England join Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Qatar*, Russia, South Korea*, and the United States as individual nations bidding for the rights to host the 2018 or 2022 World Cup Finals. Belgium and the Netherlands and Portugal and Spain have also entered joint bids where the games would be played in selected stadia from both countries.
Having not had the tournament since 1966 and being the self-proclaimed 'home of football', you would be justified in thinking that England would be considerable favourites to take home the rights for the first tournament, with only an outside chance for the joint bids from the other European countries and possibly Australia, as another FIFA exercise in spreading the appeal of football beyond its traditional base.
I wouldn't bank on it, boys and girls.
There is a stinking anglophobic element widespread through football's two major organisation, FIFA and UEFA, and there will be many people pulling every string possible to make sure that England aren't given a clear run for their bid.
Sepp Blatter, the swollen Dictator, er, I mean President of FIFA, who's leadership is already marching into its eleventh year, has made no secret of his distaste for British football and in particular the commercial behemoth that is the English Premier League. Perhaps this stems from England's investigative media, which tarred his first two bids for FIFA leadership with direct allegations of corruption, backroom deals and politicking the likes of which Peter Mandelson would be proud. Not only is this untrustworthy egomaniac a figurehead for this great sport, but he's also the number one man where policy and rule changes are concerned. This is a man with such bright ideas as requesting that women wear tighter shorts when playing football, to achieve, in his ridiculous view, '...a more female aesthetic'. We may as well let Prince Phillip run the show. The fact that England's bid lies in the hand of a committee, rather than just one man, may well be their saving grace but I'd fully expect Blatter to be rallying his cronies to vote for anyone but.
Another serious problem for England comes from within the European football organisation, UEFA, in the form of its President, the utterly out of touch, Michael Platini. Platini was a sublime footballer in his day, but his time now seems to be mostly taken up by finding ways to stop the flow of money into the English game. He seems so blinkered by his contempt for the cash-rich Premier League that he has never stopped to realise that it is the biggest jewel in his own crown. Sure, the Bundesliga holds it own, Serie A is impressive if a little tedious at times, and the French league produces some incredible home-grown talent (if Africa is considered part of France, that is), but the English Premier League is simply a world-wide phenomenon. The EPL is followed in over 200 countries and that figure continues to grow almost monthly. And you'd better believe there's a good reason for that; incredible talent, at times mind-boggling entertainment and the financial backing to really push football to corners of the world not traditionally concerned with the beautiful game. Platini and Blatter should be full of nothing but praise for what has been achieved in England.
But I digress... oh yes, the bid. The problem England face is if Platini pushes any of the other European bids. FIFA's current policy is that the last two tournament host confederations are ineligible to bid for the next. So, if the joints bids of Spain and Portugal and the Netherlands and Belgium are successful for 2018, England are automatically out of the running for 2022 and 2026, and vice versa. Will FIFA want to disqualify four other nations for the next 16 years simply to give the nod to a country toward which it displays such contempt? I suppose we shall see.
Objectively, England are a no-brainer for me. They have the infrastructure, security (unless you're a Brazilian tourist in a puffa jacket), the stadia and the financial clout to put on an amazing tournament and if FIFA don't want the 'will it/won't it be ready?' jitters that seem to accompany most tournaments in recent times, it will give the England bid its due consideration. Second choice, and perhaps less objectively, would be Australia... if for nothing else than to see another opening ceremony that includes a washing line.
* Qatar and South Korea are only bidding on the 2022 tournament.
No comments:
Post a Comment