Blatter stunned by FA's "strange" decision to abstain from FIFA vote

By Andrew Warshaw in Zurich

May 19 – Sepp Blatter reacted with veiled astonishment today at the announcement by the English Football Association that they would be taking the rare option of abstaining at the upcoming FIFA Presidential election.

The FA has been under increasing pressure since England’s failed 2018 World Cup bid not to support Blatter at the June 1 election.

FA chairman David Bernstein has met both Blatter and his Qatari challenger, Mohamed Bin Hammam, in recent weeks, only for the FA Board to recommend backing neither candidate and instead spoiling their ballot paper.

In a statement explaining its reasons, the FA pointed to “a well-reported range of issues both recent and current which, in the view of the FA board, make it difficult to support either candidate.”

“The FA values its relationships with its international partners very highly,” it said.

“We are determined to play an active and influential role through our representation within both UEFA and FIFA.

“We will continue to work hard to bring about any changes we think would benefit all of international football.”

But Blatter, just before flying to South Africa to drum up support among African countries convening there, said England abstaining would suit no one – least of all the reputation of the FA itself.

“I think it is a little bit strange when the number one association in the world, in other words the FA, has two candidates in front of them and cannot make a decision which one to support,” said Blatter who chose his words carefully after pausing to answer a reporter’s question at a media briefing here.

England and the other three British Home Associations have long enjoyed special status within FIFA, representing half the International FA Board – the game’s law-making body – and having a permanent FIFA vice-president nominated rather than elected.

Bernstein had already made it clear that England could take up its right to abstain but Blatter was patently taken aback by the lack of conviction.

“Of course you can abstain but, as I explained to Mr Bernstein when I saw him, the part the FA has played in the development of football, specifically in the development of football and the laws of the game,” said Blatter.

“The Congress gave the four British associations special privileges in 1948.

“Mr Bernstein asked me when I saw him what FIFA could do for England.

“I put it the other way – what can England do for FIFA?”

The most infamous case of abstention within FIFA’s ranks came at the vote for the 2006 World Cup when New Zealand’s Charles Dempsey changed his mind at the last minute, a pivotal decision that was largely responsible for handing the tournament to Germany instead of South Africa.

Blatter said England abstaining in the upcoming election would send the wrong message, citing “the importance of the FA in world football.”

“They [England] have a lot of rights but it’s also a responsibility,” he said.

“I think Mr Bernstein got the message, he knew exactly what I said.

“But I don’t know if the whole Board is on the same track.”

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