It's been a few hours since FIFA president Sepp Blatter said something stupid, but he's gone and rectified that. When we last left Sepp, he was threatening a winter World Cup in 2022 to accommodate Qatar and making homophobic "jokes." Now he's still resolute on throwing club football into turmoil with a winter World Cup and he's also putting down the International Olympic Committee, of which he is a member, with housewife stereotypes.
Says Sepp (via the AP):
Blatter, attending the Asian Cup in Qatar, said he felt the tournament should be moved to a cooler time of the year to protect the health of the players. A similar move was initiated for this year’s Asian Cup, which normally is held in the summer.
“We must play at the most adequate period to have a successful World Cup,” Blatter said. “To have a successful World Cup, we have to protect actors, the players, which means (playing) in winter.”
Funny how cooler temperatures are suddenly a concern when Qatar's promises of air-conditioned stadiums was more than enough to satisfy the voting committee that gave them the tournament in the first place. Even funnier is how Sepp refers to the players as "actors." That's either a reference to the popularity of diving or Sepp's complete lack of understanding of the game he rules.
When the question of transparency came up, Blatter got defensive. He tried to hold FIFA up as a beacon of good business by criticizing the equally awful IOC, which, again, he is also a member of.
“Our accounts are open to everyone. … We’ve (done) it since I’m the president. It wasn’t done before,” Blatter said in Qatar, where he is attending the Asian Cup. “The IOC does it like a housewife. She receives some money and she spends some money.”
That would probably be sexist if it made any sense. Sepp's fail train was only just leaving the station, though:
Blatter also said the IOC “has no transparency,” and that any transparency was left to the Olympic-sanctioned sports themselves.
“The IOC is, I would say, a club,” the FIFA president said. “In the 115 members of the IOC, only 45 are directly linked to sport. … All the others, the 70 members are individually appointed members. If you need to know where in the world you still have princes, princesses and kings, then you go to the list of members of the IOC. You will find a lot of them.”
Reminded that Jordan’s Prince Ali Bin al-Hussein was elected as a FIFA vice president on Thursday, Blatter joked that “we can afford one.”
Yes, I'm sure there's a lot of things you can afford, Sepp. Like maybe some new windows for your glass house?
Photo: Getty Images
No comments:
Post a Comment