I don’t care about football/soccer at all, but I remember reading something back in 2012 (I think it was around the time of the Olympics?) about how Prince William was involved in a shady deal to bring the World Cup to England. Now the official report of a 2014 FIFA investigation has been released, and William was definitely involved in the corrupt England 2018 bid.
Some background: In 2010, FIFA voted on who would host the 2018 and 2020 World Cups, and England made a bid to host the 2018 World Cup. William was involved in the 2018 bid, which England eventually lost. In 2014, FIFA launched an investigation into corruption within the organization. On Tuesday, June 27, FIFA released the full report of the 2014 investigation.
Let’s go to the Telegraph:
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“The Duke of Cambridge and David Cameron have become embroiled in a row over corruption in football as the full extent of England’s failed attempt to stage the 2018 World Cup was made public. The former prime minister and Prince William were at a meeting during which a vote-swapping deal between England and South Korea was discussed, according to an official report released Tuesday night. The long-awaited Fifa report has disclosed the lengths to which England’s football bosses went to court Fifa executives, many of them now discredited, as they sought to secure votes for England’s 2018 bid. At one point officials discussed the possibility of arranging a meeting with the Queen for one Fifa representative whose vote could have helped England.
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“The Fifa report reveals how Mr Cameron asked the South Korean delegation to back England’s bid, only to be told that England would have to agree to reciprocate by pledging support for South Korea’s bid to host the 2022 tournament. Such a vote-swapping deal, the report concluded, would have been in ‘violation of the anti-collusion rules’. The report, written in 2014 by Fifa’s then chief ethics investigator Michael Garcia, details how England bid officials interacted with Fifa officials in the run up to the vote. It discloses how they were asked to bestow an honorary knighthood and arrange an audience with the Queen for one South American official.
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“England 2018 officials arranged work at Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur football clubs for the ‘adopted son’ of one official. They even considered a request by the same official, the Trinidad and Tobago Fifa vice-president Jack Warner, to have his hometown twinned with an ‘English village’ according to the report. The FA offered Burton upon Trent, in Staffordshire, as a potential twin town. The report discloses how Mr Cameron met Fifa vice president Mong-Joon Chung of South Korea in Prince William’s suite at the Baur au lac Hotel in Zurich on the eve of the vote in December 2010. South Korea was bidding to stage the 2022 World Cup which was also being decided at the same time. ‘The Prime Minister asked Mr Chung to vote for England’s bid, and Mr Chung responded that he would if Mr [Geoff] Thompson [chairman of England’s bid] voted for Korea,’ states the report based on evidence provided by the English delegation.
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“The Queen is also named in the report after it emerged that FA chiefs met with a senior Fifa official in 2009 who asked for an audience with the monarch. It is alleged that Nicolas Leoz, president of the South American Football Confederation, suggested the possibility of an honorary knighthood. In the meeting with Lord Triesman, the then FA chairman, it is alleged that Dr Leoz said, ‘that he believed that a knighthood from the United Kingdom would be appropriate’. Andy Anson, chief executive of England 2018, the company behind the English FA bid, told investigators he recalled officials ‘said to me that it would be nice if at some point Dr Leoz would get to meet the Queen.’ England 2018 officials, recognising the difficulty of arranging an honorary knighthood, instead discussed ‘creating a FA Disability Cup’ that ‘could be named after him’. Subsequently officials questioned whether naming a trophy in his honour was ‘big enough’ inducement to gain Dr Leoz’s support.
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“The attempts to court Jack Warner, then a Fifa vice president and president of North, Central American and Caribbean football confederation, and his astonishing demands are also revealed in full for the first time. ‘England 2018’s response shows an unfortunate willingness, time and again, to meet that expectation [of Mr Warner],’ concludes the report. That included finding jobs for Mr Warner’s ‘adopted son’ Richard Sebro, who was actually the son of his banker, at Tottenham Hostpur Football Club and then a second placement at Aston Villa in 2009. The same year, the FA also paid for all costs covering a stay in Sheffield of the Trinidad & Tobago Under 20 team. A year later, according to the report, Mr Warner then requested his home village of Longdenville, in Trinidad, be twinned with an English village in order to secure publicity and funding for it. In an email sent to Mr Warner on June 29, 2009, the English bid team offered up Burton-upon-Trent, which is home to the FA’s national football centre, as a possible twinned town.
