Australian police probe World Cup bid

Bondy, we all know who Mister Football was in 2009 & he was extremely happy Qatar got the WC in 2022 or should I say very happy Australia did not get it.

That's interesting you weren't here in 2009 ? Or were you ? . You've only appeared here as Mr Football for a year ? .. I notice you have a link from the " Dutch " media ,interesting .....

I'm reading some reports coming through the Dutch media that reckon Blatter is going to take the 2022 WC away from Qatar. Unclear whether this is one person's speculation or whether there is any evidence to support the claim, but it is coming from one of the whistleblowers who is currently under FBI witness protection: http://foxsports.nl/nieuws/283438-blatter-zal-qatar-wk-2022-afnemen.html

The Telegraph is reporting (in relation to the vote to host the 2010 WC): The paper has now released a fresh claim from that tape that Bhamjee, from Botswana, said he and his colleagues discussed how they had voted and concluded the Morocco had won the ballot. When the vote was announced, South Africa had been awarded the World Cup. Also: Elsewhere this morning, the BBC is reporting that they have seen evidence detailing what happened to the $10 million Fifa sent to former vice-president Jack Warner. US prosecutors say Warner solicited bribes worth $10 million from the South African government to host the 2010 World Cup and diverted funds for personal use. "The papers seen by the BBC detail three wire transfers by Fifa," the BBC said in a report. "In the three transactions -- on 4 January, 1 February and 10 March 2008 -- funds totalling $10m from Fifa accounts were received into Concacaf accounts controlled by Jack Warner."

For those new to The Roar, it's worth noting that The Roar was effective in cataloguing the various debates which occurred across the whole of 2009, some of them quite heated, invariably by a certain cohort of posters who worked overtime to capture the forum and use it as a PR vehicle. Needless to say, the Roar editors were very busy at the time, and I was banned on a few occasions for calling out the corruption of FIFA at the time. In fact, I just stumbled across this interesting post from 2010: Mister Football said | April 26th 2010 @ 6:42pm | Report comment The Australian ran this article the other day:L http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/sport/australia-dealt-world-cup-blow/story-e6frg7mf-1225858118319 about Sepp backing the Qatar bid. Now personally, I don’t read too much into what Sepp says about anything, he’ll pi$$ in anyone’s pocket, including ours, but the thing is that the Qatar bid can have so much credibility when the very notion is laugable. Given that they have already bought off the Afican vote and God knows who else, the thing for Australia is that as long as Qatar remains in the bidding it will take votes from Australia, increasing the odds that we are one if the first to exit... Finally, here's an article from Davidde Corran, published on the Roar in 2009: http://www.theroar.com.au/2009/10/21/what-cost-are-we-willing-to-pay-for-a-world-cup/ he warns us about the decision to engage Hargitay, and with great prescience, declares: "The corridors of global sport politics are messy and few walk away from them with clean consciences and pure reputations. We’ve started our journey through these very corridors and at the least we must understand that the price we will pay wont just be in dollars and cents. "

It's worth reminding ourselves how SBS reported the engagement of Hargitay back in 2009: http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/article/2009/10/17/ffa-hire-top-gun-world-cup-hosting-bid FFA HIRE TOP GUN FOR WORLD CUP HOSTING BID The World Game can exclusively reveal that Peter Hargitay, one time special advisor to FIFA president Sepp Blatter, and still a close confidant of football's global boss, is now on the FFA payroll as its most important strategy consultant. Hargitay's Zurich-based firm, European Consultancy Network (ECN), was engaged earlier this year before Hargitay flew to Sydney in February for three days of summit talks with the FFA's top brass on bid strategy. ... "We are very fortunate to have him personally and ECN working for Australia's bid." Fortunate indeed.

