By Andrew Warshaw
October 7 – A leading anti-corruption expert who was part of the team commissioned by FIFA to recommend specific reform proposals has savagely rebuked the organisation and says it will never restore credibility as long as Sepp Blatter remains president.
Michael Hershman, who founded Transparency International, was a key member of the Independent Governance Committee set up by FIFA following a raft of corruption scandals but says that despite implementing many of the proposals recommended, FIFA is actually damaging the image of world sport by not showing enough ethical behaviour and financial propriety.
“FIFA is an organisation that has, in my judgment, hurt the credibility of sports throughout the world and continues to have an adverse effect,” said Hershman. “There is a lot of cynicism about FIFA and frankly it’s well deserved. But I’d rather see more anger because if we’re going to change the culture of organisations like FIFA, we are going to have to put pressure on stakeholders like sponsors and federations to demand appropriate change.”
Speaking at the two-day Securing Sport conference in London, the first time the annual event organised by the Qatar-based International Centre for Sport Security has been held outside Doha, Hershman added his voice to those who believe the report compiled by FIFA ethics investigator Michael Garcia into possible corruption surrounding the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bid process should be made public.
He believes FIFA’s refusal to lift its strict secrecy rules enshrined in its ethics code is too inflexible, but that there is a way to do it that maintains confidentiality.
“You can publish the highlights of the report that still allow for the protection of the witnesses, which I agree is important,” said Hershman. “Without the release of the key aspects and general findings, FIFA will continued to be ridiculed …for lack of commitment to transparency and accountability. The more people know about what was found, the greater credibility will be given to the job Garcia did. You often find confidentiality procedures, that’s not unusual, but there are always exceptions …and in a case like this commonsense should dictate what FIFA does rather than the written rule.”
“I find it very odd that a number of executive committee members have called for a release of the report as has Michael Garcia but when an executive committee meeting was held last week, a statement was put out by FIFA saying there were no calls in that meeting to release it. That gives you some idea of the internal pressure people face in FIFA to tow the line.”
Even though FIFA implemented 90% of the reform proposals – not a bad return by most standards – Hershman complained that the now disbanded Independent Governance Committee “continually faced pushback” from some executive committee members who did not want reform, notably when it came to term limits and compensation disclosure which he described as two key components of corporate governance.
“I’ve helped a number of organisations reform in my career and the FIFA assignment was the most difficult and unsatisfactory,” he said. “I don’t believe FIFA will ever have enough credibility unless there is a change in leadership and this doesn’t appear to be happening.”
Speaking to reporters after his address, Hershman said too many of the FIFA executive committee members were “dinosaurs who have not come into the 21st century understanding the change in culture and climate when it comes to ethics and values.”
He welcomed the new broom of reformists sweeping through the exco but bemoaned World Cup sponsors for not doing their part to put pressure on FIFA to change its ways.
“That’s such a disappointment. The sponsors have not come to the table and have simply paid lip-service. They haven’t put their money where their mouth is. They haven’t said, ‘unless you make these changes we’re going to walk away from the table’. Why? Because there’s too much at stake. It’s all about money.”
But he reserved his strongest comments for Blatter himself. “I think president Blatter should resign for the good of the sport and the good of the organisation,” Hershman said.
“He was in a leadership position when all of the scandals were happening and has not taken personal responsibility. It’s true he was not found to be involved in any personal wrongdoing. But when you have organisations that are continually under a cloud, the most effective way to get out from under that cloud is to change the leadership. Perhaps he thinks he’s indispensable but no-one is.”
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