mind and just dont want the Aussies to win the bid? Guess what its too late the bid is in and the Aussies will win in December...perhaps when the WC is on in 2022 you can take a holiday?

It's easy to look the other way, pretend ignorance of real motives and call things by any name than what they really are, but it doesn't reflect well on your own character. The people to whom you refer have been implicated in corruption, fraud, drug trafficking and other scandals and are now pocketing our money for obvious reasons. They may very well have been on Interpol and FBI wanted lists at some point given their records. Even so, my disgust is not so much directed at these two, but at those that find it acceptable to deal with such people, which includes the FFA and the government. It's very obvious from your responses here that you are a zealot, are not willing to look at this issue objectively and are prepared to forgive any means to achieve an end.