There’s an episode of The Simpsons where a bunch of giant advertising mascots come to life and start destroying Springfield. All looks hopeless, until Lisa teams up with Canadian singer/songwriter Paul Anka, who saves the day with a little ditty about how advertising disappears if you “just don’t look.”
I’m thinking it might be time for the media to take a similar approach with FIFA president Sepp Blatter.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
Blatter recently celebrated being acclaimed to yet another needless term in office with a truly head-scratching presser. The twin messages: FIFA is not in a corruption crisis, and what is the matter with you miserable scribes that you don’t get that?
The denial and arrogance are breath-taking, but after a while, so what? How, I wonder, would the picture change if the media simply stopped showing up at Blatter news conferences?
It’s not as if Blatter is breaking any actual FIFA news. The real work, right now, is being done by journalists like Andrew Jennings and Declan Hill – people who dug through the dirt, got the goods and are gleefully screaming from the hilltops.
It’s also not like Blatter has ever been particularly on-point when addressing the media. Female soccer players should wear sexier shorts, domestic rosters should have six home-grown players, soccer needs a penalty box, top leagues should be smaller to reduce fixture backlog, and no – no way! – do the Confederations Cup or World Club Championship increase fixture backlog in any way at all.
FIFA makes news – constantly – but it’s not Blatter who charts the policy or offers real answers to fair, probing questions. Whatever actually power he still wields behind the scenes, his public role is that of a preening, narcissistic figurehead who seems quite content that press conferences are meant to feed his own vast ego, rather than the global need to know.
So … why bother? Why let this lizard have any lime-light at all?
When important FIFA news breaks, call Jennings or Hill or a more local soccer head, and run the reaction story. The after-effects are more important than the basic policies anyway. Or, if FIFA clarification is needed, get it from someone in the organization who actually wants to clarify.
These are explosive days at soccer’s world headquarters. Corruption scandals are exploding, and big names like CONCACAF president Jack Warner – a silent-movie villain, if ever this modern world has seen one – are being punished and investigated like never before.
Why not, then, leave the news-breaking to people who obviously value truth, communication and a less-corrupted future? Short of saying “I resign,” or attempting to award the 2026 and 2030 World Cups, why does it matter what Sepp Blatter thinks or feels about anything?
The idea that Blatter is FIFA is false, and is unraveling more and more each day. The good, effective, powerful global sports body that continues to do so much to keep soccer strong in the world is not, in any sustainable way, reflected by the strange, sneering, cartoonish man at the top.
Journalists – especially columnists – have a legitimate right to decide what stories are, or aren’t, worth covering. By giving endless attention to the outmoded, outdated and unhelpful, they can perpetuate people and problems that simply need to end.
If Sepp Blatter is ousted, or charged with any form of criminal offence, that’s a quote I want to get from him.
Until then, why don’t we all stop feeding this noxious, parasitic remnant? Let’s look ahead to those who will follow, and do everything we can to guide the global game into better, safer hands.
Onward!