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“The report also discloses England’s agreement to play an international football friendly in Thailand, a team ranked 120th in the world. Thailand would received money from all broadcasting rights to the game, bar in the UK, due to be staged in 2011. The ex-FA boss Geoff Thompson admitted in interview to the Garcia inquiry that he ‘didn’t think it was appropriate’ for England to play the Thailand friendly ‘because I think it’s a form of bribery’. When England lost out on the World Cup bid in 2010 to Russia, the game with Thailand, arranged in November, was cancelled in December. The report states: ‘The game’s cancellation only underscores the improper relationship.’
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“The FA’s attempts at lobbying were unsuccessful with England knocked out in the first round when receiving only two votes. The tournament went to Russia while Qatar secured the 2022 finals, with both decisions reached on December 2, 2010. According to the Garcia report England 2018 ‘provided full and valuable co-operation in establishing the facts and circumstances of this case’ with witnesses made available for interview and documents produced on request. However, the report also identified ‘conduct by England 2018 that may not have met the standards set out in the FCE (FIFA code of ethics) or the bid rules’. The report adds: ‘In many cases England 2018 accommodated or at least attempted to satisfy, the improper requests made by these Executive Committee members. While the bidding process itself, and the attitude of entitlement and expectation demonstrated by certain Executive Committee members in the exchanges discussed in detail above, place the bid team in a difficult position that fact does not excuse all of the conduct.'”
If William is complicit and/or an accomplice to corruption and leveraging a knighthood, that’s really bad. I haven’t read the full report, but I think the full extent of William’s involvement here needs to be investigated. As future Head of State (and an unelected one at that), being this close to corruption is not acceptable in any way. If people get angry at Charles lobbying politicians, then they should definitely get angry at William being involved in FIFA corruption.
Below are photos of William, David Cameron, and David Beckham on November 30-December 1, 2010 in Switzerland, right before the FIFA vote.
Uh-oh. Isn’t this similar to what the Duchess of York was doing in that video? Selling access to Prince Andrew for money, only with Prince William its a knighthood for some guy or a meeting with the Queen to sway a vote. Very corrupt, indeed. Tsk tsk.
This makes you wonder if the Olympics were corrupt as well. The Olympics were in London the same year as the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. So that’s double the pride of Great Britain which was awesome but I always thought it was more that just a coincidence. Hmm…
I don’t think they were planning the Jubilee much in 2004-05 when London was getting together the Olympic bid and won. However with the IOC there’s always insane amounts of corruption…
As for William I think he’s mostly too stupid to be involved in corruption but I wouldn’t be surprised if it were him who offered access to HM and the knighthood and not Cameron. Obviously William was somehow complicit. How much we do not know but I’m with KMR–needs looking into, big time.
Charles lobbying politicians, everybody can do that.
Nobody seemed to care when William has done so–to get that helicopter for EAAA, to not disband SAR and sell it off. But when Charles does people freak out.
I have no idea if those events have a more than coincidental connection but the planning for the jubilee startet about 10-9 years prior. Which is absolutely crazy. They started working on her coach about 9-7 years before. In her age the chances to die before are so high I was baffled about this!
That’s crazy, I didn’t think they planned it so early!
William might not be bright but you don’t have to be bright to be cunning/unethical. Why does he get a pass? If he is a stupid future head of state willing to sell off titles, then he should be thrown out on his ear. No pass from me.
Totally agree Maven. By the way, thank you very much for the information of the meaing of TMI in the las post. Have a great day.
Not a specific comment about William , but the Olympics are massively corrupt. The IOC is just better at hiding it for now.
As for FIFA, I doubt he was heavily involved enough for any scandal to affect him significantly. His laziness will probably benefit him in this instance.
