By David Owen
May 16 – “Yes, of course.” With these words, Joseph Blatter, FIFA’s President, sent social media networks into a frazzle today. What the boss of world football had done, under questioning on Swiss TV channel RTS, was acknowledge that FIFA’s decision to award Qatar the 2022 World Cup in the blazing heat of a Gulf summer was a mistake.
What he actually said (in French) was:
“Yes, of course [it was a mistake].
“But in life one makes many mistakes.
“The technical report on Qatar indicated clearly that it is too hot in summer.
“But the Executive Committee, with quite a big majority, decided nonetheless that we can play in Qatar.”
The admission sparked an immediate widespread reaction, including a number of much-circulated Tweets from Gary Lineker, the former England centre-forward turned TV presenter.
“Blatter ‘everyone makes mistakes.’ Pretty big one. He’s the man in charge. I imagine his resignation letter is being composed as we tweet!!!”, Lineker Tweeted.
Inside FIFA, though, I suspect the President’s words may have been interpreted very differently.
Remember, next year brings a Presidential election, and while we suspect Blatter will run unopposed but for Jérôme Champagne, nothing is yet certain.
In this context, I think FIFA insiders, some of them at least, would have interpreted today’s comments thus:
“It was a mistake to vote for Qatar to stage the 2022 World Cup in summer, but it was nothing to do with me.
[It is generally accepted that Blatter, unlike 14 colleagues some of whom are still Executive Committee members, did not vote for the Gulf state; I believe that he voted for Australia in the first round and thereafter the United States.]
“Re-elect me next year, and do things my way, and you minimise the chances of similar mistakes re-occurring.”
I should add that I don’t think Blatter can entirely escape responsibility for the Qatar decision: after all he presided over a governance system in which a clear majority of his colleagues felt able to discount a FIFA Evaluation Group report that branded plans to play the competition there in June and July as “a potential health risk”.
But I would also add, given the super-rich state’s cooling technology plans and the option of playing most matches after sunset, that the potential risk seems to me principally to concern visiting supporters.
Of course, no-one can blame reporters for taking the FIFA President’s comments at face value.
I would simply observe that one of his most potent weapons over the years has been the tendancy of others to underestimate him.