Little is known about Sepp Blatter’s hobbies outside of football administration, but given his love of a nautical metaphor we can guess he enjoys a tranquil afternoon on Lake Geneva.
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When elected unopposed in 2011, Blatter celebrated by promising: “We will put FIFA’s ship back on the right course in clear, transparent waters.” On Friday it was: “I will be in command of this boat called FIFA and we will bring it back to shore.”
Indeed, there was a sense of deja vu about the procession yesterday as the Swiss claimed a fifth term in office (which, whatever your feelings towards the man, is pretty impressive) in the closest election since he swept to power in 1998.
However, his rhetoric each time displays just how utterly unfulfilling his presidency has been. Blatter constantly talks about reform and cleaning up the game; yet in 17 years he has done little to show that he has the will to do so.
They have been hollow promises said to men who don’t want to risk rocking the boat that Sepp built (he would enjoy that one).
Compare the words of Prince Ali compared to that of Blatter. The Jordanian spoke humbly of FIFA “being a service organisation and not a company”, albeit lacking the flair and charisma of Blatter, but they were words to the world and said with understated dignity.
Blatter is world class politician. To beat him – aside handcuffs – don’t need rhetoric,or indignation.You need a politician better than him
— Tancredi Palmeri (@tancredipalmeri) May 29, 2015
Blatter’s speech – his third of the day, he ended up delivering four in total – was a plea to the voters in the room to select him because of his “experience” and “leadership”, i.e. if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.
And before you cry, ‘FIFA is broken’, well, aside from some scattered protests, nothing inside the four walls of Zurich’s Hallenstadion over the last two days would imply so.
From the outside looking in, of course, it’s an institution riddled with corruption and mismanagment. But within the organisation it can point to record revenues of $2 billion, cash reserves of $1.5bn and more countries than ever playing the game. Inside the FIFA garden, everything is rosy.
As predictable as it is depressing. All those FIFA members that voted for Blatter have betrayed the game they are supposed to cherish.
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) May 29, 2015
Friday’s result should give Blatter cause for concern. An election a week ago he was expected to walk became a bit of a sweat. In the space of 48 hours, Prince Ali gained some 30-40 votes outside of his UEFA powerbase, most crucially in the traditional Blatter stronghold of South America.
Imagine what he could have achieved with a better campaign, although it should be noted, of the six federations, only UEFA allowed him to speak at their conference.
But Blatter will simply see it as yet another affirmation of his leadership and to keep doing what he’s been doing. Let’s just hope in 2019, when the next elections come around, we don’t have to hear about any more boats.
