Thursday, March 5, 2009

Business as usual: Politicians interfere, Blatter talks nonsense.

I've remarked before that the SNP protesting to FIFA about the UK government's political interference re the GB Olympic Team was actually ermm...also political interference. The SFA appear to agree on the principle that political interference is political interference irrespective of who the politicians may be who're doing the interfering:
The SFA's alarmed response followed the disclosure that the Holyrood Parliament's Public Petitions Committee intended to write to Fifa to ask the governing body of world football to clarify that participation in a British side at the 2012 Games would not threaten the separate status of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

The Committee's move follows the receipt of a petition – fronted by the former Scotland manager, Craig Brown – protesting against any attempt to present a British football team as anything other than a solely English gesture. A separate online petition was also launched.

However, Gordon Smith, the chief executive of the SFA, reacted with profound anxiety to the news that there was to be a direct political attempt to intervene.

"I am extremely concerned to read about the proposed action,'' he said. ''If there is one thing that Fifa dislikes it is political involvement in football issues. This is something that we would, of course, have told the members of the Committee had they sought to ask us our views.

Can't get much clearer than that.
And in other, admittedly not that startling, news, it appears that Sepp Blatter is an idiot who doesn't know his arse from his elbow:
The SFA's concern about the threat to Scotland's separate identity as a football entity was deepened when Sepp Blatter, the president of Fifa – who has previously said that a British Olympic team would not pose a problem – admitted last weekend that, in fact, there could be serious consequences.

If maths are correct, then that is the 5th conflicting opinion he's given on the subject which, even for Herr Blatter, is starting to get embarrassing Someone must have been plying him with the Guinness at the weekend.

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