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RSSEngland lose World Cup!
Now we play the blame game . . .
By Duncan Robinson Published 02 December 2010 17:29
After a torturously long introduction, Sepp Blatter announced that Russia and Qatar will host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, respectively.
Pah. Russia gets our World Cup, we get their weather
According to various tweets, England went out in the first round. So what went wrong? England rolled out their biggest guns: the heir to the throne, the Prime Minister and David Beckham (who will now have to wait a while for that knighthood). Who should we blame?
BBC
The main candidate so far is the BBC. A Panorama special looked into the allegations of corruption that have persistently dogged Fifa for the past two decades. Jack Warner, whose family firm allegedly earned £1m from reselling tickets at the 2006 World Cup, and whose votes England had to get to have even an outside chance of winning, was said to be especially displeased by the programme. Investigative journalism and FIFA do not sit well together.
Mail on Sunday
In an undercover sting, the Mail on Sunday triggered the resignation of the England bid chief, David Triesman, after he was recorded claiming that other bids were corrupt. See above comment re: investigative journalists.
Sunday Times
Muckraking journalists are not friends of Fifa. They really, really aren't.
The Sportugal bid
Persistent rumours surround the joint bid of Spain and Portugal, the main one being that they cut a deal with the Qataris to swap votes. Spain and Portugal missed out, while Qatar succeeded.
These are probably the main candidates (along with financial clout from both Russia and Qatar). But who else can we blame?
Prince William
Could have invited all the Fifa delegates to his wedding. Didn't.
David Cameron
The PM gave a slick performance on stage, but was his backstage schmoozing up to scratch?
The weather
An English summer does not contain the 50-degree Celsius days that the Qatari summer does, and which Fifa obviously prefers.
Julian Assange
Well, why not?
David Beckham, however, summed it all up quite neatly.
Reporter: "What went wrong?"
Beckham: "We didn't get enough votes."
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46 comments
FFS it isn't Cameron's fault, it isn't the BBC's fault, it's not even Nick's fault! (Although it MIGHT be the fault of those Birmingham City fans last night)
We were just beaten. I'm gutted, it would've been a boost for the country and our economy but we should just continue to improve our infrastructure with public funds, stadia will improve with private clubs funds, and eventually we will have an unbeatable bid.
Although obviously it will have to be when that ****hole Blatter is out of the picture.
BTW did he really say he wanted hosts who have never held the world cup before? If this is what FIFA wanted then it would've been nice telling us and the other bidders who have had it before.
And I would've loved to have seen the 2022 World Cup go to sports mad Australia instead of a homophobic nation with the population size of an English county (that's a lot of white elephants getting built)
One last point, please can we have a joint men and women's world cup so that they play their games during the same month using the same venues with one final following the other so that the status of women's football can be raised? One only has to look at the Olympics to see how successful female athletes like Kelly Holmes get the praise they deserve. I don't see why female footballers don't get similar recognition.
Congratulation to BBC ...your Panorama program have successfully back-stab your own country world cup bid team and have killed off the potential job opportunity created from Wolrd Cup event, which your country man really need at this recession !!
Don't worry guys we missed out as well on 2022.
We didn't have the money to grease the wheels.
Qatar has about 1 million people.
They are supposed to build 22 venues. Well if you do the maths that's about 45,500 for each venue.
They will have to line up those in aged care centres, hospitals, prisons and the newborns to fill the stadiums.
I will as usual watch it on TV. At least I can drink a beer as well without being arrested. in Qatar you aren't allowed to drink beer in public places.
I have been to Russia once and that was enough for me, world cup or not.
I started to be disgusted with everyone involved in the bid as soon as they opened their mouth. The worst of it was listening to a line up of millionaires blame the BBC for exposing Fifa corruption.
I wish they'd had the honour to say they didn't want the World Cup if it was going to be run like this, and walk away. If you are willing to prostitute yourself and slurp up Fifa's arse for their approval, then football is not so much a game as a fetish.