In William’s defense, FIFA is/was so corrupt, it would have been impossible to win the bid without kickbacks. It wasn’t a secret. The FiFA board of governors openly lived like kings and routinely made outrageous demands from potential bidders. Maybe William should have done more to insulate himself from this, but one could argue he was doing what he could to win the World Cup for GB. It’s not his fault FIFA is/was rotten to the core. No shade this time.
William should have known how corrupt FIFA was and stayed away from being involved with the bid to avoid possible entanglements.
Isn’t this akin to the Queen meeting/hosting various dodgy political/trade leaders? Royalty is often hauled in – the soft diplomacy often mentioned – as a buttering-up mechanism to help seal a deal through being flattered etc. It’s the ‘magic’ Harry is talking about. A knighthood is but one ego-booster often dangled by politicians in return. Just a commodity, which it always has been by the way, for services rendered.
How can William be ‘in the room’ when sweeteners are offered and not be complicit? It beggars belief that the poor flower was compromised or duped. Otherwise our fearless leader-to-be wouldn’t have been there. He was doing what he was told. It’s no excuse, of course, though no-one is going to hold a future King of England accountable.The World Cup brings in buckets of money for a host country and that’s what it’s about.
I agree with other posters re. FIFA’s corruption. Same with the Olympics; London’s 2012 OG and the Queen’s Jubilee was no happy coincidence.
Sadly, Jen, I think Zara getting a spot on the 2012 Olympics team had something to do with her being HM’s granddaughter too. Talented equestrienne, yes, but not necessarily the best qualified for that team.
The Olympics process for her sport is a selection not a straight adding up of previous scores. If she had been an everyday competitor, I’m not sure she’d have landed a spot on the team. Olympics in London the year of her grandmother’s Jubilee? Looked good to have her on the team.
So being unethical/corrupt is okay because everyone is doing it? How little is asked of people these days,and him a leader of some sort. Better to call out corruption than too succumb. OTOH, the BRF is corrupt anyway, so he’s doing what comes naturally.
The Football Federation Australia (FFA) was also tarred with similar attempts to ‘win’ hosting rights for the 2022 World Cup.It’s not that so little is asked of people these days, is that people who purport to lead are not much talent to offer, just rhetoric. We have to demand more and call out corruption, wherever it is. Unfortunately, William does not possess good judgement nor has the will to behave ethically. He has also known from an early age that he is untouchable. All his messes are whitewashed away.
When the IOC allowed the Russians to compete even tho they were caught in a state sponsored doping program, they lost all integrity.
I would work on the premise that all these international sporting organisations and the committees that run them are corrupt. William is naive at best to be present during such discussions and not act to protect his position.
wrong spot
What Lisa said.
IOC and FIFA are notoriously corrupt. No special knowledge required on that front.
Olympics, FIFA, royals are all corrupt. Even American government (gasp). Nothing new. Just more media platforms now.
Honestly when FIFA is involved I think it’s more shocking when there isn’t allegations of corruption. I’m confused as to how much we know about William’s involvement. Is it just that he was involved with the bid, and there was corruption with the bid? Do we have any evidence if anything more than that at this time? Also wasn’t Harry also involved? When they visited Africa around the time of the 2010 world cup I thought part of that trip was for both of them to lend their hand to England’s bid?
FifA is corrupt through and through and it all started at the top with Sepp Blatter. You would have though Will and Cameron would know better.
I’ve never heard any rumours of vote rigging behind the London 2012 Games, and we delivered a spectacular games. Whilst London was celebrating getting the Games bombers were at work and the next day we had the 7/7 London attack. The best of times, the worst of times….Charles Dickens Imthink?
It was a great opening ceremony in 2012! I remember Daniel Craig with HM, J.K.Rowling, Rowan Atkinson an many more. Also, the whole atmosphere during the games was nice and easy-going.
Maybe the London games weren’t rigged but the IOC is still pretty corrupt. The Sochi vote was shady, the 2000 Beijing vote was shady and there were rumblings about the Atlanta 96 vote. Plus the amount of money that goes to the IOC and not the host city / county is insane. When Vancouver hosted the Olympics a lot of that stuff came out. The tickets for the events were expensive and the IOC VIPs were numerous and had plenty of excessive requirements.
