News http://www.playthegame.org/ News feed from playthegame.org en News http://www.playthegame.org/typo3conf/ext/tt_news/ext_icon.gif http://www.playthegame.org/ 18 16 News feed from playthegame.org TYPO3 - get.content.right http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Wed, 13 Nov 2013 07:54:00 +0100 Beckham and Ferguson: A Tale of Two Masculinities http://www.playthegame.org/news/detailed/beckham-and-ferguson-a-tale-of-two-masculinities-5607.html In this comment piece, professor David Rowe takes a look at the changes to sport, celebrity and... David Rowe is a professor of cultural research at the University of Western Sydney (UWS). The article was originally published on the website of the Institute for Culture and Society at the UWS, and is republished on Play the Game’s website with kind permission from the author. ]]> Societal and personal development News article Tue, 21 May 2013 15:08:00 +0200 Abstract submission deadline extended http://www.playthegame.org/news/detailed/abstract-submission-deadline-extended-5604.html Another chance to have your say about sports governance: Play the Game 2013 extends abstract... 15 June 2013 and you can read the Call for Papers here  Read more about how to submit an abstract here Governance is not the only area to be examined at the conference that will feature the following themes:
  • Match-fixing: Fair game for gangsters? 
  • Sports reforms: Fact or phantom?
  • The anti-doping dilemma: Saving sport, sacrificing athletes?
  • Recreational sport: A lost cause for sports organisations?
  • Sports facilities: Who are we building for?
  • From Russia to Rio: Power games or people’s games?
  • Open forum
Read more about the themes here. The final conference programme will consist of several tracks in order to make it possible for delegates to pursue specific topics throughout the entire conference. Sign up for four days of enlightening sessions, vivid debates and enriching networking, register at the early bird rate here.]]> News article Conference news 2013 Fri, 17 May 2013 10:51:00 +0200 IWF president under suspicion of financial mismanagement http://www.playthegame.org/news/detailed/at-the-laundry-5603.html In the International Weightlifting Federation under IOC honorary member Tamás Aján, the whereabouts...
The story begins four years ago, during the latest IWF electoral convention in Madrid at the end of March 2009. Aján, like most years, whined a little, when he presented the annual financial statements: "It has never been easy to secure a suitable financial background to our activities." Such sentences did not fall into the taste of a few officials: certainly, only a few know that Aján cashes in USD 300,000 per year for his honorary post, but no one can miss the fact that the costs for running the President’s office in Budapest, where among others Aján’s son-in-law acts, are constantly rising. At this point, a delegate asks why the current balance sheet opened without funds, where the previous one closed with a surplus of USD 1.6 million. There are further questions to this thin three-page list of revenues and expenditures. So many in fact that a tell-tale sentence slips out of the IWF boss‘ mouth: Within the IWF "the complete overview of the funds" was being made accessible only to the Executive Board and the internal auditors. Questions, questions
The complete overview of the funds? Many of the officials hear about this for the first time. This is also the case for the newly elected Auditor’s Committee; it is their job to check the balance sheets presented by the President. A few weeks after the electoral convention, the three auditors submit some questions to Aján. The first one concerns money from the IOC, which since 1992 allocates shares of the marketing-income from the Olympic Games to the International Sports Federations. For the Peking Games only USD 1.3 million are in the latest balance sheet. "We do not wish", Aján lets the auditors know, "to send you the required documentation, as it consists in reserved information." What lies behind that, the auditors learn when they do their inspection in Budapest, and therefore they refuse to acknowledge the new financial statement: In their opinion it is – like all the balance sheets and financial statements have been for years – "absolutely unacceptable." Because it only shows revenues and expenditures for an account with the National Savings Bank in Budapest. In Switzerland, where most of the international sports federations are formally based, there are two more bank accounts. For which, strangely enough, not the Secretary General/Treasurer is authorized to sign, but: Aján. USD 16.7 million is stashed there, the funds from the IOC. It is a lot of money for the lifters – they calculate with an annual budget of 3 million U.S. dollars. However, since 1992 a total of USD 23.3 million came from the IOC. After Madrid, the IWF Executive Board requires clarification. At a crisis meeting, the long-serving vice president Sam Coffa (Australia) makes this calculation: should a normal interest rate of 5 % not assure 28 million dollars on the account in Switzerland? Aján refers to losses in the financial markets. And to the fact that IOC funds have also flowed into the account in Budapest. According to the official balance sheets this was only twice the case, in 2004 and 2009. But this does not explain the difference. Even on the basis of conservative calculation the deficit is still impressive: Approximately 5 million U.S. dollars. Aján promises clarification. Two professional auditing companies are engaged. Their findings the president then sells in internal circulars as clean bills of health ("found no irregularities") – of course, without publishing the reports. For a good reason: when mingled into the overall picture, they support the suspicion of unexplained funds. The experts, however, were only allowed to review one of the Swiss bank accounts back to 1992, and only for a so-called performance analysis. According to that, five payments were made to the recipient "IWF" at the total of nearly 600,000 dollars. In the balance sheets for the relevant years, the input is at best traceable only once, in 1999, where the revenue item "interest" was inexplicably high. Besides, the "performance" raises stronger doubts about the alleged "losses" on the financial markets – the bankers increased the IWF assets. But above all, the transactions on the second account remain in the dark. Only at the first glance one might wonder why soon enough within the Executive Board approval dominates again. "We must protect our President to protect the image of weightlifting", one Board member comments on those auditor’s reports. This is almost a critical contribution. Coffa for instance is now deeply impressed by the scrappy figures: Aján's "financial activities", he states, were "highly appreciated". An approach for interpretation, from the inner life of International Sports Federations, where even scandal-involved figures can grow old. For the IWF, the three rebellious auditors deliver an explanation with their next report: all payments to the board members, they recommend, should "be made by bank transfers because there are large cash amounts in question". Aján's answer: "90 percent of the members will not be happy with it", and personally he does not agree. To explain the cash practice, says one National Weightlifting Federation president, you need not be "a financial genius". "In some countries, this would be interesting for the tax authorities." Only eleven weightlifting officials, most of them presidents of European federations, believe that it is time to clean out the own stable. In February 2011 they notify the affair of the missing millions to IOC president Jacques Rogge. Formally, their complaint is referring to "the International Weightlifting Federations financial management". After acknowledgement of all facts, they address more precisely: "Essentially, the non-reporting of the Swiss bank accounts and the related transactions with those accounts, means that from 1992 through March 2009, Mr Tamás Aján had a hidden fund at his disposal with no control whatsoever on his use of the said funds." Rogge is requested to proceed the matter to the IOC Ethics Commission, for an "in-depth-investigation". The complainants refer to a passage of IOC’s book on etiquette, the Code of Ethics: "The Olympic resources of the Olympic parties", it states seemingly indisputable, "may be used only for Olympic purposes." Their use "must be clearly demonstrated in the accounts". The washing machine is spinning for three months. Then the IOC legal department spits out a result in seven lines: The matter is "related to the application of the IWF Statutes". "Consequently, the IOC, respecting the IF’s autonomy, will not intervene in this debate." The Italian Antonio Urso, President of the European Weightlifting Federation, and one of the auditors are not willing to let go that easily. They think this rejection is in conflict with "the ethical values of Olympism." This is the content of an appeal, they, as individual persons, file to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Defendants: the IOC and its President. The CAS award from last June 2012 could have been written in a few words as the judges determined that the case was outside their jurisdiction. Yet they devote 195 sentences – a special taking of evidence about all the matters you cannot claim within the allegedly efficient self-purification, the Olympic family subjects itself to with its sports law. For instance, the decisions of the IOC-magnificos are "final", also the one from Rogge related to the IWF-complaint. Embarrassing for the IOC
Also safe from judicial control is the business-morality of dubious kings of sports federations: Only matters in connection with the event of the Olympic Games can be brought to CAS. That does not involve the billions of profits from the big party nor "the mismanagement of funds". Moreover: The International Federations do not belong to the "Olympic parties". Therefore, the Code of Ethics is "not applicable". The whole affair rounds up to be an embarrassment, as the judges order the IOC to pay one third of the costs of arbitration, linked with the statement, the appellants could "reasonably and legitimately" be of the opinion, that  CAS could entertain the appeal. But even without this explicit statement of displeasure – the award reminds of another parallel universe, where patrons juggle with lots of money, without rules for its management. One weightlifting official puts his disillusion this way: "The International Federations are autonomous – autonomous, too, in corruption." And he adds: "Probably, we have been naive to assume the IOC would support us." The suspicion that the lords of the rings prefer to protect their peers instead of investigating hard indications of infamous practices, is not an away-with-the-fairies view. Aján has been with the IOC for 13 years, since 2010 he is an honorary member. And the IOC Ethics experts are, by all means, allowed to watch over the members of the Olympus. However, Aján only has to reckon with his own federation. If ‘the wrong one’ wins the Moscow elections, the final clarification of his financial deals is looming. Three of his five opponents want to investigate the transactions on the Swiss bank accounts and the whereabouts of the millions of dollars. An uncomfortable scenario, not only for Aján. At the beginning of the year IOC’s top-heads demonstrated their strong belief in the good within an Olympier: The Hungarian again was appointed to serve in two commissions. At the IWF-convention in April the president paid back and gave his thanks for the "fruitful cooperation". This time, everybody believed his words.

