• Richards attacked Fifa then fell into a water feature
• Jim Boyce says the outburst may open 'old sores'
Britain's Fifa vice-president, Jim Boyce, says he will try to limit any damage caused by Sir Dave Richards's "unfortunate" attack on Fifa and Uefa for "stealing" football from the English.
Richards, speaking at a security conference in Doha on Wednesday,also criticised China for claiming to have invented football, and told his hosts they had their "heads in the sand" over alcohol restrictions at the Qatar World Cup in 2022. The Premier League and the FA quickly distanced themselves from the remarks. ...
See the whole story (and fountain diving incident) here, from The Guardian.
Kicking Back Comments: While I understand why Sir Dave apologized, I wish he had not as I believe he is right that FIFA has "stolen" The Game. Taken in context, he would seem to imply that FIFA is exploiting The Game for things other than the sake of The Game itself. To that I agree.
Also, the FA and UEFA members are cowards for quickly saying that Sir Dave was there "in a personal capacity", and did not represent either organization in an "official capacity."
Rubbish. Of course he was there "officially."
I give him credit for telling it like it is, and not kowtowing (bad pun I know given the argument of heritage with the Chinese) to the openly corrupt FIFA, and openly cowardly FA.
He apologized for saying they had their "heads in the sand." I would understand if he said their heads were somewhere else... But in the sand doesn't warrant an apology!
ReplyDeleteNo doubt KK.
ReplyDeleteBut he of course did so in an "unofficial capacity."
Entirely laughable!