I Warned The World About Blatter!

IN my very article in January 2015 I warned the world about Sepp Blatter and why he must be stopped for the good of football.

This week I reminded the editor of one of the publications I sent the article to but who had graciously refused to publish it then because, in his view, the publication would have been ‘punished’ by probably the most powerful man in the world at the time who controls more countries than even the United Nations.

He remembers all right. The challenge was that 12 months ago no one in football dared to tamper with Mr. Blatter. He wondered where I got the guts from to dare to walk where even angels trembled.

The world was in Sepp Blatter’s pocket. His word was law. He could do and undo. Whenever he coughed the rest of the world caught cold. Some countries had to shamefully sheath their laws and sovereign rights in the face of FIFA statutes. Countries were threatened and even banned for challenging FIFA’s authority. Corruption, impunity, and dictatorship thrived throughout the world in national associations and continental confederations, powered  and protected by FIFA and its president.

What happened in FIFA during the outgoing year (2015) was inconceivable and unprecedented. Indeed, there may never have been a year quite like 2015 in the annals of football.

No one anticipated what was to become the greatest scandal and controversy in the history of ‘the beautiful game’.

At the start of 2015 I was only one of a handful of persons in the world that dared to raise the issues and warned the world about the consequences of Sepp Blatter re-contesting for the presidency of FIFA again.