When you’re a fan of a tiny English lower-division football club, you don’t get a whole lot of World Cup action.
Port Vale – the small yet scrappy fourth-division side that won my heart decades ago, both for its obscurity and ball-to-feet style of play – rarely gets mentioned on the beautiful game’s biggest stage.
But it certainly did in 2006.
And that’s just part of why ex-CONCACAF president Jack Warner’s rat-in-a-lifeboat departure from the Good Ship FIFA is making me smile this morning.
Warner? Port Vale? I’m ever so glad you asked.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
Toronto FC fans were recently reminded of the name Chris Birchall when the swift and useful L.A. Galaxy midfielder scored in the second minute of the Reds’ recent, eventual 2-2 draw in California.
In 2006, in Germany, Birchall was a proud, contributing member of that astonishing, over-achieving Trinidad & Tobago team that drew Sweden, almost drew England, and were generally one of the better feel-good underdog stories of recent times.
Birchall was “the white guy” on that team. He was also a regular starter for Port Vale.
And like every other member of that wonderful, unlikely squad, he was screwed out of his World Cup players’ share by Jack Warner, who simply, flatly refused to hand over the money owed to his own nation’s brilliant, inspiring Soca Warriors.
The scandal has faded over time, but it sure didn’t do anything to take the target off of Warner’s back for me. That entire team – not just its lone, heroic Vale man – deserved far, far better than it got. It was a once-in-a-lifetime jackpot, and they (lower-division scrappers to practically the last man) never got their share.
Most soccer people don’t have to dig nearly that deep to find a reason to despise Jack Warner. The corruption is legendary, and there should be many more ringing allegations to come.
For me, though, that single despicable act of greed far over-shadows the obvious blocks Warner threw to help Canada land the 2007 U-20 World Cup and get BMO Field built.
All of that could and should have happened anyway. Perhaps we were all just lucky that someone with a bigger bankbook and smaller scruples didn’t come-a-tap-tap-tappin’ on Trader Jack’s back door that year.
The disappointment for many, of course, is that FIFA has said it will not investigate any of the many charges and allegations facing its long-standing number-two man. I share your pain – but it doesn’t matter.
There’s this thing out there called law enforcement. With Warner stepping down under a cloud, there is no longer any reason or excuse for the international anti-crime-and-corruption community to ignore the avalanche of allegations against Warner made by journalist Andrew Jennings and countless others.
And it won’t stop at Warner.
Warner threw more and bigger blocks for ongoing FIFA president Sepp Blatter than most. And even though the Trinidadian Trickster apparently turned against the Swiss Swish at the end, the links between the two men are legendary – and more than merely admissible in a court of law.
So let FIFA stand aside. If Blatter can’t condemn Warner without bringing himself down, he really doesn’t have to.
A very long line is forming at FIFA’s door, of those who’ll be delighted to take on both jobs.
Soca Staffordshire!
Onward!