I wonder, William always mentions that he wants to make his mother proud, doing the things she would do.
Would Diana be proud of such behaviour?
If William and Harry wanted to make their mother proud, they could work at the same pace she set, be really involved. Just empty words.
+1
Well, I guess this answers my question from the other day. This story popped up on my phone out of nowhere and I posted on the tail end of the Harry interview fallout thread ruminating over what it all meant. Corruption isn’t a good look, especially when you’re under the microscope for incredible laziness and incompetence.
FIFA scandal? Prince William involved in corruption? Color me unsurprised.
I hope there is a backlash against the DoC for this, the same as against the PoW when it came to light how he was trying to influence politics. But… at least in the US, William is the golden child of Diana. I doubt this is going to tarnish his reputation, unfortunately.
There won’t be any backlash. This story has already died. William must think he is untouchable.
Because he pretty much is. Any criticism dies quick enough to hide behind the myth of serious, dutiful William.
Well said Ellie.
The situation strongly suggests, as others have done, that W is not well advised. He needs to take responsibility for ensuring he has sound advice.
He proudly brags about listening to any advice which has contributed significantly to his poor decisions.
He lacks the self awareness to accept advice, good or bad. And the humility to realise that he has no significant life experience or curiosity to seek out good advice.
Did you mean to type that he proudly brags about ignoring advice, because that is what I’ve read of him.
He seems to think he has the magic touch, thinks he doesn’t need to prepare or pay attention. That he can “wing it”. We’ve seen how badly he does, from the inappropriate discussions with Obama about baby genitalia, talk of what a visiting dignitary might see in W&K’s bedroom if he looked in the window from his hotel room, ignoring the plea to stay away from the elephant “sanctuary”, messing up the bows to the Emperor and the Tea Ceremony in Japan, etc.
Until he is held accountable for his mistakes, he’ll keep making them.
Yes, that’s what i meant. He proudly brags about NOT listening to advice given. He says it in most interviews he gives.
Well as he does not read any briefing notes then no surprise that he could not sniff a con
Honestly, I wonder if Diana was still alive, would W & H be anxious to work at her pace or would they be avoiding her and her work ethic? Also, I’ve always suspected that Diana’s work ethic was very much a final ‘eff-u to Charles & family. I sometimes wonder if she would have just re-married filthy rich and become a party attending socialite, Mother of the King, etc, etc? Diana was absolutely not a saint, imho, and was immature, and vindictive as all get out.
Some posters here have theorized that William would not be close to his mother if she were alive due to her habit of speaking to the press. Considering how paranoid about privacy he is he might have shielded the children from her the same way he does with his dad. Who knows? There is a rumor that William was upset about the Panorama interview when he was a teen. He felt it was humiliating and in all fairness it probably was humiliating for a teenage boy to have his parents’ dirty laundry aired out in the open like that. U don’t think Diana thought of how her behavior could be affecting him.
“U don’t think Diana thought of how her behavior could be affecting him.” Or Harry.
Very interesting point Cookie.
Just my opinion, please don’t see it as a challenge. My opinion is that Diana was ungrateful and immature. She expected a fantasy, and refused to see reality. Like Charles was the first future King to have a mistress. Give me a break. She needed to be loved and lavished with attention. I think she was manipulative, jealous, and was so very enraged that all she thought about was hurting Charles and QEII. It seems she didn’t consider her boys at all in her quest for revenge. At least in my circles, no one really gave a dang about her, and her actions, or even seeing her after the divorce. She had become a has-been. No longer exciting to read about. Maybe because in my peer group we found her to be ridiculous and ungrateful. She also used the boys in photo ops all the time. Doesn’t quite say selfless mother, to me.
And using William as her shoulder to cry on, telling him a lot of intimate details about her life, no doubt messed him up. Not good. She needed friends to talk to about this, not her son.
Ellie- I agree. Parents shouldn’t use their children as confidants. She treated him like a friend in that respect.