Read the complaint sent to the IOC Read the IOC's answer to the complaint Read the CAS award 
Grit Hartmann is a German investigative journalist. This article was first published in German on Berliner Zeitung and Frankfurter Rundschau and is exclusively reprinted in English at www.playthegame.org.]]> Transparency and good governance News article Tue, 14 May 2013 10:53:00 +0200 Brazil ups fight against corruption, puts sport under pressure http://www.playthegame.org/news/detailed/brazilians-put-corrupt-leaders-under-pressure-5599.html A televised legal battle against corrupt politicians and two upcoming mega-events are sharpening... On Sunday December 2nd, an elderly British gentleman with his white hair swept back in unruly waves boarded the plane from London to the Brazilian city of São Paulo. Even though these visits are as common in Brazil as sunshine and samba rhythms, the comings and goings of this specific gentleman was followed with particular interest in the top of Brazilian sports.  The last time he visited the country in October 2011, it lead one of sports’ most powerful rulers, not only in Brazil but in the world, to resign in disgrace from all of his posts a few months later. So there might be good reasons for certain sports leaders to sit unruly in their seats during this visit. For whom does he have his eyes on this time, the British reporter Andrew Jennings? In 2011, Jennings was invited to give evidence in the Brazilian Senate about the fact that two of FIFA’s top profiles – the 96-year-old honorary FIFA president, João Havelange, and his former son-in-law, the president of the Brazilian football federation (CBF) and FIFA Ex-Co member, Ricardo Teixeira – were the driving forces of FIFA corruption for decades. Jennings’ documentation of the Brazilians’ roles in the ISL scandal – the biggest known corruption scandal in international sport – was crucial in making the pressure on Teixeira so substantial that he in 2012 had to withdraw from his posts and today lives in self-imposed exile in Florida, USA. Havelange has had to leave the IOC and a few weeks ago – 18 April 2013 – left his honorary presidency in FIFA. With the 2014 FIFA World Cup right around the corner, it was characteristic for the atmosphere surrounding Teixeira that not even Brazil’s President, Dilma Rousseff, would have her picture taken with him.  Jennings’ efforts were heard far beyond the political sphere. A group of fans painted his face on a banner and brought it to the football team Internacional’s home court in Porto Alegre with the subtitle “save the World Cup 2014”. Such an honour has certainly not been bestowed on many journalists anywhere in the world. Also today, Jennings and any other journalist, researcher or whistleblower working to uncover corruption in sport will find a responsive audience both among the Brazilian public and the country’s politicians.  The upcoming 2014 football World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics have already had an effect that few sports leaders had counted on: a greater focus on how sport manages its rising public and private subsidies.  Focus changes to Olympic president
After Ricardo Teixeira’s formal resignation – it is rumored that he is this very active behind the scene – focus has shifted to the 71-year-old president of the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB), Carlos Arthur Nuzman. He is in the line of fire for many reasons. He has, as the first NOC president in the recent history of the Olympics, placed himself also as the chairman of the Organizing Committee for the 2016 Olympic Games and has thereby assumed a highly demanding double-role which arouses suspicion among those who feel that his results have been failing. “The effort Carlos Nuzman made as president of Brazilian volleyball for 20 years cannot be compared to his years as president of COB. The latter has been a giant fiasco”, argues one of the most well-known critical voices in the sports debate, journalist and blogger Juca Kfouri.  Even though Nuzman has presided for 17 years as an Olympic president and has received a doubled state subsidy of more than two billion Brazilian Real (around 960 million USD) for the four years’ preparations for the London 2012 Olympics, he and the COB has not brought the country to the top of the medal statistics.  Sure, Brazil had with its 17 medals – three gold, five silver and nine bronze – its best Summer Olympics ever, but it was only marginally better than Beijing in 2008 with 15 medals – also three gold.  No public trust in event leaders
Even though the investments in professional sport have been increased with an additional 265 million dollars until 2016, few Brazilians believe that the host nation will realise its goal to be among the ten leading Olympic nations in 2016. Many people ask themselves why the doubled funding to top sport has not been to greater benefit of the elite athletes who must often scrape a living and pay for their own travels, training camps and equipment.  ”There is not one reason to believe that the Olympics in Rio will be any more transparent than the Pan American Games with regards to how the public funds are being spent, as it is the exact same people who are in charge of the event. Not one enjoys the trust of the Brazilian public,” says Juca Kfouri.  The suspicion of corruption is not the only charge the sport leaders must defend themselves against.  “There is a need for quick changes in the structure of the federation,” Brazil’s sports minister Aldo Rebelo announced in the weekly magazine Veja shortly after the London Olympics.   “Democratisation and professionalism are the keywords. It is necessary to limit the leaders’ tenures to three or four years and with only one possibility for re-election,” the minister argued and posed the changes as a condition for the sports federations to receive public subsidies.  The announcement did not raise enthusiasm among sports leaders and the minister has since backtracked a bit. There is no time to push through the legislation in this session and the changes will not become effective until after the 2016 Olympics, he now argues.   Nuzman skips congress hearing
This made a number of politicians, led by the former Brazilian striker Romario, who is now a member of the Chamber of Deputies and the head of its Tourism and Sport Commission, get on their feet. Yes, said Romario, there is plenty of time but no political will:  “It is unacceptable that the Government continues to distribute funds to federations who extend their chairmen’s power eternally. People who put themselves beyond morality, meets private interests and drives out scandals, either because of poor use of resources or corruption, “ Romario wrote on his blog.  Since his election in 2011 to the Chamber of Deputies for the Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB), Romario has been a strong voice against the widespread corruption in Brazilian football. For years, the Brazilian Football Confederation has had its own “bench” for political supporters in Congress, but Romario is changing the sentiment.  In April 2013 he handed in an appeal to the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) signed by over 50,000 Brazilians. The appeal demands that the CBF president, José María Marín, steps down because of his role as a political assistant for the former military regime.  Marín has responded by taking Romario to court for defamation, but Romario has more options on his tactics board: He is also pushing to subject the CBF to a congressional investigation.  Paralympic president limits his own power
One federation that swims against the tide is the Brazilian Paralympic Committee (CPB) under the management of the only 35-year-old Andrew Parsons. He was elected president in 2009 as part of a reform programme which means that he has limited his own tenure to a maximum of two periods of four years.  CPB has impressed by realising the goals it set of becoming the number one nation at the Para-Pan American Games (disabled sport’s equivalent to the Pan American Games) and number seven at the Paralympics in London last year.  Parsons cleverly avoids criticizing his colleagues in the COB and the big sports federations directly, but tries to set a positive agenda that indirectly reveals inadequacies elsewhere in Brazilian sport: ”We have reached our results by following clear objectives, planning, hard work and evaluations. When we receive public funds, we feel that it is only fair that we make our objectives publicly known,” Parsons said at the Play the Game day in São Paulo this October.  ”Changing the tenure does not solve anything in itself, because no one knows if a new face is better than the old or comes from the same group. It takes bigger changes in the way the federations are governed, not only via governmental legislation. But the changes cannot only take place from above in an office in Brasilia or São Paulo, they have to involve the lower levels of sport as well”.   Olympic burglary 
