Pound warns countries may have to break away to solve FIFA crisis

By Andrew Warshaw in Zurich

May 29 – Former International Olympic Committee (IOC) vice-president Dick Pound has given his backing to member countries breaking away from FIFA if there is no end to the spate of corruption scandals.

FIFA boss Sepp Blatter (pictured above left with Pound), his one-time challenger for the Presidency Mohamed Bin Hammam and veteran vice-president Jack Warner are all appearing before the Ethics Committee of world football’s governing body here to answer charges relating to the organisation’s biggest ever bribery scandal.

Pound played a significant role in transforming the image of the IOC following the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics that were marred by luxury kickbacks.

The IOC was forced to change the way bids for Olympic Games were handled after it emerged officials were given illegal favours to choose the American city as the venue.

Pound said unless FIFA get their act together, he would understand if member nations set up a breakaway grouping.

“If FIFA is not going to do the game any good, the game may have to do something to FIFA,” Pound told Sportsweek on BBC Radio 5 today.

“You could withdraw from FIFA, for example, and say we’re not satisfied that the organisation is not being properly run and it isn’t a credit to the sport we know and love, so let’s have an alternative.

“That’s one possibility. It has been done in other sport.”

Bin Hammam, who was due to oppose Blatter in Wednesday’s (June 1) election, withdrew in the early hours of this morning over his alleged role in bribes being paid to Caribbean members of FIFA.

In turn, Bin Hammam is effectively claiming Blatter was aware of some wrongdoing but did not report it, in itself a breach of FIFA’s ethics code.

“There are so many allegations of corruption and foul play and so forth around the activities of FIFA itself and in some of its recent selections for its events, so if there is that much smoke, there may be some fire,” said Pound.

“I should have thought it’s not good forFIFA’s reputation nor for the reputations of anyone involved for these things to be flying around without someone taking action.

“When something like this happened to the IOC, we took it extremely seriously.

“It was a difficult and painful process and when we emerged people understood we had done our best to try to get at the facts and deal firmly with those who had transgressed.

“The perception of the IOC today is quite different from what it was in 1998 or 1999.

“If the perceptions of an organisation is that the organisation is rife with corruption then it is up to the organisation either to demonstrate that it’s not or if it finds that it is to take whatever remedial measures are appropriate.”

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