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What else could go wrong with Australia’s bid to host the World Cup finals in Australia? Firstly the controversy from the Australian Rules camp about how hosting a World Cup in Australia, and Melbourne in particular, was going to mean the end of an AFL season and a bitter end to all Melburnians way of life.
The FFA and “soccer” became public enemy number one in Aussie Rules mad Victoria.
This also created unwanted negative press around the world about the lack of suitable stadiums to host the event, particularly since the AFL weren’t prepared to share any of theirs with the FFA or the federal government.
FFA chairman Frank Lowy said he was just a few days away from withdrawing Australia’s World Cup bid completely, because the AFL were reluctant to come to the party.
Then we had the pearl necklace controversy about how FIFA delegates’ wives were bought expensive pearl necklaces and free travel to Australia and other gifts to try and influence their husbands to vote for Australia’s bid.
Associated with that was the claim that Australia paid well known FIFA lobbyists eight million dollars of Australian taxpayers money to help them influence other FIFA delegates.
The story also featured heavily in the Melbourne Age newspaper and some very nasty accusations were leveled at the FFA CEO Ben Buckley and FFA chairman Frank Lowy.
The FFA were subsequently cleared of any wrong doing, but the FFA has entered into lengthy and costly legal proceedings against the paper and is suing them for defamation.
Australia’s bid to host the 2022 World Cup finals and the FFA and FIFA’s integrity was rocked again last week by the cash-for-votes scandal. Football Federation Australia appears to have been cleared of any involvement.
Reeling again under the adverse publicity, FIFA announced its investigation into the scandal surrounding bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosting rights would now include two bidding nations suspected of trying to influence the outcome unduly, as well as the two senior FIFA members who were exposed by a sting orchestrated by London’s The Sunday Times.
Times undercover reporters, posing as lobbyists for a consortium of US private companies who wanted to secure the World Cup finals for the US, filmed Amos Adamu, the Nigerian president of the West African Football Union, allegedly negotiating a deal to receive $800,000 for his vote.
Tahiti’s Reynald Temarii, the president of the Oceania Football Confederation, was also recorded asking for a sports academy in exchange for a vote.
Temarii and Adamu have both agreed to appear before FIFA’s Ethics Committee.
Australia, along with the US, South Korea, Qatar and Japan, is bidding to host the 2022 finals while England, Russia and the combined bids of Spain-Portugal and Belgium-The Netherlands are chasing 2018.
Meanwhile, FIFA has said its ethics committee will also investigate allegations of collusion between various bid committees. The Sunday Times expose claimed at least two bidding nations tried to buy each others votes.
The latest development raises questions as to whether FIFA can stick to its timetable of holding the vote for the 2018 and 2022 host countries on December 2, just six weeks away now.
Some FIFA members are thought to favour a delay pending investigation, while others favour a quick resolution through the suspension or expulsion of Adamu and Temarii if the pair is found guilty.
Either way the Australian bid could not afford any more controversy or a substantial delay to the bid process or having the expense of going through the whole exercise again.
This time the FFA and Buckley and Lowy have kept their noses clean. Australia’s main competitors for 2022 – the USA and Qatar, seem to be taking more of the heat on the latest scandals.
That should help with our bid, but who knows what will happen with the revolving circus that is the World Cup host selection committee.
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