Very funny post Neil and very true.
Cameron got a lesson in political legerdemain over this bid. It is a delicious irony that someone who relies on PR and the media for everything got a good slamming from a Russian.
As for the world cup, we are already going to have to recover from the Olympics without having to do the same over a month long football competition, complete with the world's thugs and hooligans going at it full throttle on our streets.
The Evesham Observer's full front page story on Wednesday:
"School Sports Cuts - Massive Own Goal."
If truest blue Tory rural Worcestershire is clued up to ConDem cuts affecting their children's futures and are complaining about it on the day before FIFA voted we never really stood a chance.
Not if printed just before Cameron started wittering on about the wonderful things they are GOING to do to PROMOTE youth sport.
As someone with an understanding of both the politics of football and an interest in left-wing journalism, I am amused by people with next-to-no football knowledge claiming this was Cameron's fault is laughable. In fact, lauding Putin for class is fallacious itself; he didn't go to Zurich because he didn't want to be associated with something that lost- it was widely reported England had the strongest bid.
FIFA are corrupt, it has been known for decades, and we went there with a product, rather than a means of swinging the gentleman's club. The presentation was cheesy, but excellent, we had the best commercial and technical bid, but that's not what FIFA want. They want to stamp their brand all over a country that intends to develop football- look at USA 94, Korea and Japan 2002, South Africa 2010...these are countries where football was beginning to blossom.
Qatar promised massive stadia, and despite having no football culture, offered money and votes for the other bids- how could it honestly have beaten a resurgent US bid or an Australian bid for the World Cup?
Russia are a developing football nation, and new ground for FIFA- they wanted to give them the World Cup months prior to this voting, and probably knew what would happen before they went in to vote.
more sting op`s n more wiki leaks .. n bring back terracing ..
Jamie: Oh come off it, if we'd won the bid, Cameron's grin would have been splashed all over the tabloids; heralding some almighty victory! It is corrupt, that's why he should have distanced himself from it, rather than highlighting his naivety by seizing on it as a (now failed) PR opportunity.
PM's get the blame for everything from foot and mouth to swine flu, Cameron should keep his beak out of talking up every media opportunity, he's been made to look a laughing stock. His 'involvement' did nothing to help, it was a waste of money, money he all too often reminds us, we haven't got!
Think of the money we will save as opposed to the vacuous promise of invisible gains.
@Ricardo
I'm not attempting to be funny, nor sexist, but have you actually sat and watched 90 minutes of women's football?
It is slow-paced, technically and physically inferior, and worringly poor in comparison to the male athletes. Free kicks from 30 yards? Seriously, some of the women footballers cannot hit the ball that far, with the exception of the best players and the goalkeepers..I'm not even being unreasonable, you watch a game of women's football.
It's not played to the same level, it's not on the same planet in terms of quality, it's not going to attract the viewing figures, it will just congest and confuse the television schedule and fans even more by having simultaneous World Cups..that said, I think by putting the World Cup for women on before their male counterparts would suffice- as the fans around the world start to garner interest, it could help judge how much security is required, venders can set up early etc, and it will generate more revenue for the host nation- FIFA might be interested in that idea.
Where to start ?
1. FIFA has a policy for taking the world cup to 'new lands'. Good idea.
2. Russia has never hosted a major football tournament before. This will help to transform many parts of western Russia - one feels for Vladivostok though !
3. Qatar, likewise, plus, it will be of benefit to more than Qatar - afterwards new stadia to Africa.
But.
4. For England to garner only one other vote (who was that ?), despite having the best commercial and technical bid - sucks.
5. Australia be 'new land' for the world cup. Footy in Aussy be but a minor sport (quite why ?), ergo, the world cup would have boosted its profile 'down under' more generally, and, unlike Qatar, methinks more of the world would want to go there ! - own goal for FIFA !
