There's some excellent stuff in the Economist magazine of June 4, relating to FIFA's handling of the World Cup. The main theme, unsurprisingly is the selection of Qatar as host for the 2022 finals. The Sunday Times has already produced some convincing evidence that the process was rigged and that large amounts of cash changed hands. The Economist is careful not to accuse Sepp Blatter of being corrupt, but the phraseology is such that they aren't ruling it out either.
There's no doubt that the choice of a country where summer temperatures routinely hit the high 40s, is extraordinary - and now a switch to a winter competition is being contemplated. The Times has followed up its earlier revelations with an accusation that of all the countries that applied to host the 2022 competition, only Qatar was deemed to have a high risk of a terror attack.
I've written elsewhere in my blog that I believe the introduction of goal line technology is another bizarre initiative. Why introduce new technology that solves only one of the many problems officials have in decision making when there is a ready made solution in the form of a TV replay? There are plenty of people who believe it's simply because the bidding process provided an opportunity for decision makers to get their noses in the trough, as competing providers sought to sway the decision in their direction.
I have no idea if that is true or not, but if FIFA wants to reverse the widely held assumption that it is corrupt, it needs to stop making decisions that look as though they could only have been made for all the wrong reasons.
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