"Panorama" and FIFA bribes allegations

[Philellinas]

I was going to post this link under sport but that is only an incidental feature of this case:-
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11841783
A telling paragraph is the reaction of the England 2018 bid to the programme:-

We stand by our previous position that the BBC's Panorama did nothing more than rake over a series of historical allegations, none of which are relevant to the current bidding process. It should be seen as an embarrassment to the BBC.

The allegations, although they refer to the period 1989-1999, are still very much relevant because all three officials allegedly involved have a vote on Thursday when the host for the 2018 World Cup is decided. The programme is an embarrassment to FIFA which has tried to kick the allegations into the long grass. When it is reported that some of the "payments" (bribes?) have been channelled through Liechtenstein one does tend to be suspicious. The whole process of bidding for the Olympics and World Cups is rather sordid and is an open invitation to small-scale corruption if not venality. Why don't the powers-that-be just allocate the events on a rota basis and avoid the unseemly and expensive circus of mounting a bid?

[AndyM]

It was also shocking to see the tax breaks FIFA demands from any host country. And the clamour to try and stop this 'Panorama' being shown is so telling - personally I'd love it if the World Cup was staged here but the prevailing argument that spectacle is more important than probity or truth is a neat, depressing microcosm of contemporary realities.

[Adam Blake]

the prevailing argument that spectacle is more important than probity or truth is a neat, depressing microcosm of contemporary realities.

Nicely put. I'd say t'was ever thus but somehow it seems even more so now, doesn't it? I daresay spectacle is more precious in hard times. As someone who doesn't "get" sport, I've often thought it takes on aspects of religion in a secular age, and tribalism etc etc. But one of its main attractions (correct me if I'm wrong) is that it's perceived as being something that is fair in an unfair world - "may the best team win" and all that. Is this not terribly naive? Wherever there are huge sums of money involved there is corruption, no?

[AndyM]

The dream, or fantasy, of fair victories is indeed one of the great allures of sport. Navratilova playing tennis, Best or Cantona on the pitch, Usain Bolt tearing down the track - all proof of how sublime and enriching human endeavour can be, not at all (to me) unlike the best musicians at the top of their game. So some idiots, like me, still get demoralised when the corruption kicks in. Demoralised but no longer shocked.

[Adam Blake]

Oh don't get me wrong. George Best was the Jimi Hendrix of football (discuss). I've nothing but admiration for great sportsmen and women. My problem is simply that I don't care who wins or loses. I feel terribly sad that these great exceptional people are at the mercy of the sordid machinations of moneygrubbing criminals. It's the money, the money, always the money. Follow the money. I loved football as a child. It was when the players started wearing adverts on their chests that I started to lose interest. The definition of a cynic is a disillusioned idealist, isn't it? Look at the faces of those FIFA guys. Did you ever see such a dodgy bunch?

[AndyM]

Look at the faces of those FIFA guys. Did you ever see such a dodgy bunch?

They could pass for university senior management.

[Adam Blake]

Bitter, Andy. You're bitter.

[David Flower]

The definition of a cynic is a disillusioned idealist, isn't it? ?

i always remember John Fowles definition from The Magus which I believe to be true

"Cynicism masks the inability to cope"

[Hugh Weldon]

"Cynicism masks the inability to cope"

A friend used to quote that at me, but I never understood it really, could only conclude that John Fowles must have been a much tougher individual than me. Though if you add the words "with bullshit" maybe it begins to make some sense...

[David Flower]

i always understood it this way. Cynicism is bad news. It's an attitude developed by adults where you begin to fail to appreciate your fellow man's enthusiasms. It's notably absent from most children and arguably from most people one meets from outside Europe (huge generalisation of course but a bit of a truism for me). It can often accompany the bottle, or other prop, and develop from a down-sliding curmudgeonly feeling of resentment towards others. Generally cynicism is to be avoided and and an outlook to be discouraged and shaken out of. It's not the same as scepticism. So Fowles' aphorism is a watchword, at least for me. Cynicism embeds itself when one is not dealing with things or other people adequately and appropriately. Hence 'not coping'