Where do 'we' go from here ?
6. 'we' do not bother to bid again, not for 2026, not for 2030. England does not need the world cup - yes, some of us may like to host it, but, we do not need it.
7. What role does THE F A play in FIFA ? whatever it be, they should give up on FIFA beyond our membership.
8. Over to 'you' - English meedya - if you have mud, mud that will stick, to throw at FIFA and FIFA members - THROW IT ! 'we' have nothing to lose - go get 'em !
9. Finally, remember this, FIFA be an acronym, but, it be a four letter acronym !
FIFA has nothing to with football
that fans enjoy, it never has...
The home nations should walk out of FIFA... an the UK media should not
pay a penny for media coverage of the next so-called World cup...
The BBC were right to do the broadcast and they were not to blame.
I do wish 'sting' operations were not carried out by the Press, but by a special unit within the Police that have reasons to suspect foul play. Then it becomes legitimate.
The point is, it was someone elses turn, and the UK has the privilige of staging the Olympics anyway.
Now, the UK can concentrate on building a 1st Class UK team that can actually go on to win the World Cup.
Putin was right, stay out of it and let the judges do their job. He has class.
Cameron thinks he can wade in with his prince and a pop star (sorry football)and bully people into voting for him.
Camerons' schmoozing was probably too vomit-inducing and they couldn't bring themselves to vote for such an arrogant twat!
Of course they will blame panorama, naughty investigative journalists!
@Nick
Obviously he would have been splashed all over the pages, because that's what the Times and the Sun watch you to believe- that he would be influential in these circumstances, rather than ineffectual. But the fact is, Cameron was so ineffectual he had no baring on the result- win or loss- AT ALL.
This is getting quite wearing - the British media needs to cut FIFA some slack.
Look at "it's not" cricket - betting corruption up to it's eyeballs. The ashes test of 1981, the Ian Botham one - the ozzies bet on themselves losing, allegedly?
And anyway, in the bigger picure, the russkies are perfect for 2018 World Cup, and it will be an excellent experience.
Cameron scores an excellent home goal by cavorting with the Prince and Beckham; making out it was a foregone conclusion it was in the back of the net, shame it was Russia's! Cameron = Loser. 2 out of 22 votes, pathetic!
So what who cares, a good marxist would plough up all football pitches, sow potatoes and give the produce to the poor!
I hated football at school and still do, what a waste of time. I used to work at weekends and get paid!
As a partisan hack, I'm glad Cameron hasn't come home with a feather in his cap.
The Daily Mail has already found the culprits.
Miliband team sabotages World Cup bid: Spokeswoman tweets 'Pimp Cameron's a hypocrite' for giving bid speech: http://bit.ly/hraUhQ
Given it was all so cut and dried why was the result delayed by an hour? Perhaps waiting for the money transfers to complete ;)
"I hated football at school... I used to work at weekends and get paid!"
I used to work at weekends, get paid and play football!
Who is to blame??
Well voices about corruption has been going on for ages. And then Russia wins the bid. How many rich Russians can proof where did they take their first million from. Well, not many.
And then Putin did not even turn up for the ceremony. I've got the feeling he'd known they've got it.
Roll on the Rugby Union World Cup which we do have in 2015
It was Cameron's sickly, smarmy performance which lost it for us, you wouldn't buy a second hand motor off the dodgy geezer! his salesmanship skills would have had Sir Alan reeling: 'You're Fired!'
I agree with Nick!
Dave doing his Party trick of speaking without notes. Slickly Sickening. Pr William messed up his lines as well. Beckham as usual was cool and relaxed and could have done the whole thing on his own.
He will try to blame this on Labour somehow, even though Katie Mylers tweet was spot on.
I think he sees himself as a superhero, who can swoop down in his private plane and solve everyones' problems. Trouble is, he looks like a fool and is taking Britain with him.
