Two mafias meet, at last

Is anyone surprised that the 2018 World Cup go to a Mafia state? Surely everybody is afraid of its boss? (Which is not its president, obviously.) And an organisation so corrupt from top to bottom, under the great leadership of that Sxxx Bxxxxxx guy, surely is to affiliate itself with the biggest Mafia? Looks like a perfect partnership to me.

That said, even ignoring all "political" side of things, it's hard to argue against it. When I first heard about England bidding for it, my first reaction was "you're kidding me." The British media have an inexplicable optimism about the whole thing. (Just like every time they think they are going to win the World Cup with "the strongest squad in N years".) Seriously, why should anyone let them host it? They only won the World Cup once when they happened to be the host (and the ball never crossed the line).

And I dislike the idea of joint bids. It's like having joint winners in "最受歡迎女歌星" (or similar awards) every time. I seem to recall there was a 4-country bid to host some tournament. Sooner or later we will see a 16-country bid thus occupying half the places in the tournament...

And... Qatar? (My jaw dropped and I moved to within one inch of the screen when I saw it - and a student happened to be outside at that instant...) I mean... why? ...how? ...who?

And some responses:

Running two World Cups together was clearly a mistake... It inevitably led to people with votes in 2018 doing deals with people involved in 2022.

England 2018 bid chief executive Andy Anson 

I suppose "mistake" is a polite word. Clearly the FIFA lot designed this on purpose; the more such deals, the more chance of making bribery out of it.

Similarly,

Premier League chairman Richard Scudamore said the fact England have facilities already in place appeared to have counted against them. "They have decided to take the World Cups to developing areas," he said. "What's gone against us is not having to build 20 new stadia..." 

 "Taking the World Cup to under-developed countries" is such a grand sounding and politically correct agenda, but do you really believe that such a corrupt organisation will be so well-hearted? You know, building stadia is another great way of getting your hands on bribery money.

Fifa is an organisation that doesn't have to answer to anyone. What did we expect?

Former England manager Graham Taylor

Now that is to the point. I am long against the "no political influence" principle of FIFA. It probably started with good intentions, preventing dictatorship governments using football to serve their political agenda, etc. But now it has become a shield for FIFA so that they are not accountable to anyone or any government (at least some of which need to listen to people). I sometimes wonder, are they even immune to police arrests? Why should all footballing matters in the world decided by this "elected" president of this organisation (elections with even less democracy than Hong Kong's)? Look at their insistence on not using video technology. How can anyone break this big protection racket in this football governing body now?

I dream about a world where some people stand up against Sxxx Bxxxxxx, start a rebel footballing faction, with its own players, clubs and tournaments. With video technology in refereeing decisions, of course. (I know, it's not going to happen. That's why it is a dream.)