Football: FIFA's Momentary Distraction

So what does FIFA have to look forward to going into next week's big announcement of who will play whom in the first World Cup to be staged in Africa? Where do I start?

The handball debacle between Ireland and France. The recent violence involving qualifiers in Africa. Match-fixing. Ugly litigation in Chile that has the chance to disqualify them from next year's World Cup. The costly and scandal ridden battle of bid cities running for 2018-2022. I'm sure Sepp Blatter and company hope the final draw for South Africa 2010 will make us all forget the mess that FIFA has become. They'll spend a lot on pomp and spectacle. And maybe, for a minute, the tens of millions expected to tune in to the events in Cape Town will indeed forget. They will remember instead the sport to which FIFA is purportedly dedicated. For a fleeting moment.

Then, all too soon, its back to business as usual. And the business of FIFA is business.

Hargitay and Australia's Shame, Continued

This great shame of Australian football, the appointment of Peter Hargitay as an advisor to our 2018-2022 World cup bid, is beginning to raise some eyebrows. An author whose work I admire, Steve Menary, author of "Outcasts: The Lands that FIFA Forgot" sent me a note with a suspicious "Hmm" concerning the foul choice of Hargitay as Australia's fixer. Like many others, he had heard of Hargitay's sordid past and I suspect it wont be long before everyone from anti-apartheid activists (Hargitay worked for the fugitive sanctions-violator Marc Rich) to drug enforcement agents (Hargitay went to prison for drug smuggling) are up in arms . Better still would be for FIFA to wake up to Australia's bid and the decay it reflects.

Drugs and Sanctions Busting in Australia's 2018 World Cup Bid: What Are We Thinking?

Thanks to the success of my fairplay blog, I've decided to launch a new site dedicated to the 2018-2022 World Cup race.

Now, everyone is aware of my long held belief that FIFA is corrupt, insular and leaves much of the world from play. Nothing new here! FIFA, the governing body of world football, excludes a great many nations from their organisation, while welcoming some others. Too many countries are left "outside" the FIFA tent, so it can continue to pillage for its own benefit among a gang of complicit members.

Well, FIFA's much tarnished reputation is about to get worse thanks to 2018-2022 World Cup frontrunner Australia's decision to hire Peter Hargitay as its bid advisor. You may have seen the 17 October Sydney Morning Herald article on this particularly nasty character's background.

Hargitay was twice arrested for cocaine smuggling and served time for drug trafficking. He aided and abetted the international fugitive--and apartheid sanctions buster--Marc Rich. Now he's "our" man. Our fixer. Shame on Australia. But par for the course for FIFA, a criminal enterprise of its own.