By Adriaan Basson
Who owns the sea? (BP might think they do, but no.) And street cricket? And climbing up Table Mountain? Horse racing? And walking your dog?
So why do we allow Fifa to continue behaving as if they own the beautiful game?
Why should I be forced to pay R30 for one reddish American beer when the pub opposite the road sells local quarts for R12? And why do we allow the Fifa police to arrest and detain young girls with orange dresses that has a 3cm Bavaria logo where even the most hi-tech TV camera wouldn’t pick it up?
Fifa Inc is in town and I’m pissed off for being pissed off because I really wanted to have a good time, get drunk with foreigners on the beer of my choice and watch beautiful footie, day and night.
But, alas, Herr Blatter, his cronies and my own government that signed away our sovereignty on 17 pieces of paper have made it impossible for me to relax. Or wear orange, for that matter.
Pause. Breathe. Who is Fifa and why do we allow them to do this?
On May 21 1904 a bunch of European countries came together and decided to establish a governing body for football*. A kind of voluntary association that would draw up match schedules, decide whose mom was bringing hot dogs to the next game and those sort of things. All good and well.
Pretentious as only a bunch of European men in one room can be, they decided to call the club Fédération Internationale de Football Association, instead of something like Football Lovers United.
Over the years they succeeded in convincing other continents and their soccer bosses to join the club. And soon the club realised the potential of making Big Bucks.
What Jean-Marie Faustin Goedefroid de Havelange, a Brazilian chap who was Fifa president from 1974 to 1998, and Blatter essentially realised was that they could package football and sell it back to the fans. Easy, hey?
A few years down the line, they had those makers of cheap, affordable football gear, the Dassler family (Adidas), on board. Then health food experts Coca-Cola and McDonalds came by, and quicker than you could say “Joseph Blatter”, Fifa was rolling in the moola.
Let’s give the devil his due — World Cup 2010 is (mostly) a well-organised event and has finally brought decent highways and public transport to South Africa. For that we are thankful, Mr Blatter (although we paid the bill, of course).
But why the dictatorial tendencies to ban and prohibit and arrest and charge?
This morning I wanted to watch a clip of the Nigeria/Greece game on Youtube, and guess what? “This video contains content from FIFA, who has blocked it on copyright grounds.”
WHAT?
Herr Blatter and his cronies should be told loudly and clearly that they DO NOT OWN FOOTBALL. Football belongs to no-one and everyone.
Unfortunately it doesn’t look like football administrators (South Africa’s included) will soon bring about a change of regime and attitude at Fifa. The cushions are too soft.
It’s really up to the fans of football to claim back our beautiful game, and the right to drink whatever beer we want to, wear orange dresses if we like and watch the replay of a soccer match, whenever we feel like it.
* Read the history of Fifa at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA
** Then read the dark side of Fifa at http://www.transparencyinsport.org/
*** If you’re still sober, go to the FIFA Reformation page on Facebook
What FIFA has done to South Africa should be categorised as organised crime.
They’re also so dof that they don’t realise they’re doing themselves more harm than good.
I’d recommend that the citizens of the country unlucky enough to host this unsavoury mob next time clearly state their intent to boycott each and every official World Cup sponsor for 5 years… .
Fick Fufa. We need that on a bumper sticker!
Being Dutch I do support the brave girls who danced around in the mid of an SA winter in miniskirts. I am proud of the Bavaria family who brought some serious FIFA dictatorial arrangements to the world attention.
I sincerely hope that the Brazil government has the balls to stop the FIFA dictator from bribing the local football association into submission.
The simplest way to do this is when all countries who’s teams mean anything to soccer fans around the world do not participate in extending the Blatter created “vierter Reich” and give it powers beyond the local legislation of any country.
SA fans can start insisting on Bavaria beer during matches and pour the Budweisers down the toilets, where it belongs. Just put a six pack of Bavaria in your ammunition belt under your winter jackets.
The FIFA ticketing system: “noone is allowed to sell, donate……a FIFA ticket without using the FIFA channel”. Another one of these draconian rules from Herr Kaiser Blatter.
The SA police firmly set on the trail of any criminal who violates this rule.
My son was “given” a ticket for the Saturday match in Ellispark. Technically speaking he and the person who donated the ticket were criminals under SA law under the Blatter regime as they did not contact FIFA.
Luckily the inspection at the entrance did not look at the ID on the ticket (as they did not anyway – imagine checking 60000 ID’s before a match) and he was not arrested
)
I cannot imagine how any SAFA official could agree to this stupid rule regarding transfer of tickets.
I totally agree with Gavin Foster.
When I read the following from Moneyweb (http://www.moneyweb.co.za/mw/view/mw/en/page329569?oid=492276&sn=2009+Detail&pid=287226) I am left with no conclusion other than that these criminals have government figures on their payroll:
“Fifa expected its provisional income for the 2010 World Cup to be around US3.2bn [about R24 billion], a spokesman said on Friday.
Spokesman Nicolas Maingot said the World Cup was the main source of income for Fifa and its revenue from this one would tide it over for the next four years.
He added that 75% of its revenue would be invested into football development.[Yeh, Right!]
The estimate comes after it was reported that, South Africa which spent around R63bn on hosting the event, has granted Fifa a number of tax concessions.[Taxpayers pay again]
A Sunday paper reported that the world soccer body would cause the country to lose “tens or possibly hundreds of millions of rands in potential revenue”.
It reported that the SA Revenue Service had been forced to agree to a “tax bubble” around Fifa sites, which would exempt the soccer federation from paying value added tax, income tax and customs duties.”