I fin it sad that William recently expressed regret that he could not protect his mother. But as a 15 year old, why does he feel like it was his responsibility to? He was only a kid. I think Harry probably feels the same way which is why I believe that harry wI’ll be just as reclusive with his wife as Will is with Kate.
Agree Eliie and Cookie. I saw days ago a new documentary about Diana and it started talking about William. There were videos of his young years after Diana died and OMG he looked very cool, talking to others, smilings, joking, the type of guy you are happy to be around. The William of today is totally different from that guy. I don’t know if this is delayed effect from his mother’s death but William today looks sad to me. Even when he is with his children I see sadness in his eyes. I saw the making off of the engagement interview of William and Kate and at some point Diana was mentioned. After Kate spoke the camera showed William and he was serious and he lowered his head. It was very sad to see. He may use mommy card many times but I’m sure he misses her very much, and this sadness is more evident today.
I think Diana has nothing to do with William’s misery. He doesn’t want to work and he’s tied down in a bad marriage and saddled with a couple of kids. He wants to wander aimlessly through Africa, like a hippie, with millions. He’s a grown man of 35. If his personality is miserable 20 years later because of mummy’s death, then that’s pathological and he needs help.
I think any wife deserves to be loved and cherished and has every right to expect her husband to be faithful. That doesn’t make Diana a bad person. Times have changed …. would you think it ok for Will to have a mistress?
William did cheat on Kate. Who knows if he does now. (Not like I think it’s okay. Affairs are not okay ever!)
I’m with Anastasia on this one.
It’s known that William’s housemaster had to beg her to go to the school to reassure William that whatever she said in the interview (rumour of the interview was out a few days prior) wasn’t going to be harmful.
She went and either lied to him or in her usual manner breezily told him not to worry about it.
After the interview, news leaked out that he watvhed it alone in the housemaster’s study and wept for a very long time.
She never talked to him about it post interview being aired.
It’s also well known that he was finally over her antics during that last summer. Whether that was teen rebellion or something else we’ll never know for sure, but whst we know is that he refused to join her on several of those holidays and had many rows with her about her press antics and her habit of calling paps on herself.
People think well of the dead, and i suppose that is what he is doing, but it always strikes me as hypocritical that he pushes the line that she was hunted by the paps when he was having rows about her calling paps to herself. It’s quite the pretzel leap to justify his war with the press.
As you all know, i was PR intern during that final summer with prime task of reading ALL the papers and creating cuttings folders for all our clients.
Diana was or had been exposed for being manipulative and had very bad press. Press openly mocked her, people went to her events, but she was also heckled.
Dying was the best career move because she went from horrible press to sainthood in that instant.
And the press, being opportunists, stoked up her sainthood and elevated her to a place of hysteria because that sold papers.
If she had lived, very few people would be sympathetic to her. She’d occupy a similar spot to Fergie.
As my mom likes to say – you are a saint when you are dead.
My grandfather who was a wonderful amazing loving grandpa is a saint to my dad. He was an awful parent, but he is dead now, thus he is sainted.
Add in diana’s celebrity and the hysteria surrounding her death (I still do NOT understand it!)..
Replying to H: I remember the last summer of her life very well and it’s true, the Press were awful. Comments were made about her and Dodi kissing on the F1 show of all places and we all pretty much agreed with the commentary. Then she died and I was like ‘what’s happening’? This outpouring of grief where just days previous there was vitriol, gossip and laughter. The UK had an episode of mass hysteria, I never understood it. A complete 180 from what was felt earlier. Very strange times.
I didn’t see it as a challenge and I don’t disagree with you. My last sentence auto corrected from an “I” to a “U”.
If FIFA is notoriously corrupt, then every country bidding knows they have to supersize their package somehow. Would this not be par for the course and every single country has offered and given just as much or worse. Sounds like no point attempting to host unless the board is offered major kickbacks. Not saying it’s right, but maybe a case of when in Rome? I don’t know…worse things going on in the world right now. This seems minor and if they HAD been successful well wouldn’t that have been a major economic boost for England?
