Good bye 2015, good bye Mr Blatter
The year 2015 is over and done with. A fiery, sad year globally when billions of people watched helplessly, millions of fellow human beings killed in wars and disasters, displaced and homeless.
And while the earth’s temperatures kept rising, so did the blood pressure of the disgraced FIFA boss Sepp Blatter.
I’m not a football fanatic. Nonetheless, I love a good game and passionately watch the World Cup wearing my Ghanaian team’s T-shirt, the Black Stars, every time they play.
So, like many, I have been following the stories related to the devastating fall of grace of the most powerful governing body of football, FIFA.
A different story
There is no worse feeling than being deceived. Imagine the anticipation with which one waits to hear the name of the next World Cup hosts, not knowing that behind the scenes, it has all been fixed and done with. Deals made, “gifts” exchanged and bank accounts of the FIFA officials made fatter.
At the centre of the storm is the big boss, Mr Blatter.
It is interesting that this is not the first time that he is investigated. Members of FIFA’s executive committee made similar accusations of malpractice against him in 2002. Then, as he is doing now, Blatter denied any wrongdoing.
Eventually, the Swiss public prosecutor cleared him of any charges. In my view, the famous accuracy we know about the Swiss, did not happen here, some even say that if Blatter and his colleagues had been properly investigated over a decade ago, the world of football would have been saved this embarrassment at highest levels.
Who cleans it up?
So who will clean up this mess and rekindle our love for clean sport practices? Certainly it would not be the IAAF ( International Association of Athletics Federation), because they are themselves, swimming in a polluted pool of urine and blood samples of doped athletes that they are protecting.
The axe has swung on the likes of Lance Armstrong who has been stripped of his medals and Tour de France titles, and called the top “anti–sportsman of the year”. Others are still at large, waiting for the time and person who will uncover their filth.
What for young generation
With such happenings, the new generation who are already confined to a sofa with a playstation control in hand, they will forget a real world of sports out there, replaced by a fake world of corruption and taking advantage of the unconditional love of unsuspecting fans.
Our young generation must be wondering what legacy has been left for them by the older generation.
And also, why are they being discouraged from spending time on playstations, where they are following all the rules and regulations, or otherwise the game won’t function. Let me hope for new beginnings, but for the likes of Mr Blatter it is indeed game over, and he shall not be missed!
Who is Blatter
Joseph “Sepp” Blatter, 79, is a Swiss football administrator who is the suspended eighth president of FIFA .
Blatter became general secretary of FIFA in 1981 and was then elected president at the 51st FIFA Congress on June 8, 1998, succeeding João Havelange, who had headed the organization since 1974.
Blatter was re-elected. For months football’s most powerful man has been weighed down by a slew of corruption allegations.
He was banned for allegedly signing a contract “unfavourable” to football’s governing body and making a “disloyal payment” to Uefa president Michel Platini, who has also been suspended for eight years.