Supporters are simply viewed as cattle.
I agree 100% with Gavin and the sooner the corrupt Blatter and his disgusting Mob get out of our Country the better for us Patriotic South Africans. That we were able to hold the World Cup makes me proudly South African but as for Blatter hopefully we may never have to suffer his ugly prescence in our land again
And who is responsible for the unbearable noisy soundtrack football fans worldwide are subjected to ?
Blame it on culture: BRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!!!!
Septic Bladder more likely, Adriaan..
Who will even try to upset the FIFA herarchy? They are probably too well entrenched and too powerful(rich) to lift from the very soft cushions.
But I agree, a Coup is due in soccer!
I hope the rest of the soccer world takes note – especially Brazilia, who will be the next suckers to feather the FIFA coffers.
What’s more, is that any self-respecting beer drinking South African won’t ever drink that watered down excuse for a beer called Budweisser. The least they could have done was get us a sponsor who can make a proper beer.
So I was right to ask in my blog: “Did South Africa “sell its soul” to Fifa?” (http://www.akanyangafrica.co.za/?p=828) and who better describe the situation than Zapiro (http://www.akanyangafrica.co.za/?p=824) on the cost of hosting the world Cup.
And because of th way FIFA behaved, or how our cops behaved rather, I even thought FIFA should take over and run South Africa (http://www.akanyangafrica.co.za/?p=840) because we seem to be quite effective as far as security is concerned. To foreigners nogal! Sies!
fifa is bad news through and through.
private company should not run soccer events. look at all the fifa affiliates in countries, especially safa: bad, bad, bad.
get rid. start anew from grass roots level.
http://soundcloud.com/creamy-ewok-baggends/shame-on-the-game-ewok-mp3
This is the link to a track created for the KHULUMANI SUPPORT GROUP to raise awareness around the fact that the FIVE MAJOR COPORATIONS that are in court over their involvement in APARTHEID are also MAJOR INVESTORS in the FIFA World Cup…
This is the deal – take it or leave it. You took it? Then stop bitching about it. We aren’t kids.
Go to http://www.iss.co.za/“player & referee” for an even darker side to FIFA, we have all been sooooo screwed!
Khulumani Support Group has a campaign against this lack of corporate accountability (although FIFA pretends not to be a corporation).
When I read the blog I thought I’d share a song by Ewok called Shame on the Game – which basically makes you ask, how did FIFA take over Football again….
http://redcardcampaign.wordpress.com/2010/06/09/music4justice-featured-artist-ewok/
It’s quite scary how the LOC has bent over like a bunch of morons and got us screwed over by a these greedy men… which makes you wonder what SAFA is getting out of tihs… our local football MAFIA…. SOUTH AFRICA STAND UP!
LOC you’ve shamed us and our exploited our love for the game…
…and we’ve shame ourselves as South Africa by our insipid need to please Western countries and in our silly attempts to prove we’re ‘ok’ and not so ‘third world’… we’re in the process of rebuilding a country torn apart by war and fascism… not on a glamour crusade…!
@Gavin Foster – You took the words right out of my mouth. Do we not have a law against monopolies and unfair competition anymore? (Other name for “official sponsors”).
Can someone please wake up the Competition guys or find out how much they were bribed to play three monkeys?
I wonder what my neighbour would say if I told him he is honoured enough to have me over for a braai and that he should pay for everything, which must all be imported, whether he likes it or not and what’s more, he is not allowed to join me after he has set it all up. Imagine.
@Adriaan Basson – “Health Food” would have been total irony in a sentence that contains both Mac and Coke
Yes – it’s just a big marketing exercise to exploit our love of the game.
The problem is one of ownership. Mining companies own our minerals, individuals own vast tracks of land, banks own our money, cell phone companies own bandwidth, politicians think they own everything.
It’s ours, let’s take it back. Or at least refuse to play along. (They can’t do it without our consent.)
Ag, Adrian. what about the coup??? i thought you had inside info…:)
I tried to listen to SAfm on internet. Due to FIFA I can’t. Now I am following the matches from the Dutch radio online, thank god they didn’t block that.
Hi Azad! Still working on that… Although I suspect Andrew Jennings has the inside track! Sea, I suspect you’ve just shut down Dutch radio… X Cepting, sometimes blind rage leads to, uhm, bad grammar! I’ll blame it on the Budweiser (and fix it, now). L, who are you referring to as “you”? Certainly not the South African public, because I’m not aware of a referendum on hosting the World Cup. When we won the WC in 2004 the public was told it would cost R1,1bn. A month ago we were on R33bn and now I hear a figure of R60bn. Benzol, I have cold Bavaria in my fridge! Sunshine, GREAT song! Eligos, 25% of R24bn is R6bn. Of course Mr Maingot didn’t tell us where that’s going. Siobhan, the T-shirts are for sale in Cape Town. I’d love to get one myself. Adriaan
Well said! Too late for tears. This is what happens when a
Few sports adminitrators negotiate at a global stage and win!
Let this be a lesson to both our legal and business fraternities.
We have been raped big time.
Guys, it’s pretty simple – even if I don’t like it:
BEFORE SA was allowed to apply as a candidate country for hosting the world cup they had to sign a guarantee covering all the marketing issues, law changes, stadium and infrastructure upgrades, etc.
If we had not signed this guarantee we would not have been allowed the candidacy as all the other countries were prepared to sign it.
For this to change everyone needs to agree to rebel, which is quite unlikely.