Stop worrying most of the country is not bothered anyway. It has more important things to think about.
Don't ask ourselves where we went wrong; more importantly ask ourselves where Russia went right
The worst weather conditions for years. Slowmo Phil Hammond, Secretary for Transport, setting up a review to discover what went wrong with the transport network. Pensioners freezing in their homes - fortunately and only by the grace of God did this government delay the phasing out of the winter heating allowance. With David Cameron and his deputy abroad - not sure where Osbourne is; has he done a George Junior vanishing trick - the country is a shambles.
Get you skates on Dave. Enough prancing about! Or should that be 'swanning'? None of that high profile business. Get stuck in! Remember how Gordo handled 'foot and mouth' and the floods. Gravity - not undergrad ragging will solve these afflictions.
Imagine what could happen if the snow melts - and it rains. That budget cut in flood defences makes a lot of sense.
Noah
This isn't so much David Cameron jumping on the back of the football bandwagon as much as trying to leap aboard, chinning himself on it and falling back into the road.
By the way, the phrase is 'own goal' not 'home goal'...
Trubshaw: Clearly I know as much about the game as Cameron; sod all! That's what makes his involvement all the more of a joke.....and a huge waste of our money.
fifa follow the same route as every other big company or institution. ie what's in it for us?
corrupt to the core. i hope blatter gets the justice he deserves one day. england v russia. ok. qatar? do me a ^%$ing favour
Russia has to build 18 new stadiums and thousands of miles of roads by 2018 and is a country run by the mafia according to this weeks latest wikileaks.
Going to be very interesting watching football being played in the desert heat of the month of June 2022 in that bastion of footballing culture that is the "nation" of Qatar?. Pretty obvious really Blatter and the rest of them will be sitting in air conditioned cubicles living the life, what do they care if a few footballers collapse from heatstroke. Maybe the BBC got it absolutely right about corruption going on!!!.
Cameron doesn't seem to understand that England and it's passion for football, is of no consequence to the rest of the world.
If he wants us to be competative and respected in sport, then he needs to pump money into the grass-roots, which is in our schools. Yet his Education secretarty is cutting schools funding, including the fantastic sports programme which Labour introduced.
He would rather spend £15m making a fool of himself in Zurich. God he's such a twit, Ed miliband must be wetting himself.
England lose the World Cup!
I didn't know they had found it!
Ang: It's oh so good to see Cameron the clown giving us all something to have a good laugh about, his sales pitch on bringing the final to England was distinctly Arthur Daley! What with £15 million on this abysmal failure, £2 million on a happy pole when everyone is mighty unhappy, and the Big Society that will never be; all the cuts the idiot makes will soon end up being frittered away on his half baked schemes. He's a liability, he'll go down in history as the Big Joke rather than society!
One vote, England are shit, One vote, England are shit! No one likes England that is why they lost in the bidding for 2006 and 2018!
@swatantra. The UK does not have a football team. You need to bone up on your football knowledge mate!
I know that. The point is, it needs a UK Team to lift the World Cup because England aren't going to do it in a million years.
@swatantra. There will NEVER be a UK team, NEVER!
v
Best regards for you all,
Looking forward to your visiting.
http://www.1shopping.us/
Best regards for you all,
Looking forward to your visiting.
http://www.1shopping.us/
The idea of linking national teams with our best football clubs got rumbled.
Somehow translated as rent-a-room with the players' moms.
Best bit of news for a while - the arrogance surrounding Englands bid was their downfall, with Dave in yesterdays PMQ's using it as his own personal political football - disgusting.
And anyway, England dropped a right clanger in not doing a joint bid with Scotland - a right HUGE clanger. England are living in the past.
Calamity Cameron, Bojo the Clown, Jeremy Hunt (rhyming slang), Dave from Peckham and Billy 'Nice But Dim' Windsor - what dream team!
Why is anyone surprised England lost the bid?
I think Neil sums it up perfectly