Rattlesnake Ridge      

 
      BFF
“And now, thanks to a few lingering sour grapes in England over their failed 2018 bid, we’re learning that it really was just the tip. Six more members of the 24-man FIFA executive committee have been implicated in a Parliamentary inquiry on evidence given by former FA chairman Lord Triesman and the Sunday Times. And among the allegations, there appears to be an answer to why Qatar was able to beat the U.S. by such a wide margin in the 2022 vote. From the AP: The Sunday Times sent further evidence—which it did not publish at the time for legal reasons—to the British committee on Monday to be made public using parliamentary privilege. Two of the paper’s investigative journalists told the committee in a letter that a whistleblower who had worked for the Qatari bid told them in December that the country “had paid $1.5 million to two FIFA ExCo members—Hayatou and Jacques Anouma of the Ivory Coast—to secure their votes.” It’s kind of funny in an awful sort of way that Qatar (allegedly) used the U.S.’s own currency against them, rather than something more valuable like euros or Canadian dollars. But not nearly as funny/awful as the alleged bribe solicitations Triesman revealed.……”

The Brits have been complaining about this from the gate. It is probably not just all sour grapes: I have had some suspicions, let’s say some wonderment about how they decided to have the World Cup in a place where the summer temperatures pass 120 F. I know: we grew up playing in the sun under those temperatures and more (my neck of the Gulf is hotter but drier). But those Europeans and East Asians and South Americans?
Sports selections can be notorious for corruption, but that is covered up with all the great athletic performance and goodwill they generate. I don’t know all the details, but I know that IT (with or without the SH) happens. Which may also mean that the Qataris won it fair and square, at least by ‘current’ FIFA standards.
Cheers
mhg



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