SO THE stubborn septuagenarian resigned from the tiddlywinks committee. Why all the fuss and headlines, some eye-rolling observers have been wondering? What does it matter who runs FIFA, football’s abstruse governing body, or where its tournaments are held? All these shenanigans, like the furores that occasionally erupt in other sports, are absurdly overblown. Football belongs on the back pages, not the front.
That view, common among sports non-enthusiasts, rests on the mistaken notion that corruption in sport is also a sort of game, in which rubicund rogues harmlessly siphon off gate receipts. Even many fans, perturbed by the disruption of their hobby, miss its real gravity. Because at bottom this is not a recreational issue but a criminal one. Neither harmless nor victimless, sports corruption is perpetrated by crooked officials, abusive governments and gangsters, sometimes in concert. It matters—and, welcome as Sepp Blatter’s demise is, the problem goes well beyond him, FIFA and football (see article...
from The Economist: Leaders http://ift.tt/1FxwYJt
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