Anyhoo…Happy Canada Day to all my fellow Canucks here on KMR?. 150 years strong
Happy Canada Day to you as well! A great day of celebrating in Cambridge Ontario in spite of the torrential downpour in the middle of the parade!
I agree! It’s FIFA, not let’s all pretend to be shocked at corruption.
I’m not shocked at FIFA’s corruption, but I think William being involved in it is as much a big deal as Charles lobbying politicians. And loads of people got pissed about that.
What KMR is saying.
Just because a system is corrupt doesn’t mean we have to perpetuate it.
In this scenerio, William didn’t have to be present or lend them his suite as the deal went down especially considering he wasn’t negotiating the nitty gritty of the deal.
His presence was as much a carrot dangled as the knighthood.
This goes to how the monarchy is used in the service of governments. The fact that meeting the Queen was on the table and cheekily floating the idea of a knighthood, clearly indicates that monarchy is a commodity able to be used as well as being complicit in its own right (see: Andrew, Fergie, Sophie, Charles and now William).
So, Harry opines that monarchy is a force for good, eh? He just didn’t mention whose good.
Agree KMR. It’s known FIFA is corrupt and just for this reason William shoud stay away. No excuse for him. I think he should not even have accepted the position of president of the FA. The articles say that it was in William’s suite where the exchange took place but no mention of William participating in the exchange. Well, if he was present he committed passive corruption. Its like here in my country, the president was told by a man that he (the man) was paying money to a politician in exchange for favors. The president, even hearing this, did nothing, and now he is being acused of passive corruption, at the risk of losing his mandate. With William is the same thing. passive corruption (if he was present).
I’m not really familiar with the FIFA corruption scandal; is that the one where the US Attorney General Loretta Lynch arrested a whole bunch of people. Is this a big deal?
Yes this one. Considering that football is the most popular sport in the world, it is huge. The higher-up in the FIFA are corrupted, rich and won’t get punished or anything. Everyone knows it and it is sad.
John Oliver did some great pieces on the FIFA corruption
https://youtu.be/DlJEt2KU33I
https://youtu.be/qr6ar3xJL_Q
And a bonus one if you watched the 2nd video
https://youtu.be/_Csi_BEgL_U
I have learned so much watching that show.
I think that if rules are violated and corruption is suspected that these things should be investigated and the media should report on the matter but it is hard for me to see how, with the bids and environment being set up the way they are, the rules don’t get violated as part of normal interactions.
To me if horse trading and carrot dangling are against the rules then what needs to happen is that the locales that are interested in hosting FIFA, the Olympics or what have you, they need to express their interest, complete an application, application reviewed and if accepted then get invited to meeting where all the interested locales present to the decision makers and from there the decision makers vote. Why parachute in the Prime Minister (Cameron was PM at that time, right?), a soccer superstar who is also an A-List celebrity and a royal heir unless you are trying to sweeten the pot and/or influence the outcome beyond the merits of the application and presentation? And to be sure the other locales are also using whatever is at their disposal to enhance their bid.
As far as William is concerned, even though his name is in the headlines, none of the details seem to implicate him in anything other than it was in his hotel suite that David Cameron asked the South Korean representative to support England’s bid and the South Korean rep countered by requesting that England support South Korea’s bid which if agreed to then that’s collusion. Again it was noted that it was William’s suite where the exchange took place but no mention of William participating in the exchange.
Regarding the knighthood, it looks like the knighthood was not offered by the English officials rather it was a South American official who introduced the idea of a knighthood being bestowed and the English officials gave little or no consideration to the request.
Again this just seems rife for corruption, once you allow these people to get in rooms with each other, IMO it is inevitable that there will actions and discussions that will cross the line.
Maybe this is why they announced their private rededication of the grave. They hope to distract-like the dog from UP but instead of squirrel, it’s Diana.
Has KP said anything or are they ignoring it, hoping it will quietly go away?
people bring up and chide Charles’s black spider memos for being involved in politics so if they give William a pass (if guilty) for being involved in a corrupt deal, I’ll be truly disgusted
They will ignore it until it goes away. And publish plenty of distracting articles, about Diana, the children or throwing Harry/Charles under the bus. That’s how they have worked for the past years and will probably continue to do so.
