By Andrew Warshaw
May 12 – England could take the remarkable step of abstaining when the FIFA Presidential election takes place on June 1, Football Association chairman David Bernstein disclosed today.
The FA are to decide whether to back Sepp Blatter or Mohamed Bin Hammam at a Board meeting on May 19 but Bernstein said there was a third option: not voting at all.
A number of senior FA figures still resent the way England only received two votes for their failed 2018 World Cup bid, and many blame Blatter for influencing his colleagues on the executive committee.
“I don’t think it would go down very well” with the public if the FA board decided to vote for the 75-year-old Swiss, said Bernstein.
Blatter’s credibility has been hit hard by the recent spate of corruption allegations made by former England bid leader Lord Triesman involving four Executive Committee members.
But Bin Hammam’s candidacy has also been tarnished by claims separate to Triesman’s, which allege that FIFA members Issa Hayatou and Jacques Anouma were paid $1.5 million (£917,000) to vote for Qatar 2022.
They deny the claims.
“There are two candidates and three possible decisions, the other being that we will abstain,” said Bernstein.
“We will look at the fact that this will be Mr Blatter’s last period.
We will look at recent events.
“I don’t think an abstention would be pointless.
“It could end up being a very credible choice, but it depends on what happens over the next week and my colleagues’ views on this.”
Bernstein added his voice to the growing clamour for an Olympic-style voting system to replace an elite few wielding so much power.
“Yes I do think it is too centralised,” he said.
“I think it would be desirable for a voting system based on a national vote…I think that would be a move towards greater democracy, absolutely.
“FIFA is a very closed organisation and a lot goes on behind closed doors.”
Bernstein also revealed that the FA have commissioned a leading barrister to consider Lord Triesman’s claims that four FIFA members during England’s 2018 World Cup bid campaign asked for sweeteners to secure their votes.
Among Triesman’s allegations was that FIFA vice-president Jack Warner asked for money to pay for an education centre in Trinidad, a claim now backed up by Premier League chairman Sir Dave Richards.
Another was that Paraguay’s FIFA member Nicolas Leoz asked for a knighthood.
James Dingemans QC will examine the evidence and speak to Triesman, who made the allegations under Parliamentary privilege on Tuesday (May 8).
Dingemans will then report back to the FA – and FIFA – by Friday May 27, three days before the Presidential election, and his findings made public.
“It is essential that we determine as soon as possible the weight of evidence behind these serious allegations,” Bernstein said.
“We want to come up with the truth, verifiable facts.
“Lord Triemsan is a man of honour.
“He has made these allegations, no doubt they can be sustained.
“Whether they can be sustained with proper evidence, or not we will have to see.
“I have changed my view.
“I was not looking to have any sort of inquiry into the [2018] World Cup, I thought it would be a fruitless exercise.
“But in view of this, we have changed our minds and it was our decision even before we heard from FIFA.
“If Lord Triesman’s allegations can’t be supported I suppose they will die a death because unsupported allegations will not take anyone very far.
“If the allegations are to stick with FIFA, they need to be supported.”
Meanwhile, Damian Collins, the MP who revealed the Qatar side of the latest scandal, said the FA should offer to abandon its historic FIFA privileges in return for reform of the world governing body.
The FA and the governing bodies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are the only individual national associations on the International Football Association Board, the game’s law-making body.
Several figures in world football have long resented the so-called “special privilege” which also provides for a constant British vice-president of FIFA.
Collins said the FA could offer to give them up.
“The FA should be at the vanguard of pushing for the reform of FIFA,” he told Press Association.
“We should be leading the call for change and should be prepared to ruffle a few feathers.
“We should be prepared to give concessions in order to achieve reform and be prepared to consider giving up the historic privileges.”
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May 2011: Triesman accuses FIFA Executive Committee members of asking for bribes