What is the positive spin of the FIFA corruption scandal, well it's obvious, the people involved in this blatant corruption has been found out & are being investigated & the President who many believe to be the issue has been forced to resign, this is great news. Hopefully reform can happen at FIFA & the new administration are not so untouchable on their decisions. It's like a drug scandal that affects one of the big stars, ie Lance Armstrong, it's great, there were rumours for a long time & finally found out & his reputation tarnished. If this means that this makes tomorrow's cyclist thinks twice about drug cheating, this is positive.

It wasn't your bid it was ours , Australia ...

Of course nothing will come of it - Lowy is not Australia's wealthiest individual for nothing. However, before the $500,000 payment was negotiated with Warner, his reputation was already well known, and given Hargitay was paid $10 million for his wise counsel and advice, did we go into this with eyes wide open or closed shut? I mean seriously, on what basis did anyone believe this was ever going to be decided without bribes? We already had first hand knowledge of what FIFA was all about when Oceania's very own rep voted contrary to the confederation's wishes in deciding the 2006 WC host. I'm sure he simply changed his mind on the long flight to the meeting. And at any stage, didn't any Australian soccer fans ever wonder how Qatar was even in the running when the original criteria was that you needed 12 stadia spread across 10 cities (or something similar) and Qatar only had one city? That's before we even get to the 50 degree days. Did anyone ever wonder why it was even necessary to vote for two host countries at the one meeting? Of course, there is the argument that $45 mill isn't really that much money, on the other hand, when you know you're pi$$ing it straight up the wall, you really expect politicians and senior bureaucrats to be a bit more careful with taxpayer money.

Will be good to clear the air and whatever the outcome is let it be... TBH I don't think there is anything wrong ,,,, there will be folk if the police come back as no charge that will never accept that answer... this issue has already been before as I understand a senate enquiry, has been provided to the FBI and FIFA committees ... However if the answer is guilty then so be it ... Football can move on .... and then we can maybe extend the enquiry into all sports handouts over the last say 15 years... then look at match fixing over say the last 25 years in Australia ...

Yes and no. In the case of the Russian bid, the bribery may well have been accompanied with a hint of menace.

That's right, even before the vote was taken, Foz was critical of the video, and deep down, he knew it was all over red rover. Funnily enough, our very own soccer envoy, and long-time member of the FIFA Ethics Committee, Les Murray, was convinced that Australia would win on the strength of that same video. It's strange what some people see when presented with the same evidence.

Why didn't Italian soccer fans care that Juve used to be able to pick its own refs? How was this allowed to continue for a decade or more when everyone knew it was going on? Who can answer such questions?

MF You're not fool but why didn't people protest in the first place ???? , FIFA has been corrupt for over 5 decades ....

Bondy In fairness, this is the biggest sports news story of the decade, it involves the biggest game in the world, it touches everyone across the world, and for us here in Australia, we have a particular interest because tens of millions of dollars of taxpayer money went into a corrupt process, and what's more, we all knew it was corrupt from day one. It's not just about FIFA. For us here in Australia, it's not even just about how competent our sporting leaders are. It's also about how blind and stupid our political leaders and bureaucrats were in frittering away taxpayer money by involving us in a corrupt process. It's about the governance standards at Commonwealth level, and whether all of our national bodies involved in the scrutiny of public expenditure (e.g. the ANAO and the Senate Estimates committees) have done their job in this instance.

AR I've just checked 5 AFL articles with more than 10 comments you're nowhere ,why dont you post on the AFL tab ? .... You're are a narcissist punishing yourself .

What positive spin should we be putting on the FIFA corruption scandal?

You're never taken seriously here ... You live in a flat boring mundane " world " of sport ....

Because you are a football fan yet all your comments about football are half full, always on the negative side, I am wondering why. Fuss is also a football fan & can often go off in a tirade, but he is always positive about football. So just wondering who has the issue, someone who is always positive or someone who is always negative & I mean always.

"Lots & lots of comments on you about the FFA probe, hmmm I wonder why. " Lots and lots of comments from various people about the FFA probe, yet you only target my comments. Hmmm, I wonder why.