It is not wise to oppose will of Carloz Nuzman directly. This is something that Eric Maleson, the president of the Brazilian Ice Sports Federation has learned the hard way. Out of 30 federation presidents, he was the only one who opposed when Nuzman was re-elected COB president for the fifth time.  The conflict between them culminated when leading COB employees broke in at the Ice Sports Federation’s headquarters in December last year, allegedly because the Brazilian authorities had unsuccessfully asked for certain documents to be handed over. This was a legitimate reason to break in to the opponent’s offices, which are leased from COB, says COB itself and refers to the fact that nothing was removed.  It has been more difficult for Nuzman and the COB to explain their way out of another break-in: shortly after the London Olympics it was revealed that key employees from the Rio 2016 Organising Committee had broken into a server belonging to their British colleagues from London 2012 and had gained access to confidential material on organisation, commercial contracts, etc.  Even though this case looks remarkably like a similar occurrence in 2007 when some of Nuzman’s trusted employees stole files belonging to a private event-management bureau, the two Organisation Committees in London and Rio has so far succeeded in covering up the incident. The crucial question is of course whether the break in happened by order of Carloz Nuzman or with his silent consent.   Mensalão-scandal may be a turning point
The pressure on the sports federations has come in a time when the Brazilian public seems more tired than ever of the corruption which seems to be inextricably linked with political power, both in and outside of sport.  Politicians are often mentioned in the same breath as criminals and thieves, and they are not without blame in attracting this reputation. The current congress has granted itself the highest politician salaries in the world and it is tradition that the government must purchase votes in order to be able to carry out its policies. But something is changing. President Dilma Rousseff, who took over the post from the popular Lula on 1 January 2011, has advocated for a stronger effort against corruption, fired seven ministers – including the former sports minister Orlando Silva – and, in spite of her relatively modest political and economic results, she enjoys enormous support among the Brazilian voters.  Last year football had to compete for attention on the TV-screens, as a huge number of Brazilians have been following the live transmissions from the court proceedings from the so-called mensalão-case. Mensalão is a slang expression for a huge monthly allowance and is used as a byname for the most serious disclosure of corruption in the top of Brazilian politics to date.  According to the Supreme Court, 27 million real (around 13 million USD) were distributed from the Treasury to political allies through an ingenious system of public and private institutions. The purpose was to ensure that Lula could carry out pivotal reforms.  Supreme Court has now imposed severe punishments on a number of former president Lula’s ministers and closest associates along with allied politicians and businessmen – between two and a half years and up to 40 years imprisonment.  It is never before seen that such a number of societal notables – and particularly not politicians – have been put in jail. The scandal can prove to be a turning point in the relationship between the population and the political elite.  Stole a youth tournament medal
In this atmosphere, sports leaders are forced to account for more than they have so far. Once the now dethroned football president Ricardo Teixeira got away with saying that it was no one’s business how the CBF spent its money as it was a “private organisation”. The argument is still thriving in the CBF, where Teixeira’s successor as president, the 81-year-old José Maria Marín, was caught on film by ESPN discreetly putting a medal in his own pocket at a price ceremony at a youth tournament in January.  Also Teixeira’s successor as FIFA  ExCo member, CBF vice chairman Marco Polo del Nero, has sent out a press release to reassure people that the interrogation he was brought into by the police had nothing to do with football. Several other board members in Brazilian football have through the years been involved in questionable business dealings. “Instead of six we got half a dozen”, says the journalist Fabiana Bentes with a proverb that sums up footballs unaltered situation.  Voluntary sports leader with a huge fortune
The Olympic President Carlos Nuzman’s circumstances are also shrouded in mystery. Juca Kfouri and others pose the question of how a man, who has been a voluntary sports leader since 1975, has become as extraordinarily wealthy as Nuzman. Lately, Nuzman has felt pressured to explain that he has been a lawyer for many years with three work days a week. But this argument did not persuade Kfouri during the Play the Game day in São Paulo: “If this is the case, I wonder why I in my 30 years as a journalist not once have seen Carlos Nuzman’s name on a file.”  
Jens Sejer Andersen visited Brazil for three weeks in October and November 2012 on a combined conference- and research trip. He tried unsuccessfully to get to speak to representatives from the COB and CBF. 

]]> Play the Game day Brazil News article Fri, 10 May 2013 08:10:00 +0200 The battle of Maracanã http://www.playthegame.org/news/detailed/the-battle-of-maracana-5598.html The turmoil surrounding Brazil's former national stadium reflects the conflicts that characterise... It was not an entirely fair fight that took place near Brazil's National Stadium, the Maracanã, in the morning of 22 March. Around 50 police officers in combat uniforms did not have the patience to wait for a representative from the civil authorities to conclude negotiations with around 40 Indians, who for a long time have occupied the neighbouring building, once an Indian Museum.  In the midst of negotiations, which had already made half of the occupiers leave the scene, the police attacked the Indians and a number of sympathisers who, after a few hours of turmoil, was driven away by tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets. "Unnecessary use of force", said the negotiator for the public authorities who said he would issue a complaint about the conduct of the police. A complaint is unlikely to have any practical significance for a course of events that is saturated with power interests and cultural symbolism. Rio de Janeiro's new mayor of sports is certainly not prepared to change the plans to tear down the occupied buildings. "Real Indians live in the rainforest, right? They are the ones people protect in the Amazon," said the mayor for sports and leisure, André Lazaroni, in February 2013 shortly after taking office, and accused the occupiers of being tools for the opposition. When Play the Game in November 2012 visited the Indians in their 147-years-old decrepit ruin of a museum, there were no signs that these were people who would sacrifice all daily convenience over a merely political cause. The first families moved in before anyone could know that the Maracanã would become the centre of a major political conflict.  "Since I came to Rio several years ago, we have lacked a gathering place for the Indigenous culture. And when, after a long search, I came by this house, I immediately felt a very strong energy,” said their spokesman Chamakiri. The argument for removing the Indians has changed since Play the Game’s visit. At that time, the head of the Maracanã renovation informed that it was necessary to provide open spaces around the stadium, so it could be cleared in a few minutes. Today the reason is that an Olympic Museum, possibly named after the President of the Brazilian Olympic Committee, Carlos Arthur Nuzman, is to be built on the ground. Public gathering place
The governor of Rio has tried to shift the blame for the conflict to the international football federation, FIFA, something FIFA has officially denied. This ball was passed to the governor from a former member of the Brazilian Olympic Committee, lawyer Alberto Murray Neto: "Rio's governor wants to polish the city, and the Indians are no good for this purpose. It is racial segregation and cruelty coming from an elite that harms Brazil greatly. " The Indian occupiers are not the only ones who risk losing something of value. The area around Maracanã also holds a newly renovated swimming pool, an athletics stadium and one of Rio's top four schools, all of which will be demolished according to the plans. Protests from more than 20,000 citizens have so far postponed the clearing of the school, while protests from the Brazilian Swimming Federation and the country’s athletics scene have made less of an impression. The two sports facilities were recently shut down, but swimming and track and field may get help from an unexpected side. Brazil's Institute of History and Art has stated that the demolition of all three complexes will require permission from the institute. Fights like these reflect the fact that Maracanã is much more than a stadium. It is a public gathering place and a part of Brazil's national identity. The traumatic defeat to Uruguay in the World Cup finals in 1950, which took place at Maracanã, has paradoxically given the stadium an enhanced place in the Brazilian collective consciousness. "It was part of Maracanã's character that it could accommodate 200,000 spectators and often gathered 120-130,000 people on the stands. Even the poorest in Rio had access, but during the last decade, the ratio between minimum wages and ticket prices have become ten times worse,” says American geographer Christopher Gaffney, who has studied Brazilian relations for a long time and lived in Rio since 2009. Privatisation without public hearing
That the poor are now practically denied access to the national stadium, which will be cut down to a more normal capacity of 89,000 spectators, is, according to Gaffney, particularly serious in light of the enormous public investment in the World Cup and the Olympics. First, taxpayers paid $250 million to make Maracanã capable of hosting the Pan American Games in Rio in 2007 under the pretext that Rio was preparing for the Olympic Games. But after the Olympics and the World Cup were placed in Rio, authorities now invest another $500 million in a complete rebuilding. "The many millions have been invested without public hearings, as is the decision to privatise the Maracanã," says Gaffney. The decision to privatise was taken in October last year and was not up for hearing until November at a meeting that ended in turmoil and flying plastic chairs after several hundred participants with slogans and speeches had demanded that the process be overturned. Christopher Gaffney does not hide the fact that he shares the activists’ concerns: “The conditions for privatisation are designed in such a way that the winner only has to pay 15 to 18 per cent of construction costs back to the government over a period of 30 years until 2048. This does not even correspond to the inflation. The argument is that the government does not have the capacity to run such a large entertainment complex. But this is old news, so why wasn’t the stadium privatized before the rebuilding and costs left with the owners?” The Brazilian economist Marcelo W. Proni expresses the same scepticism in a different way: “Football remains a national passion, a part of our collective identity, but the World Cup will strengthen the process of privatizing the game, a trend that seems irreversible." A Rio Ministry defies privatization
Very recently, the critics of privatization have found support from an unexpected side. The Ministry of Public Affairs of the state of Rio de Janeiro have decided to put a spoke in the wheel for their own governor. With the backing of the same kind of ministry at the national level Rio’s Ministry of Public Affairs have asked the courts to suspend the privatization, citing various reasons: It is a threat to national patrimony, the tendering favours the Brazilian entrepreneur Eike Batista, one of the richest men in Latin America and parts of the contract imply construction works that may be against the agreements with FIFA and the IOC. The Ministry lost the first round in the court, but has written a new complaint which is still pending and delaying the privatization.  Urban renewal for the wealthy
The battle of Maracanã goes on.  It reflects in many ways a conflict that is taking place in a wider sense in Brazil in connection with the upcoming global events.  A conflict between the people who first and foremost see the mega-events as an opportunity to change public subsidies into private gain and the people who hope that the wider society will benefit from hosting the events.  The fight has not been settled yet, but the first group have the best cards on their hands.  American geographer and Rio-resident Christopher Gaffney points to the fact that Rio’s major urban renewal projects in the run-up of the Olympics first and foremost benefit the major corporations and the growing newly rich middle class.  “The new metro and express bus lines ignore the fact that Rio’s population is divided into two geographical halves, which are only connected via one bridge. Instead they are building transportation lines which mainly consider the need to transport servants and shop assistants to the well-to-do neighbourhood Barra de Tijuca” argues Gaffney.  He also points to the fact that the urban renewal of the area around Rio’s old harbour was passed as a sudden addition after Rio’s bid was accepted by the IOC. The renewal will just about be a gift of federal building sites to two private construction magnates, the Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista and the American Donald Trump. The massive police efforts against the gangs who control many of Rio’s slum districts have, according to Gaffney, the side-effect that the poor, law-abiding residents are also forced out. Because when an area becomes safer the costs of houses and rentals there go up, which means that the original inhabitants must move out to the suburbs of Rio – along with their criminal neighbours.   “The politicians have the resources to regulate the real estate prices but refrains from using them”, argues Gaffney.]]> Play the Game day Brazil News article Fri, 10 May 2013 08:09:00 +0200 Rio’s fragile Olympic spirit http://www.playthegame.org/news/detailed/rios-fragile-olympic-spirit-5597.html Analysis: Several scandals centring around Brazil’s Olympic president and Rio 2016 chairman, Carlos... Three and half years before the 2016 Games, the Brazilian sports community still lacks the true Olympic spirit. This is partly due to the fact that Brazilian sports fans are primarily looking forward to the World Cup in 2014, which will be played in 12 state capitals. Another reason is that the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB) and the Games’ Local Organising Committee, CO-Rio 2016, in less than one year have been involved in two scandals damaging the country’s international reputation. The first scandal occurred in August 2012 and was very poorly received in senior political and sporting circles. Employees of CO-Rio 2016, stationed in England, broke into data files belonging to the London  Olympics Organising Committee and copied confidential documents. This episode echoed around the world and cast a suspicious light over Brazilian authorities in general. One reason for the great repercussions of this incident was that it took seven days from the journalist Juca Kfouri revealed this scandal until  the president of Rio’s Organising Committee, Carlos Arthur Nuzman, made a statement on the matter. He declared that he would fire 11 employees who were involved in the incident. Nuzman stated that it was "an initiative that the employees had taken on their own". However, one of the fired employees, Renata Santiago, said that she had followed orders from seniors. The name of the 'commander' of the failed operation is still unknown. Political relations
This event helped undermine the relationship between the president of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, and the president of the Brazilian Olympic Committee, Carlos Arthur Nuzman, who also chairs the CO-2016. Currently, Rousseff and Nuzman keep only a necessary working relationship. This is a change from when Luiz Ignacio ‘Lula’ da Silva was president of Brazil from 2003 to 2010. At that time, the interaction between Nuzman and the Federal Government was closer and characterized with lots of friendship, hugs and smiles. However, the London episode deeply displeased the current head of the Brazilian state. A Brazilian government source confided to me that despite the dismissal of 11 CO-2016 employees, President Dilma was outraged and said to her aides: "I'm fed up with Nuzman and I do not trust him an inch." The distance between Dilma and Nuzman was evident in October 2012, when Dilma launched the Action Plan 'Medals at Rio 2016', a project designed to encourage Brazilian athletes to achieve better results at the next Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro. At the official presentation, Carlos Nuzman arrived at the Planalto Palace alone and went to the meeting room. There, he stayed with athletes and guests until five minutes before the president arrived at the party. Only then was Nuzman called to Dilma’s office, so they could arrive at the party together, also accompanied by Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo. It was merely for protocol reasons.   Nuzman evades debates
Two other factors help to understand Dilma’s dissatisfaction: Nuzman, who for 17 years has served as chairman of the COB, also took over the chairmanship of CO-Rio 2016. It is a double post not seen recently in any Olympic host country. Nuzman was acting in his own interest, as if Brazil had no other authority that was able to manage the preparations for the grand sporting event. Despite this double occupation of positions, Nuzman did not attend an official press conference held on the occasion of the Olympic Games in London. Instead, he sent his advisers. It is possible that at the time Nuzman was already shaken by the Olympic file copying scandal, but even that explanation would not soften President Dilma. After all, the Brazilian government is an intimate partner of the Organizing Committee for the 2016 Games and should be informed about incidents like this. All in all, Nuzman prefers to escape from unpleasant debates. An example of this was seen at a public hearing on sports policy in the Congress four years ago. Just as his critic, the lawyer and member of the Brazilian Olympic Committee, Alberto Murray Neto, took the floor, Nuzman left the room, much to the frustration of the senators who unanimously criticized him. Another incident took place recently when Nuzman sent his apologies to a public hearing held by the Senate Committee on Education and Sport, which would discuss the 'sports leaders' long-standing leadership positions'. Both chambers in the parliament – the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies – are treating a bill which will allow only one re-election for sports leaders. The federal government backs this bill. The now 71-year-old Nuzman was first elected president of the COB in 1995 and was re-elected in October 2012. His way to sport's top started as a player on the Brazilian volleyball team at the Olympics in Tokyo in 1964. Later he became president of the Brazilian Volleyball Federation, a position he used to create structure and visibility of the federation, and his work has brought international recognition to both the men's and the women's teams.  When Nuzman’s current COB term expires in 2016, he will have served 21 years in office. During the congress hearing recently, Senator Cristovam Buarque said: "Managers’ long periods in the same office creates contempt for the grassroots. They produce a sense that the leader controls and owns what he is managing, he gets accostumed to his own mistakes, and this complicates the fight against corruption. Being a manager is a profession, not something you own. " When Nuzman was confronted with this criticism by a reporter from the influential Veja magazine, he replied: "If something is good, you should not change it." And in the same interview he declared his opposition to limiting the sports leaders time in office: "Certain battles require time and experience to be won. I am not irreplaceable, but my profile is unique. " Havelange is still honorary president
It does not improve the Brasilian Olympic Committee’s reputation that former FIFA President João Havelange holds the title of honorary president of the CO-Rio 2016. To avoid being expelled from the International Olympic Committee, Havelange had to give up his membership in December 2011 after his involvement in the so-called ISL affair where he had received bribes in relation to television and sponsorship contracts during his time as FIFA president. He remains a member of the Brazilian Olympic Committee and CO-Rio 2016. Recently, yet another serious matter shook the CO-Rio 2016 office.  According to Brazil's largest newspaper, Folha de São Paulo, one of the most recognized consultants in the Olympic world, the Australian Craig McLatchey, accuses COB of backsliding on a bill of approximately 800,000 USD.  The amount is a 'success bonus' said to have been agreed between the parties if Rio won the hosting of the 2016 Games. CO-Rio 2016 refuses to owe the Australian money, saying that the contract is fulfilled to the letter. The case could end up in court, but has already further contributed to the scepticism with which the surrounding world sees Brazil and Rio.  Judicial settlements with federal leaders 
Also in relation to the Brazilian sports federations, the backbone of the COB, Nuzman is met primarily with problems due to his heavy-handed management style. But one of these cases has turned into a legal case.  The former president of the Brazilian Ice Sports Federation (CBDG, which comprises a number of winter sports such as bobsled, ice hockey, ice skating, curling and others), Eric Maleson, intended to run for president of the COB opposite Nuzman at the presidential election last October.  Nuzman took this to be a personal declaration of war and decided to get rid of his opponent. With the help of an allied in winter sports, Nuzman sued Maleson in court for misappropriation of funds and in November 2012, the district court gave its support to the removal of Maleson.  Maleson has, contrarily, accused Nuzman of breaking into the CBDG’s headquarters in February 2012, an episode that was filmed by surveillance cameras and made public on the sports channel ESPN Brazil. ' The COB denied the allegations saying that it was entitled to enter the location as the Winter Sports Federation’s offices are owned by the COB. Moreover, the event only occurred because auditors were visiting and "there was a need to check the papers within the time limits that the legal system had established". Maleson has filed a complaint with the IOC, because he sees the trial against him as a violation of the autonomy of sport. The Brazilian Badminton Federation, which has been through a similar case, has joined the complaint with the IOC. So far, the IOC has chosen not to answer the complaint against the hosts of the coming Summer Olympics.     Brazil lacks experience and education
These questions are linked to a fact, which throughout the years have become a chronic problem: Brazil’s lack of experience with hosting major sports events.  The country still has a fragile sports infrastructure. We, for example, do not have a national sports policy. We therefore also lack a definition of what kind of authority our most important sports bodies have. With the Sports Ministry, established in 2003, comes a lot of public funds, but we are still amateurs when it comes to sports management. Likewise, we lack well-educated staff for the different functions within sports.  It is on this background that a person such as Carlos Nuzman steps forward – a man who wishes to turn Brazil into an Olympic superpower, but creates an unrest that reverberates throughout the world.
José Cruz is a journalist and one of Brazil’s most recognised sports political bloggers on josecruz.blogosfera.uol.com.br. He is presently working as an assistant for the congressman and football hero Romario de Souza Faria throughout 2013. This analysis was written before this assignment.

]]> Play the Game day Brazil News article Fri, 10 May 2013 08:08:00 +0200 Brazilian corruption fighters face resistance http://www.playthegame.org/news/detailed/brazil-tightens-up-against-corruption-5594.html There are so massive national interests at stake when Brazil hosts the World Cup and the Olympic... After the outgoing and popular president Lula handed over the leadership of the country to the more unobtrusive, but also more principled Dilma Rousseff, there has been a remarkable change in the attitude towards Brazil’s widespread corruption which is also felt in relation to the upcoming mega-events, the World Cup and the Olympic Games.  But there are limits to the pressure that the Government can put on the sports sector without ruining the partnership needed to secure two successful events. Success is not a given thing in a country that has not handled organisational challenges this big since it decided half a century ago to construct the capital Brasilia on the bare and unpopulated plateau far away from all other cities.  States break the laws
The government faces a similar challenge with regards to the 12 states that are hosting the World Cup. Brazilian states are partially self-governing and in connection with the World Cup, they have begun extensive construction of stadiums, airports, hotels and motorways which are beleaguered by delays, accidents, corruption and a lack of business plans.  “Several of the states simply do not observe the Brazilian laws on public insight into contracts and budgets” says Paulo Itacarambí, vice-chairman for the project Jogos Limpos – Clean Games – which is a network for a number of different institutions and organisations with an interest in transparent public administration.  Jogos Limpos has made an analysis of the administration of the 12 states, and only two of them reach a mediocre result. Six states score so low that they in reality do not live up to the laws and four states simply refused to participate in the analysis.  Among these four, three host cities – Brasilia (Distrito Federal), Cuiabá and Natal – also scored extremely low in the analysis conducted by Play the Game and the Danish Institute for Sports Studies on the expected use of the 12 Brazilian stadiums after the World Cup. In the analysis, the total number of visitors in a year at the three stadiums was expected to correspond to the number of visitors it takes to fill the stadium once – thus a very poor utilization of these state-of-the-art stadiums.  But maybe the convergence between the two analyses is not completely coincidental, suggests Itacarambi: “Those who do well are normally not reluctant to talk about it. Others might fear being exposed”. The states’ lack of transparency is nothing new. It simply supports the Brazilian people’s historically well-founded distrust of the cooperation between politicians and the business community. What is new is that the states are now met with opposition from the highest level.  “We know that greater transparency means better possibilities for control and guaranties that our public funds are directed towards the most necessary projects – something that is important for a country like ours, in which inequalities have amassed, not for decades but for centuries” said president Dilma at the opening of Transparency International’s 15th International Anti-Corruption Conference in November.   She highlighted that Brazil recently passed one of the world’s most extensive laws on public insight in governance and that all the state’s expenses and vouchers must be presented on a special internet portal.  Brazil’s National Audit Office – Controladeria Geral da União (CGU) – is managing the portal, which also have a special section on the Olympics and the WC and which actively encourages citizens to report abuses. 

'No thanks' to grants and control
The country has saved hundreds of millions of dollars because of the CGU’s preventive budget controls of the WC and Olympic projects, but if the states refrain from accepting grants or loans from the government they can keep the CGU at arm’s length. This is the case for a number of controversial stadium projects and the CGU’s secretary for corruption prevention, Mario Vinicius Claussen Spinelli, does not reject the idea that some states deliberately turn down government grants – and the control that comes with it. “The biggest risk of bribery is found in the major construction projects. The law allows expenditures to be increased with 25 per cent without changing the contract and this is an area which we pay particular attention to” says Spinelli.  As the world’s sixth largest economy and a country with an impressive economic growth, Brazil can no doubt afford to spend and waste money on major construction projects. But while the government wants to show itself in the most favourable light towards the outside world, it is at the same time fighting to avoid that runaway costs and superfluous constructions increase the divide between people in the top and bottom of society.

Public support in spite of scandals
“The Olympics and the World Cup will be a test of strength between the Brazilian government and the very powerful sports organisations” argues a Nestor in Brazilian sports science, Lamar¬tine DaCosta, professor at the Gama Filho University in Rio de Janeiro.   “The media often chose the side of the sport because they have a common interest in the sponsors. But we from the universities, which produce knowledge and analyses, also have our strengths” says DaCosta. Despite of all the problems and corruption he finds that the Olympics and WC are positive challenges for Brazil: “They are welcomed because they teach us to do great things together and this is what the public wants. It runs all through the history of the Brazilian people that we love big and crazy projects that mirrors the enormous possibilities of this country” argues DaCosta.  He believes that the Rio Olympics can be as great a success as the South American Games in 1922, which gathered 150.000 spectators – then, 15 per cent of the population. Even the scandal-ridden Pan-American Games in 2007 makes the 2016 Olympics look promising, argues DaCosta.  “Don’t be mistaken. I hated the Pan-American Games. There were corruption everywhere, the Havelange Stadium cost six times more than the original budget, the organisation of the volunteers went wrong. Everything went wrong! But my students and I analysed what the public thought, and to my big surprise the Games were a massive success”. As intellectuals we have an obligation to be critical and point out the problems, but it is difficult to be totally against something which people love. Here, sport is a passion, so expect a major event”. ]]> Play the Game day Brazil News article Fri, 10 May 2013 08:05:00 +0200 Brazil lacks national sports policy http://www.playthegame.org/news/detailed/brazil-lacks-national-sports-policy-5593.html The country that will host two of the world’s largest sports events has no long term strategy for... The president of Brazil’s National Council for Sports Education (CONFEF), Jorge Steinhilber, wishes that Brazilian politicians would focus more on the social and cultural impacts of Brazil’s upcoming World Cup and Olympic Games.  "Politicians are only interested in infrastructure, stadiums, construction and transport. Not in sports participation, education and sport for the sake of public health," says Jorge Steinhilber, who is also president of the National Olympic Academy of Brazil. “London did not succeed in using the Olympics to get more people involved in sports and now we also seem to be failing on this as nobody is paying it any attention” says Steinhilber, with reference to the fact that two thirds of the Brazilian population over 16 years of age are inactive and almost half of the population weigh more than the standard weight.  Only one in every four primary school has sports facilities, but considering Brazil’s good weather and abundant nature it is not the facilities that worry Steinhilber the most: “The problem is that young people do not know why they should engage in physical activity. They think sport is about winning medals or making money, and therefore most of them will be disappointed. We lack awareness of the benefits sport has on your health and quality of life.” Like many others, Steinhilber calls for Brazil to formulate a national sports policy. The country that will host two of the world’s largest sports events has no long term strategy for sport. It is left to the individual operators in the field to fill out the roles they have historically been allocated, but there is no overall coordination or vision.  Research in physical activity
Brazil’s Olympic Committee and the major federations focus primarily on elite sports. The vast country would most likely not have a wide offer of grassroots sports activities at all if it was not for two organisations linked to the labour market: SESC and SESI, which operate in all of Brazil’s states.  SESI is linked to the industry and SESC to the trade and service sectors. Each organisation receives by law 1.5 per cent of the companies’ payroll. In return, they offer sports and cultural activities for the millions of employees and in fact also the wider population. With the growth in business and wages Brazil has achieved in the last decade, the finances of the two organisations have received a similar boost.   Maybe that is why both organisations have a cautious voice in the debate on the Olympics and World Cup. They do not interfere in the debate on stadium constructions but still see the mega-events as a chance for grassroots sports:  “We prefer to play our role well rather than criticise others. The Olympics and the World Cup are good opportunities to put sport on the agenda and to create working relationships with the sports organisations and other NGOs” says Maria Luiza Souza Dias, director of development in SESC in the state of São Paulo, the country’s strongest unit in the field with more than 30 sports and culture centres and 5000 employees.  SESC has launched the most comprehensive campaign for grassroots yet – ‘Move Brazil’ – but has deliberately not yet set the final goal for the campaign. “First, we need more knowledge on the physical activity of the Brazilian population, and our initial efforts will be to gather data in cooperation with the Ministry of Sport,” says Souza Dias, who has just released the research project to tender. “This is very provocative, because it forces us and other NGO’s to set specific goals – for example to increase sports participation with 25 per cent. We need data to strengthen and develop the campaign” says de Souza, who has found inspiration for the campaign in the international grassroots sports organisation, ISCA, where she is vice president.  This campaign reflects an unexpected effect of Brazil’s hosting of the WC and the Olympics is that more and more individuals, associations and institutions form new alliances, as seen with regards to the Maracanã, Jogos Limpos and Move Brazil.  These groups of citizens will hardly be able to undo the mistakes that have already been made, but they can help set new agendas in Brazilian politics. ]]> Play the Game day Brazil News article Fri, 10 May 2013 08:03:00 +0200 FIFA’s new Ethics Committee fails first test http://www.playthegame.org/news/detailed/fifas-new-ethics-committee-fails-first-test-5602.html Comment: The long awaited report from FIFA’s Ethics Committee about FIFA and the ISL affair is... published a much awaited report from the chairman of its adjudicatory chamber, the German judge Hans-Joachim Eckert. The report was the first test of the only important change so far in FIFA’s structure, since the reform process was started in late 2011: the division of the Ethics Committee in an adjudicatory and an investigatory chamber and the appointment of two independent experts to lead each chamber. On paper the change is an improvement, but in its first reality test the Ethics Committee has failed. Judge Hans-Joachim Eckert, who shortly after his appointment came in like a lion warning Sepp Blatter that he had to cooperate or leave the FIFA  presidency, seemed to go out like a lamb after reading a 30 page report and 4,200 pages documentation from his colleague in the investigatory chamber, the US lawyer Michael J. Garcia. FIFA keeps Garcia’s report secret and it is therefore difficult to assess the quality of the investigation. But if Eckert reflects the papers correctly, it seems that Garcia has overlooked essential aspects. He has also not added important news to the knowledge about the relation between ISL and FIFA-officials that was published in 2012 after years of scrutinizing by Swiss public prosecutor Thomas Hildbrand. Hildbrand uncovered among other things that three South American officials, former FIFA president João Havelange, the president for the Brazilian Football Confederation Ricardo Teixeira and the president of the South American football confederation Nicolás Leoz, all had received parts of the 142 million Swiss Francs – more than 100 million US-dollars – paid out by the ISL as bribes to football and other sports leaders in return for the rights to resell FIFA’s TV- and sponsor-agreements. All three men can now write “past” on their business card. Teixeira withdrew from his post and from FIFA’s Executive Committee early in 2012 following the revelations. And the two others have probably been warned that Eckert in his report call their actions “morally and ethically reproachable”: Havelange withdrew discreetly from his position as FIFA Honorary President already the 18 April, and Leoz joined him a few days later by leaving his seat in the FIFA ExCo as well as his lifetime presidency of South American football. Watering down established facts
The background of these events is facts from the legal settlement from 2010 that was finally published last summer after two years’ tug-of-war in the Swiss courts. Here it was also established that FIFA knew about the decade-long embezzlement, including FIFA-president Sepp Blatter who at least once – in March 1997 – was confronted with a payment from the ISL to João Havelange which was mistakenly sent to FIFA’s bank account and immediately returned to the ISL by Blatter. This conclusion from the legal settlement is now watered down by judge Hans Joachim Eckert, who in his report turns it into a doubt: “It must be questioned, however, whether President Blatter knew or should have known over the years before the bankruptcy of ISL that ISL had made payments (bribes) to other FIFA officials.” It is not clear if Eckert answers this question or leaves it open. He refers loyally to Blatters explanation to investigator Garcia about the 1997 incident: Blatter said he ““couldn’t understand that somebody is sending money to FIFA for another person,” but at that time he did not suspect the payment was a commission.” Although Blatter has an obvious interest in distancing himself from this smoking gun – and avoid the truth – judge Eckert apparently has full confidence in Blatters honesty. Eckert concludes: “The conduct of President Blatter may have been clumsy because there could be an internal need for clarification, but this does not lead to any criminal or ethical misconduct.” The word “clumsy” in this context must compete for the award of “understatement of the year”. If the top official from any other organisation with 20 years of leadership experience discovers that the most important business partner pays out a million-dollar amount to the president of the organisation, and thereafter returns the amount without following up – would that be labeled as “clumsy”? Did Hans-Joachim Eckert in his long career never meet a defendant who lied about his actions? How can he so unconcernedly conclude that Blatter’s explanation is credible? The blank acceptance by Eckert is even more difficult to understand, as he in the next paragraph complains that former FIFA-employees have refused to cooperate with the FIFA investigator in this specific context. Ignoring preferential treatment to ISL
An aggravating circumstance in the 1997-episode is that it might well have relation to a fully clarified scandal from the mid-1990’ies. At the time FIFA chose that ISL should continue to have the rights to the World Cups of 2002 and 2006 in spite of the fact that other contenders – including American giant IMG – had given higher bids. IMG took the unusual step to accuse FIFA in public for foul play, and there is solid documentation that the ISL got preferential treatment. Blatter was the anchor of FIFA in this process, but did not suspect irregularities when a huge sum was directed from ISL to Havelange a few months after the signing of the contract? Eckert does mention that ISL acquired these World Cup rights, but he completely disregards the suspicious course of events. Cannot untangle the network of key persons
But FIFA’s dual role in the negotiations with the bankruptcy administrators of ISL (which went broke in 2001) does draw the attention of Eckert. He notes that parts of this case “remain in the dark” in spite of intense investigation by Hildbrand and Garcia. Among many other things it is confusing that Blatter rejects having given any authority to the lawyer who claimed to represent FIFA in the 2004 investigations. Both investigators also have to give up on the untangling of the network that binds key persons and companies in the ISL and FIFA together. Does Eckert conclude that this matter stinks of conspiracy and conflicts of interest, and that there is a cloud of suspicion here? Not at all. Eckert concludes simply that at the time “there were no ethics rules, even though these were being drafted… Therefore, from a formal point of view, there are also no offences which have to be pursued further.” Honestly, to reach that conclusion you did not need to spend nine months investigating. In some contexts where Eckert is not referring to non-existent FIFA-rules, he refers to FIFA’s right to make business policy decisions, without any reservation with regard to FIFA’s status as an association that should not be measured by ordinary business standards. Jurisprudence instead of ethics
On the whole Eckert’s conclusions are marked by his expertise in law rather that any experience in ethical considerations. FIFA’s ethics code opens a window for the committee to make independent ethical conclusions, no matter when the event took place. This window is left almost unopened by Eckert, apart from the instance where Blatter is acquitted as “clumsy”, and in the instances where he without any risk can attack Havelange, Teixeira and Leoz for transgressions that others have already dealt with. In its totality the report of judge Eckert is a disappointing piece of work, and as long as the public is prevented from studying the investigations of Michael J. Garcia, Eckert has to carry the full responsibility for the flaws that can be summarized as follows:
  1. Out of the 142 million CHF handed out as bribes by ISL, more than 100 million are still unaccounted for. Eckert does not mention this fact at all. Did FIFA’s Ethics Committee forget to ask those people in FIFA and around FIFA who are likely to know more about this huge sum of unidentified bribes. If the committee did ask, but without success, shouldn’t the public know about this culture of denial?

  2. As earlier stated, Blatter and other FIFA officials are cleared of several charges only on the ground that FIFA regulations were unsatisfying or non-existent at the time of events. Thereby the new, independent Ethics Committee fails to meet the expectations that the outside world has rightly had of decisions based on independent consideration of ethical questions and not only on well-known legal formalities.

  3. The Ethics Committee has an unclear stand on the key question if it was ethically ok for Sepp Blatter as FIFA Secretary General to watch passively in the 1990ies while the biggest corruption scandal in sport unfolded among his closest allies.

  4. Eckert does not lay out the premises behind his few assessments of ethical character – for instance the description of Blatter as “clumsy”.

  5. The Ethics Committee declares this case for closed without dealing an inch with the fact that Sepp Blatter over ten years, from 2001 to 2011, used all his powers to keep the ISL-affair secret with lies, threats and manipulation. This happened also after the introduction of an Ethics Code in 2004. Why has the Ethics Committee not pronounced itself on this behavior?

  6. Especially big sums of FIFA money were used by Blatter on lawyers’ fees to make the courts ensure that nothing came out about the persons involved in the post-bankruptcy negotiations or about the settlement that ended the ISL case in the Swiss legal system. Was this an ethical use of FIFA’s resources, or an unethical attempt to cover it all up?

  7. Sepp Blatter avoided over two years, from 2010 to 2012 – to publish the ISL settlement, although he was free to do so and although he said from October 2011 that he would like to. He claimed in contrast to the truth that the other parties in the case prevented him from doing so. Proper ethics, Mr. Eckert?

  8. Although judge Eckert recognizes that key persons in FIFA have rejected to cooperate in the investigations, that FIFA investigators do not dispose of the same powerful tools as the real police and that various important case facts remain in the dark, he chooses on this fragile foundation to wipe all doubts aside, declare case closed and exonerate all FIFA officials in the future. Effective, perhaps. But ethically sustainable?
