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2 • Touchline • Issue 18
TIME TO GO?
By the time that you read this edition of Touchline, the ‘Greatest
Show on Earth’, the FIFA World Cup, will be well under way.
Most of us will be looking forward to a feast of football and
the excitement that only a competition of this magnitude can
bring…. . as well, of course, hoping that our team will play some
great football and get through to the final. Sport is one of the
few things in life that can have such a dramatic effect on how
we feel – whether it is the elation of winning or the despair of
losing. I am hoping for the former!
This year’s event has had its fair share of controversy and
protest. That is a surprise to many people and especially,
perhaps, to the FIFA executives and committee members
who contemplated that as a football mad nation,
Brazilians would all embrace the ‘Beautiful Game’s’
main event. It is easy to misjudge the mood sometimes.
However, in comparison with the controversy in which FIFA
is currently embroiled, the situation in Brazil appears to be a
storm in a teacup. The problem of Qatar just will not go away.
Sepp Blatter has been the focus for some of this controversy.
His comments regarding racism in relation to the protest
from the media over the corruption scandal were received
badly by some within the football world’s governing bodies.
This comment and his decision to seek a fifth term despite
stating previously that the fourth term would be his last, have
lead to unprecedented outspoken comments from several
representatives from the European football federation UEFA.
The President of the Dutch FA, Michael Van Praag made a
stinging attack: “This is nothing personal. . . but you are now
saying that Qatar was the wrong choice, but you are not blaming
yourself you are blaming your executive committee. Yesterday
FROM THE EDITOR: