Oceania boss an Australia 22 bid supporter

Australia must hope Oceania’s Reynald Temarii is cleared of any wrongdoing in FIFA’s attempted bribery scandal, if only because his vote on who hosts the 2022 World Cup is almost certainly Australia-bound.

Every vote is precious when just 13 are needed in Zurich on December 2 when FIFA’s 24-man executive committee decides the venues for both the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

Temarii has made it clear he supports Australia’s bid from the moment it was announced two years ago.

That stands to reason.

Australia was a member of Oceania until joining the Asian confederation in 2006, and still finances grassroots football programs in many countries across the South Pacific.

As much as any vote can be in the bag, his is regarded as the first Australia can count on.

That’s no more surprising than if Asian confederation boss, Qatari-born Mohammed Bin Hammam, voted for Qatar.

It’s worth stressing that no bidding country, not Australia or anyone else, has had anything to do with this row.

It involved undercover reporters from London’s Sunday Times posing as US businessmen trying to swing the 2018 World Cup America’s way.

Ironically, the US has just withdrawn its 2018 bid, like Australia before it, to concentrate on the 2022 contest against Australia, Qatar, Japan and South Korea.

But it was still in the race for 2018 at the time the reporters secretly filmed conversations with Temaraii and African FIFA member Amos Adamu.

The 2018 contest is now an all-European affair between England, Russia, Belgium/Netherlands and Portugal/Spain.

Temarii, 43, from Tahiti, made no specific vote-for-money promises but allegedly did raise the possibility of $2.8 million in funding for an academy in Auckland.

He also claimed that backers from two unnamed bidding nations had already offered millions of dollars to Oceania to swing his vote.

He has acknowledged he made a mistake talking with the undercover reporters but defended his own integrity.

Temarii asked FIFA president Sepp Blatter to launch an ethics investigation.

FIFA’s independent ethics panel is scheduled to discuss his case on Wednesday.

Adamu, 57, from Nigeria, reportedly sought $800,000 paid directly to him to fund artificial pitches in his country.

Another twist to the tale is that Adamu joined the FIFA executive committee as a replacement for Botswana’s Ismail Bhamjee, who resigned over a ticket scalping scandal at Germany’s World Cup in 2006.

Blatter has promised an in-depth investigation into the Sunday Times allegation, saying it has had “a very negative impact” on FIFA and its bidding process.

It certainly has.

But it is no reflection whatsoever on Australia’s bid, or America’s, or anyone else’s.