So much for the failed responsibilities of the Ethics Committee. The real responsibility rests of course with the political level of FIFA, with Blatter, with the ExCo and with the general assembly. If FIFA leadership believes that the Ethics Committee has done an excellent job, why not support this evaluation by publishing all papers produced by investigator Garcia? Now it is IOC’s turn
It is now time to look into the direction of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) who pushed Havelange to leave by the back door in December 2011 due to his ISL involvement, but who postponed the decision with regard to IOC member Sepp Blatter arguing that the new Ethics Committee of FIFA should be allowed to do its work. As the IOC has had an ethical code since 1998, one can assume that the IOC can act on a number of charges from before 2004 that were dropped by the FIFA Ethics Committee. For instance, is an IOC member allowed to work intensely to cover up for corrupt colleagues? Usually the IOC hesitates to fall out with corrupt federation leaders, but it has occasionally happened. But football is a powerful sport, so adjust your expectations. It is more likely that the IOC will support the report from FIFA and hence the observation that sports organisations are usually unable to investigate themselves honestly. One remarkable exception is the newly released report from the American-Caribbean football organisation CONCACAF on the wrongdoings of the former leaders Warner and Blazer. Perhaps the high quality of this report is due to precisely the fact that the persons under investigation are no longer part of CONCACAF. Those in FIFA who  hope that the ISL case will now die, will be disappointed. The Swiss authorities have closed the case, but the politicians in the Alps consider to tighten legislation for the many sports organisations based there. And whereas Garcia has ended his investigations, his compatriots and former colleagues at the FBI have taken over some time ago. Their projectors are directed at the American-Caribbean football organisation CONCACAF and the two former Blatter-allies in FIFA’s Exco, Chuck Blazer and Jack Warner. If you doubt that investigations carried out by American authorities can compare with the ones realized by sport, then ask Lance Armstrong of his former cycling mates at the US Postal team. The ISL affair has come to stay. Just as long as Sepp Blatter occupies the presidency he is now preparing to prolong, breaking a promise of leaving in 2015, the clouds of the ISL affair will keep hanging over FIFA. See also FIFA’s president's statement:
http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/organisation/president/news/newsid=2066106/index.html Play the Game articles and reports on the ISL case:
http://www.playthegame.org/knowledge-bank/subjects/related-articles/isl.html]]> News article Other news (for home page) Transparency and good governance Fri, 03 May 2013 10:54:00 +0200 Controversial ex-FIFA VP concedes his last political post http://www.playthegame.org/news/detailed/controversial-ex-fifa-vp-concedes-his-last-political-post-5601.html Comment: Lasana Liburd who over the years has had his clashes with former bigwig in international... Under the wings of Havelange
Warner’s political career took flight on 19 November 1989 when Trinidad and Tobago’s beloved “Strike Squad” lost 1-0 in a crucial World Cup qualifier at the National Stadium in Port of Spain. The result meant that the United States qualified for its first World Cup—after previously appearing at the FIFA finals as a guest—and eased the chorus of disapproval against then FIFA President Joao Havelange, who was criticised for helping select the US, a supposed non-football nation, to host the 1994 tournament. Havelange responded by asking delegates at the 1990 CONCACAF Congress to vote for Warner as president. And they did just that. On November 19, Warner, overcome by patriotism, risked personal harm to citizens by stuffing over 43,000 fans into a ground designed to hold roughly 24,000 and also admitted to selling alcohol at the venue against FIFA regulations. The United States team stayed within 15 minutes of the ground and arrived there early in a giant, air-conditioned bus while the Strike Squad, which included an 18 year old Dwight Yorke, stayed over an hour away, travelled in cramped mini-vans and had to be bodily lifted over irate fans—pranked by Warner’s bogus World Cup qualifying tickets—to get into their dressing room. But only a cynic would suggest that this impacted on Trinidad and Tobago’s chance of success on the “Road to Italy.” Sadly, Trinidad and Tobago was a cynical place in the aftermath of that infamous game. Havelange eased the pain by awarding Trinidad and Tobago a “Fair Play Trophy”, although Warner flouted enough rules to arguably give grounds for appeal if the United States had lost the match. The Fair Play trophy and Warner’s political rise on the back of that contentious defeat and the nation’s tears was compensation enough for his compatriots. American football administrator Chuck Blazer, according to Warner’s approved biography, talked the Trinidadian into running for the top CONCACAF post, just hours after that World Cup qualifying loss. There is no hard evidence that Warner got his dates mixed up. Warner and Blazer were already great friends and remained as thick as thieves right until they knifed each other in the backs in 2011. Blazer turned over evidence to FIFA President Sepp Blatter, which suggested that Warner and ex-Asian Football Confederation (AFC) President Mohamed Bin Hammam bribed Caribbean football officials. And Warner subsequently let slip that he made mysterious payments to the American from Caribbean Football Union (CFU) accounts. The FBI is understood to be investigating the tiff at present. Warner’s only fault
Warner’s perceived distaste for law and order grew after November 19 as did his keen eye for an opportunity from what short-sighted persons saw as tragic circumstance. When over 300,000 Haitians died in an earthquake in January 2010, Warner promptly used his office to petition FIFA and the South Korea Football Association (SKFA) for financial aid. FIFA and South Korea sent US$750,000 for Haiti. Haitian football chief Dr Yves Jean-Bart said Warner gave the grieving Caribbean island just US$60,000. Warner denied Haiti’s claim but failed to prove otherwise. If ever Warner had a fault, it was that he often misplaced other people’s money within the web of bank accounts under his personal control but named CONCACAF and the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF). But then that sort of error is commonplace within FIFA. And the shortfall in financial aid could only have helped strengthen the Haitian resolve in dealing with the catastrophe. Unlike many executives within FIFA’s corridors, Warner was always warm towards the press. And sometimes he was quite hot. Warner once gave British investigative reporter Andrew Jennings directions to see his dear, deceased mother and urged him to visit her post-haste. Warner also sued my website, Wired868, for a tweet that suggested he trousered Haiti’s financial aid although he would have to brave his perceived fear of court rooms to see the matter through to its conclusion. He is also said to be allergic to investigators and independent auditors. For the record, I am certain that Haiti’s money is not in Warner’s trousers. Warner is a great supporter of the free press. However, when necessary, he is not against paying or employing reporters. Wired868 remained independent so as to more fairly catalogue his achievements. His greatest accomplishment was undoubtedly the US$26 million Centre of Excellence, which was financed by FIFA, paid for by CONCACAF and owned by Warner. Warner, as always unshackled by the confinements of honesty, prefers to describe it as a gift from Havelange. The family man
Warner was also a devoted family man who included his wife, Maureen, and sons, Daryan and Daryll, in as much of his business as possible. Maureen is a director of the Centre of Excellence and was a director at Simpaul Travel when that company took charge of all Trinidad and Tobago’s 2006 World Cup tickets and resold them to local fans, as a means of testing their patriotism, by more than 30 times their market value. Daryll was a FIFA developmental officer while Daryan often helped daddy sell World Cup tickets on the black market. Reuters reported that Daryan, at present, is helping the FBI with some research on his father. The FBI allegedly insisted. Warner was a religious man and a long-time Christian who believed that Jesus Christ was the sole path to salvation. He was also a Hindu, which, coincidentally, is the religion of choice for most of his constituents. He was a firm believer in the separation of Church and CONCACAF and once advised Caribbean delegates mulling over stuffed brown envelopes that there was no room for the pious in the house of the FIFA. The Trinidad and Tobago Police is still investigating that service and, in particular, the offerings made to delegates, which seemed not to have been declared to custom officials. Thus far, local policemen have not inconvenienced Warner. But he is less impressed with lawmen from other jurisdictions and refused to travel outside the two-island republic since revelations of his financial dealings while CONCACAF President. Still, even holed up on the tiny island, Warner could not escape the steady stream of accusations indefinitely. And, on 27 April, he resigned his final political post after a damning CONCACAF Integrity Commission report. Like Manchester United, Warner does not know when he is defeated though. He has announced his intention to regain his seat, in a bye-election, scheduled for 90 days after it is declared vacant. Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who is a Hindu, seemed unimpressed by the thought of Warner’s resurrection and the possibility looms that the ex-football bigwig might instead be reincarnated with metal bracelets. Who can count against a final hoorah from the ever-resourceful Warner, though? During a political rally at the Pierre Road Recreation Ground in Charlieville, hours before his resignation, Warner boasted that he was equally adept at drinking with kings and the common folk. And he probably fleeced them both.
Lasana Liburd is a reporter and the publisher of the Trinidad-Tobago online paper www.wired868.com
More:  Jack Warner quits over CONCACAF integrity report The CONCACAF integrity report]]> News article Other news (for home page) Transparency and good governance Fri, 03 May 2013 09:49:00 +0200