Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Morrisons v FIFA: More Moaning For Less

Most of us can accept that FIFA is - I'll not say corrupt - lacking a certain transparency in its decision making processes.

And we can probably accept that Sepp Blatter, to quote Rob over at Left Back In The Changing Room, "is a fucking clown."

But how many of us thought that it would be the supermarket chain Morrisons that would grasp the sword of truth and attempt to slay football's governing dragon?

A Morrisons spokeman has announced:

"On behalf of our customer we are disappointed that the merits of the bid were not recognised by Fifa, which clearly was intent on locating the 2018 World Cup in an emerging country.

"As we think the decision-making process was unfair, we have instructed lawyers in Switzerland to examine our options under Swiss law.

"We hope Fifa will do the right thing and offer £1m to be invested in grass-roots football."

Good luck with that one, chaps.

Quick question to Morrisons though. Why not spend the money on grassroots football in the first place?

The, ahem, "intricacies" of FIFA's bid process were hardly a secret before England launched their bid. I'm guessing Morrisons would have been happy to ignore these concerns if the English bid had succeeded.

Nor is the 2012 Olympic project a shining example of England's ability to articulate how a major sporting event will have direct grassroots benefits.

And, come to think of it, how did the 10 year old school children who benefited from the legacy of Euro 96 fare in South Africa this summer?

I'm sure Morrisons think this is a nice PR campaign. Unfortunately, like many in the FA, they are now coming across as unbelievably naive or like terribly bad losers.

Time to move on.

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