Defiant Blatter wins FIFA vote

I'm quite certain the FFA knew what they were doing was paying a bribe. Everyone has known for a very long time that working with FIFA requires copious amounts of bribes, favors and even extortion. So the FFA, led by its own fairly clever business man in Frank Lowy, clearly were just trying to "play by the FIFA rules".

Similarly, we have to wonder what our FFA reps were thinking when they handed the notoriouis Jack Warner $500,000 in taxpayer money. What exactly did they think was going to happen with that money? That it would be distributed to charities throughout the Caribbean? Was it excused on the basis that it was only a very small bribe, and therefore acceptable?

Business illiterate? That's quite cute coming from a man who thinks the FIFA "democracy" should be viewed as analogous to a shareholder structure. Let me tell you something Fuss, in the business world, if an investigation led to the arrests of all the senior executives around the CEO and uncovered a multi-decade culture of corruption, do you think that company's CEO would last? FIFA operates in a fantasy land that bares no resemblance to any truly public company in the business world or genuinely democratic countries. Sepp is much more akin to a character like Rupert Murdoch - he maintains the facade of an open and accountable system, but in reality he's just a corrupt little despot.

Ah Fuss, ever the defender of passing the buck. I thought it was put well by one of the British journos well yesterday when he asked Septic Blather how it could reflect anything other than being complicit or grossly incompetent given the amount of time involved. It was a funny presser to be honest - Blather reminded me of comical Aly during the Iraq War with his utterly delusional nonsense.

Thanks for the link Albatross The quote below is probably the most insightful thing I have read in the last two days Well-meaning people often think that on our menu is both a more inclusive and less corrupt society. But unfortunately, our choices in real life are more likely to be either a more inclusive and less unequal society with greater corruption, or an autocratic, elite-run society with less corruption simply because those in power are already rich and powerful enough. The situation is the same with FIFA: dirty devolution of power or (seemingly) clean oligarchy.

Sepp Blatter winning the vote simply goes to show how screwed up the whole of FIFA actually is. One has to wonder what compels the countries to still vote for Blatter after all that has happened.

Sleek and Midfielder talking sense as always.

It sure does.

"Most African, Asian & South American countries.....And Europe & North America" Haha. That rules out planet earth then. Other than (white....as the driven snow) Australia of course! Haha

Sheek Was not specifically aimed at you however today or maybe always the good work of many is over looked when discussing the bad ..... FIFA has 100's of millions of people doing good things and operating under a conceptual framework they have developed pertaining to many parts of the game.... Further unlike say cricket and I dare say Rugby where large nations and money over rule smaller nations .... in this regard FIFA are actually a beacon of good practice in treating the issue and having both the money and courage to favour a pacific island nation over a football power house... This is what irks and saddens people like me .... so good at some levels and so corrupt at others .... However I think the registered player numbers are over 380 million with 90 million women in that figure... over 30 million teams and 3 million clubs... that takes some organisational ability and determination... Just as I said so sad when greed and arguably past practice has a few people very corrupt ... The above also explains why the smaller nations like Blatter ... he backs them if they need it and pours a lot of FIFA money into building their resources ...

@Danny You are 100% correct. But, I'm afraid you're making too much sense & your comments will go over the heads of the business-illiterate people who come to this forum.

I think you could have added Oceania and our own country to the list sheek. Fair competition doesnt mean anything here, look at the coles woolies monopoly. We are one of the lamest country on the planet when it comes to fairness and we the people turn a blind eye on pretty much everything as we are overall 'happy'. At least in some other countries they pretend tl care, they demonstrate or fight for causes. We don't. Am afraid we arent in a position to give any lesson to anyone, in football or other matters when it comes to power and greed.

This comment sounds like it's from a Fuss sock puppet... All you jokers who keep going on about how "this is just how the world works" never have anything constructive to contribute. All you do is deflect the crimes of those you support.

I think it's likely a combination of both - I think he is actually going a bit batty, but is rotten to the core all the same.

'twas ever thus: I remember how in the first World Cup I watched live (on TV, obviously), in 1966, in England, Stanley Rous, then the president of FIFA, single-handedly decided to change the venue of the semi-final match between England and Portugal 24 hours before it was to be played. England did not want to move away from Wembley. As simple as that. That’s the way FIFA was ruled in its uncorrupt incarnation. read more here: http://linkis.com/blogspot.com.au/zBSxs

Middie, True, I should have separated the bad people of FIFA from the good people of FIFA. And FIFA itself is an entity, not human. But it is of course, driven by humans. But you're absolutely right, FIFA is not all bad. With respect to Blatter, even if he himself is free of corruption, it defies belief he was totally unaware of any wrongdoing on his watch. Sure, he can't be over everything, but he should be over most things. I't s easy to ignore these things while the cash register is ka-ching-ing, ka-ching-ing, ka-ching-ing, away. If only we could get rid of the bad apples.....

@WoobliesFan: You clearly have no idea how HIERARCHY works in the business world. Blatter EXECUTES what gets told by the billionaires who benefit from Football. Blatter is merely their servant. They are happy with his services, so they arranged his re-election. He does the job he's been asked to do better than anyone else obviously. Open your eyes...People who don't understand hierarchy always wrongly assume that CEO's and presidents make the decisions...That's just schoolboy error...Of course he's corrupt, but everyone is at that level and further up the ladder. A new president would have to follow exactly the same orders as Blatter. He's a good communicator, he can speak in front of millions of people in 3 languages, he is diligent and reliable like a Swiss Banker. His masters like him representing the brand. Their only goal is to grow the brand and maximize profit for themselves. If you wanna blame someone, then at least blame the billionaires (his bosses).

Reading many of the posts above there are many issues getting confused into one... If we ignore the WC bribes for a bit and look at FIFA and what its done... FIFA has achieved many things and treats all members equally so Tonga in the South Pacific gets the same vote as the US or Germany ... FIFA over decades has via its goal and other projects put Football resources into many parts of the third world... FIFA has taken the WC of Asia and Africa ... now the Middle East .. FIFA has been constant in applying its laws of the game. FIFA has grown Football into a world sport that has no equal with daylight second... the main sport in 75% of the world and in the other 25% still a major code... FIFA has stood up to many governments over the years,,, FIFA has often favoured smaller nations over larger ones ... The above are the high water marks... Then were there is money 209 nations ... So at tournament level with big money around it starts to get murky .... Blatter IMO has done a lot for the smaller nations and has put a lot of work into Africa in particular ... I have read where FIFAs efforts in Africa shame the UN... But its when the big money is around when greed takes over and Qatar was the straw that broke the camels back... he should go ... BUt FIFA is not all bad...

AR This from fuss: "Article 20 of the Fifa Statutes which details the functions of Confederations. Whilst Concacaf, Conmebol, Uefa, etc. have a connection with FIFA, the Confederations operate independently. Revenue raised by confederations stays within the Confederation." And then this from you: "The Heads of the organisation, being the Chairman and the CEO of Essendon, both stood down" Kinda answers your own question doesn't it. And contradicts your logic.. So, respective heads.. Not *the* head. Lol

But the coach who is in physical contact with the players every day of the week continues to be embraced by the club. The medical practitioner in charge of the safety of players' health didn't step down. Maybe he's even still at the club.