By Andrew Warshaw
November 17 – British Sport and Olympics Minister Hugh Robertson led a string of scathing responses today to Sepp Blatter’s widely publicised racism comments, while the head of England’s players union called on the FIFA President to resign.
Despite a desperate trouble-shooting effort by Blatter to clarify comments he made to two television channels, his controversial remarks plunged him, not for the first time, into direct conflict with English football just at the time when two separate cases of alleged racism are being investigated.
Blatter whipped up a stream of protest yesterday by claiming that racism in football does not exist, and that any altercations on the pitch where racist language is used could be resolved by a handshake.
But his comments prompted a wave of criticism, with Robertson leading the way.
“This is unacceptable,” Robertson said.
“It’s part of a pattern of behaviour.
“It’s nothing terribly new.
“Blatter will expect the English and English press to pile this on him.
“Yes, there are other attitudes elsewhere.
“This is precisely why the President of FIFA needs not to dismiss this out of hand but roll up his sleeves and make sure this is sorted out.
“You need the President of world football to take a strong line on this.”
Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) chief executive Gordon Taylor (pictured) went even further.
“After all the corruption they’ve had in FIFA this is the straw that broke the camel’s back and it’s time for him to move over, maybe [make way] for Michel Platini,” he said.
“It is embarrassing – if one person should get it about racism it is the head of FIFA, which has 200 countries in the world, is so diverse with different cultures, creeds and colours.
“I just felt this was a bridge too far…he made offensive comments some time ago about female footballers and then more recently he was very homophobic in Qatar.
“We have had the World Cup bid process, we have had corruption in his own backyard, the total failure to use technology to get justice on the field – but this just goes beyond the line to talk like he did – it just shows he is totally out of tune and out of time.
“If you are the head of a football organisation you need followers and anybody who can follow him after that should feel ashamed of themselves.”
When asked if Blatter needs to step down, Taylor replied: “Without a shadow of doubt.
“He doesn’t understand how divisive racism is – it creates ‘them and us’.
“Football should be about pulling people together in society, that is what we are working hard on in England and why we are educating children, racism is caught not taught, we want a world where nobody even thinks about prefacing what they say with the colour of a person’s skin.
“But when you have the head of the world body saying that anyone on the receiving end on the pitch of racism should just treat it as part of the game and shake hands, it is outrageous and he is just not with it.
“If we are going to be a civilised society we have to believe we are all equal and we need to educate our children and sport has to play a part in that.”
Manchester United’s Rio Ferdinand, whose brother Anton has been the central figure in the ongoing investigation into allegations that England captain John Terry racially abused him, could not believe Blatter’s remarks.
“Tell me I have just read Sepp Blatter’s comments on racism in football wrong,” Ferdinand wrote on his official Twitter account.
“If not then I am astonished.
“I feel stupid for thinking that football was taking a leading role against racism.
“It seems it was just on mute for a while.
“Just for clarity if a player abuses a referee, does a shake of the hand after the game wipe the slate clean?”
Ferdinand later sent a message directly to Blatter: “Your comments on racism are so condescending its almost laughable.
“If fans shout racist chants but shake our hands is that okay?”
Ferdinand suggested that FIFA had deliberately tried to limit the damage by showing Blatter posing with a black man.
To which Blatter gave an almost surreal response, also by Twitter. “The ‘black man’ as you call him has a name: Tokyo Sexwale.
“He has done tremendous work against racism and apartheid in Africa…We have done several joint activities to raise awareness on the struggle against racism in South Africa.”
As the latest storm to envelop Blatter intensified, insideworldfootball has learned that the Swiss, who speaks fluent English but still lapses into occasional errors of grammar and language, is extremely hurt by the reaction to his comments made to two television stations.
“He hasn’t got a racist bone in his body,” said one FIFA insider who pointed out that English is not Blatter’s mother tongue.
It is understood he is now planning a longer television interview tomorrow to try and clear up this latest mess in his rollercoaster presidency.
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