By James Dostoyevsky, Mexico City
CONCACAF’s presidential election in Mexico City yesterday, was always going to be an interesting affair.
After FIFA ethics czar Domenico Scala had banned Gordon Derrick from running (something he cannot do of course in law, therefore he banned him from running for FIFA Vice president or any role in the new FIFA Council, thus making it impossible for him to run for CONCACAF, since the president is automatically named FIFA Vice President), there were two men left: former insurance salesman Victor Montagliani (who firmly closed his eyes to various match-fixing allegations of Canadian clubs, one is led to believe), and Bermuda’s top cop, Director of Pubic Prosecution, Larry Mussenden (long time FIFA Appeals Committee Member).
With 31 votes coming from the Caribbean (although the Bahamas and Bermuda joined the North American Football Union, NAFU, after they had quit the Caribbean Football Union, CFU) Mussenden should have had better chances than his opponent Montagliani, mathematically speaking.
But the days of a united Caribbean are long gone.
Personal interests prevail, and promises to individuals (maybe threats?) weigh far heavier than the consideration of governing one’s own destiny, it seems.
The core group of true Caribbean Members amounts to roughly 14-16 today; they think Caribbean, act Caribbean and cannot be easily bluffed into the slimy promises delivered by a handful of questionable characters who call the shots in the hemisphere.
So there you have it.
Montagliani won 25:16 and North America showed those ‘lowly Caribbeans’ once again who is boss. 25:16 means that 10 ‘Caribbeans’ voted for the Canadian.
It is understandable that Cuba’s Luis Hernandez was in favour of Montagliani; after all, Cuba owe Canada a ton of favours: the North American country never respected the US embargo and presented a lifeline to Castro. Fair enough.
It is also quite clear that the Bahamas, reduced to an appendix of the US, and Puerto Rico (now they can’t mess around at all, being about as bankrupt as can be – the Stockholm syndrome does come to mind in this context) would fall well in line with US orders and vote for Canada’s former insurance salesman.
Old man Guzman of the Dominican Republic – the same one who stood up at a CONCACAF Congress and compared Joseph S Blatter to Mandela and, believe it or not, Jesus Christ – follows orders as long as they are loud and clear: they were.
The other Caribbeans who betrayed their region by denying their vote to Mussenden, hail from Haiti (another de-facto colony at the mercy of a short man way up North and traditionally linked to a former CONCACAF General Secretary who has seen better days), Trinidad & Tobago (who probably has had enough of Caribbean football leadership, understandably), Suriname (who don’t know whether they are coming or going – being on the South American mainland but CFU Members and lovers of the Big Mac and Amsterdam), Aruba, and Curaçao
Caribbean football historians with not such a long memory (remember we are rewriting history to make it a bit more convenient with out new regimes at CONCACAF and FIFA) will remember that the CFU were the powerbase that elected Sunil Gulati to FIFA’s exco, a friend for life? Remember the letter sent by – wait for it – Gordon Derrick telling CFU members who they were to elect to FIFA’s exco. That letter failed to mention Mexican president Justino Compean who lost by one vote – get this – Jeff Webb’s. How times have changed, and so so quickly. Football’s landscape – and the Caribbean opportunity would likely have been very different if that one vote had gone the other way and Gulati was having to rely on his lecturing to keep him on the straight and narrow.
The CFU, which has a voting majority in CONCACAF, suffered the same fate as Arabia: without the slightest bit of solidarity, neither can ever think of becoming an independent group of countries, who share more than just ethnicity. The Caribbean shares a culture that thrust their forefathers from Africa on to Caribbean soil, and in Arabia’s case, a culture that unites, one would think, through the powerful tool of language –and much more.
But there are traitors in both camps: in the Arab world, it was a man called Prince Ali, who did everything he possibly could to hurt his brethren-of-sorts Salman (and succeeded nicely doing so), whereas in the Caribbean it was the above mentioned who stuck the knife into Mussenden’s back and made the “white man” win.
Be that as it may: a sad affair it is.
And be that as it may: perhaps we should wait and see whether the grand architect of this miserable game will soon be unmasked as yet another snitch among snitches and bring down a few of those who, presently, feel safe. Safe because they foolishly did as they were told. Just like lambs that are being led to the slaughter.
CONCACAF had a lot of problems in the past. Now many of its Members claim that it has a fabulous future. As an avid observer and analyst, I am not certain whether the five NAFU countries, the 10 UNCAF Members and the ten Caribbean traitors who betrayed their brothers will eventually be the winners. Or whether the entire sham of a deeply corrupted organisation with massive systemic problems will come tumbling down. Rather sooner than later.
Contact James Dostoyevsky at moc.l1734843390labto1734843390ofdlr1734843390owedi1734843390sni@o1734843390fni1734843390