FIFA sponsors demand reform as experts counsel caution before withdrawing support
Visa has become the first major FIFA sponsor to threaten to walk away from world football’s governing body after 14 past and present executives were charged with a range of corruption offences overnight.
Allegations levied by US investigators include officials taking bribes in return for media rights for the World Cup, and for marketing deals.
Despite the unfolding crisis, which FIFA has sought to play down as “good news”, local World Cup broadcaster SBS has effectively washed its hands of the scandal insisting it remains “committed to the game’s future and broadcasting The World Cup”.
About bloody time [Edited by Mumbrella]
They marked South Africa as being the World Cup that was bringing Africa alive, which erm, if you read in the fine print actually said … “Yes Africa, you can host the World Cup, but you ain’t getting any of the profits…”
Despicable.
As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, to suggest, “People love it. They don’t care about corruption.” under-estimates the ethics of those who really care about the world game and ignores that toxic aroma emanating from the ongoing machinations of FIFA – a body with income in the billions of dollars, much of which is funded by sponsors.
Every one one of these international corporates subscribes to its own code of ethics. And ever since the days of Socrates, the single question at the heart of ethics is the question waiting to be answered, “What ought one to do?” Or, as the St James Ethics Centre reminds us, “An unexamined life is not worth living.”
That aroma, by the way, appears to emanate from an organisation that rots from the head.