The World Cup, controversial hosts and ghosts of the past
In deference to Jules Rimet, the grocer’s son from Haute-Saone who became Fifa’s longest reigning president, it is only fitting to borrow from his native French to examine the latest controversies over the World Cup that he first brought to life in 1930. Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. The controversial awarding of 2034 hosting rights to Saudi Arabia carries echoes of Rimet’s first tournament in Uruguay when there was anger amongst European leagues and clubs over losing players to the World Cup. The trip lasted three months given boat travel which was undertaken by Rimet with the trophy in a bag, an adventure that might have challenged even Pickles. Some leagues and players refused. Only the wealth of the hosts eased the way for others and made the Fifa dream possible.
The next World Cup in Italy in 1934 was tainted by association with the meddling Benito Mussolini, who used the global spotlight to showcase Fascism. An early example of sportswashing, no less.
The first two World Cups were about money and tensions with clubs and then controversial regimes as well as the sport and the passion of the fans. Rimet wanted the competition to be about sporting “chivalry” and unity between nations. The third president of Fifa, Rimet craved a World Cup and a world where “men will be able to meet in confidence without hatred in their hearts and without an insult on their lips”.
The ninth president of Fifa is Gianni Infantino, whose intoxication by power, ego and chasing money on behalf of his organisation intensifies by the year. Maybe it’s simply Fifa; decent people go in there (and Infantino was a respected lawyer in his early days at Uefa before moving to Fifa) and some change. Power can pollute. Infantino has become besotted with the limelight and rubbing shoulders with world leaders, however questionable. Fifa was supposed to have been reformed after Sepp Blatter, the swamp drained. At least Infantino’s predecessor had some accountability. Blatter took questions from the media, often a very hostile media. There is no transparency or accountability under Infantino. Or integrity at times.