FIFA President Sepp Blatter’s weekend interview with the Swiss Sonntagszeitung was headlined by his announcement that FIFA will form an “independent” anti-corruption committee. So, the world’s football governing body has decided to slap on a condom several hours after completing full sexual intercourse.
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| Blatter - praying for enlightenment |
In classic FIFA fashion, this initiative comes not from any sense that tackling corruption is the right thing to do. Rather, in Blatter’s words, its purpose would be “to strengthen our credibility and re-define our image in the realm of public relations.” For these must always be the prime motivations behind any moral undertaking.
The rest of the interview was the usual self-aggrandizing cant about how he had to struggle to survive from the moment he was born, how he went to a monastery in the Swiss town of Einsiedeln to pray for a successful World Cup in South Africa, and how the marching band in Visp – a ski resort where he owns a flat – apparently is prone to playing a Sepp Blatter March when they parade beneath his balcony (we’d be happy to provide some lyrics for their next procession). He also admitted to having “few genuine friends”, and aired his standard lament about “obsessive” journalists who insist on bringing up FIFA’s long history of corruption. Shame on them.
