It's Official, MLS Does Not Care About Your Vote for GOTW

Kicking Back Editorial:

Once again MLS Rumors is at the fore when it comes to breaking some domestic news as once again the Goal Of The Weak Week (GOTW) has been tampered with.

It would also appear that MLS just does not care about it. Well, maybe they do just a little as they seem to be looking for a few professionals in the area as indicated by their jobs postings.

Take a look here for the story from MLS Rumors.

I know we are just talking about GOTW, but it would be such a simple thing to correct with CAPTCHA or something similar.

In the mean time ... I will refrain from voting as it clearly does not mean anything to them.

Referee's to blame?

CFA Chief says China Referees to Blame for Bad Reputation

Comments from Wei Di, chief of the Chinese Football Association, raised eyebrows prior to the friendly international match between China and Iran on Friday 2 September 2010 at the Tianhe Stadium in China. ...

See the full post here courtesy of HK Referee.

Spare the links, just give them the cuffs

So I have to admit that I do like suits and the accouterments that go along with them like braces (suspenders), pocket scarfs, and yes, cuff links. I was off looking for a soccer themed pair and ran across these guys pictured at the left. Really nice, and I may pick a pair up sometime. What I also found was another very interesting story from guardian.co.uk about, *gasp* more corruption where FIFA was involved.

The complete story is entitled, "Fifa investigates claims of Australian World Cup 2022 bid gifts." and goes into some details about the Australian bid committee showering FIFA delegates, and apparently their wives with gifts.

So let's face it, the World Cup is big business and there is a lot of money that changes hands. One figure of note: FIFA reportedly made approximately $3.2 Billion in ad revenue alone in the 2010 World Cup (source). So it is not a surprise that prospective host countries do everything they can to lure the Cup to their home soil. I write this without holding judgement on what actually happened as frankly, I don't know. This could be a simple gesture of good will. Heck, I have received gifts from teams after a match. It is a cultural thing, and should not be seen as anything other than a genuine token of appreciation. In fact in some situations, like in a locker room after a match, a referee shunning a small token of appreciation from a team is very bad form. So for me, no flies on Australia, yet, for offering small tokens of appreciation.

Now, pearl necklaces and handbags for the wives of FIFA officials may indeed breach that "small gift" criteria and may get the folks down under in some hot water. FIFA has launched another one of its famous investigations into the matter. I can't wait to see the letter they send Football Australia.

My laugh out loud moment was when I read the following from the article:

During a rocky period for the English bid last year, it faced criticism for giving the wives of each of the 24 Fifa executive committee members a Mulberry handbag.

The controversial Fifa vice-president Jack Warner returned his, claiming to have been "insulted" by the English bid team.

 Insulted Jack? Okayee ...


Take a few and check these out from guardian.co.uk, it paints part of the picture about just how hard folks work (above and below board) to get the Cup to their shores.


I hope the US delegation is working equally as hard.

It just keeps getting better.

Kicking Back comments:

As many of us are aware, information is power, and selling information can be quite a money maker. While I am fairly certain that this act is from a rogue individual or small group of them, what came out for me was how deep the ties are within FIFA's political community. I suppose this should not surprise me at all at the end of the day, it is big business after all.

To me the most telling part of the article is here:

Match Hospitality, owned in part by a media company run by Philippe Blatter, nephew of the Fifa president, Sepp Blatter, won exclusive rights to sell ticket hospitality packages at the 2010 and 2014 tournaments three years ago. The firm was criticised for over-pricing packages for this summer's World Cup, resulting in empty seats at most matches in South Africa.

Fifa in spotlight over passport identity theft claims

• Newspaper claims fans' details were sold on to touts
• Investigation into 'rogue employee' of Match Hospitality

An investigation is under way into allegations that the passport details of thousands of football fans were sold on the black market by an official linked to Fifa.

The Information Commissioner's Office, which regulates the Data Protection Act, confirmed it has launched an inquiry into claims that the details of 35,689 English fans who attended the World Cup in Germany in 2006 may have been sold unlawfully for profit. Preliminary investigations by the authority suggest that the details of 7,200 England fans have been traded illegally. ...

Full article continues here, courtesy of guardian.co.uk.

MLS *REALLY* losing control now!

Kicking Back Comments:
Following is an excellent editorial piece from MLS Rumors as a follow up to their post the other day regarding the Goal Of The Weak Week (GOTW) fixing incident. It's funny too as what I have queued up for today was discussion about a FIFA corruption incident ... in fact there are a pair. One older news, one new.


I guess it is turning into corruption week here at Kicking Back, and happily, none have to do with referees. While sad in a way that there is corruption in THE Game, it makes me slightly happier that it is coming from a source that is not a referee. We get blamed enough for everything else after all =)


As the article indicated, Commissioner Garber is on Extra-Time this Tuesday, and we will see what he has to say, if anything, about the MLS response to the incident.


EDITORIAL: Why Would AT&T Want to Be Associated With Flawed System? MLS Censorship, Secrecy and Soccer in The USA

Stories disappearing, comments removed at will. It seems all in a days work at MLSSoccer. It is indicative of  a league hasn’t learned how to properly deal both “Web 2.0″ and social media and a league which has never learned how to properly deal with bad P.R.

We saw it for the very plainly last week when Columbus Crew fans upset with comments from MLSSoccer.com writer Simon Borg last week commented on the power rankings he posted and had their Facebook comments removed. Matchfit USA ran a good story on that incident but in a nutshell: ...

Full editorial continues here, courtesy of MLS Rumors.

PAUL HOFFMAN: Beneath the glow of Fifa’s untaxed empire

THE general euphoria and feelings of thankfulness following the 2010 World Cup have seemingly precluded anyone from now assessing Fifa’s role in the tournament. Gratitude for cracking the nod from Fifa to host it should not blind the South African public to the less attractive features of the World Cup — those for which Fifa is responsible.

On the field, these manifested themselves in palpable unfairness in the decision making for which Fifa’s match officials are responsible. Fifa claims they got it right 96% of the time. The problem is that when they got it wrong, they did so spectacularly. As a consequence of refereeing errors, it can be argued that England bowed out early and Mexico lost a match it could have drawn. Fifa president Sepp Blatter apologised, but whether corrective action is taken remains to be seen.

Had Fifa put in place a simple review system using modern technology, a far fairer outcome was easily achievable. There has been a chorus of criticism of the antiquated way in which the process of adjudication of the matches is still carried out 10 years into the 21st century. If Fifa does not take steps to improve this situation soon, one can expect to hear cynics claim there are murkily suspicious reasons for keeping the current system of refereeing in place.

It is, however, off the field that Fifa’s role is open to even more criticism. The process by which Fifa selects the country in which the tournament is held every four years is both opaque and unaccountable.

Full article continues here at Business Day.