sports administration

Soccer: FIFA’s Sepp Blatter and corruption in high places

Português: Joseph Blatter, da Fifa, fala à imprensa após audiência com o presidente Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, no Palácio do Planalto (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Sepp Blatter has resigned.

The FIFA boss quit—perhaps—in anticipation of charges being filed against him by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The man—apparently—knows when the going is good.

Is this a victory for sports enthusiasts everywhere? For sportspersons? For anti-graft activists? For the UEFA?

The European body considered boycotting the  2018 World Cup in Russia; they managed to rope in a few South American nations as well.

All said and done, whatever the reasons, the news comes a breath of fresh air in the pungent, acrid atmosphere of world sports administration.

India is no stranger to corruption in sporting high places.

Suresh Kalmadi and N Srinivasan are names that roll off the tip of one’s tongue.

Is it time that sports administration became bodies for sportspersons, of sportspersons, by sportspersons?

Most budding sportsstars are now trained from an early age how to handle the media and their intrusions and inane quibbles. Is it too much to expect the sports academies of now and the future to also train them in sports administration and its intricacies?

Is this an utopian concept?

There are no difficult answers. Just difficult questions.

English: FBI agents from the Washington Field Office with one of the tactical vehicles they had standing by for the 2009 Presidential Inauguration (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Farooq Abdullah: What he said, really meant and definitely did not

What he said:

“Politicians have keys to open doors which others do not have.”

Dr. Farooq Abdullah is sanguine about the role of politicians in sports administration.Abdullah has headed the Jammu & Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) over 30 years. He was quoted responding to media queries following Dilip Vengsarkar’s loss in the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) elections.

What he really meant:

“Yeh hai India, meri jaan, where politicians feel it’s their birthright to have their fingers in every pie.”

What he definitely didn’t:

“Dilip would make a wonderful chief minister.”