I am surprised we haven’t got pictures of the re-dedication yet.
Well well well.
Between this and the France trials (no matter how the jury rules), it’s going to be an interesting few weeks for William.
Yes, The press aren t touching William and FIFA. Princess Charlotte will make an appearance and all will be forgotten.
This may sound as white washing and all but… it’s FIFA. OF COURSE it’s a corrupt. And no one ended up getting a knighthood (William is not the one who decides over that anyway, and it’s not his fault to receive the request from some loon) so I may be ignorant here, but who cares?
An organization being famously corrupt doesn’t make the corruption acceptable, nor does it excuse those complicit in said corruption. The fact that FIFA is famously corrupt makes it worse because William can’t play dumb like he had no idea he was involving himself in corruption. Maybe I’m just weird, but I don’t like politicians/leaders/heads of state/future heads of state to be involved in any form of corruption. If William is complicit in corruption about something as stupid as football, what else is he complicit in corruption about?
But isn’t that what happens in all levels of politics? Lobbyists and whips and backbenchers- promising support here and money there and whatever else to get this senator or what have you to vote approval for their bosses bill that’s up to be passed? A vague way of putting it but I think that’s how the world is run. Some form of corruption at every level- it’s a human failing greed and vanity. The terrible corruption that involves human trafficking, drugs, genocide….the very worst of what humans can do to each other and the planet. I feel that’s what we need to fight and take a stand on. These other “minor” deals in back rooms and petty vengeances can never be done away with. People are people after all, put a bit of power in someone’s hand and see what happens. Just my thoughts…
There is acceptable corruption then there is FIFA and IOC corruption.
It might be white collar corruption, but it’s on an unprecedented scale that is now the subject of FBI investigations.
Giving sweetners to the tune of $100M in one interaction, to a handful of people, goes beyond free concert tickets or even a luxury vacation.
Was it the focus of FBI investigations before England had their special meetings and made their bid? If this was public knowledge, then I do agree William should not have been involved. Just pure common sense with a view to the big picture. The second in line needs a better advisory team.
The FBI getting involved came later, but that was because the previous investigations had been dropped on technicalities.
The President of FIFA, Sepp Blatter, who was in place at various times between 1998 – 2015, was routinely investigated and routinely publicly shamed for being corrupt AND for presiding over a corrupt organisation. He routinely obstructed any attempts to remove him whilst flaggrantly continuing the corruption.
It became a very frustrating situation for everyone, officials and fans alike.
Knowing that FIFA is corrupt became as ingrained in the public psyche as Elizabeth 2.
This latest corruption scandal is practically tame compared to what has been revealed in previous investigations, but the report specifically mentions that the England bid team either “accomodated or tried to accomodate improper requests”.
William would have lived in a special kind of bubble not to realise what was going on, and as a football fan not know about FIFA’s corruption irrespective of the FBI’s involvement.
The bidding process took place in 2010, meanwhile this was going on.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Sport_and_Leisure
These types of articles became standard headlines about FIFA corruption throughout the 00s and a regular feature of Sepp Blatter’s time as president.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/columnists/davidbond/2294323/The-66m-bribe-shadow-hanging-over-Fifa.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/15357180
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/joao-havelange-guilty-of-taking-bribes-for-world-cup-rights-but-clumsy-fifa-president-sepp-blatter-8598250.html
The transcript of a BBC Panorama programme from late 00s.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/5076282.stm
Again, I don’t think we should all pretend to be shocked. I knew back in the days, when William was involved, that it probably was all a little fishy and I honestly didn’t care, because sometimes fishy is necessary. The world cup would have been good for the UK economy. This sort of thing is not at all comparable at all to Charles lobbying, in my opinion, not when you know the difference in both political involvements. Charles gets actively and purposely involved with UK politics, directly and consciously, he’s using his influence in areas where he believes things ought to change, doing this is not necessarily for the UK’s benefit.
William, on the other hand, seems to have been trying to help the prime minister himself with making a deal, he was not being influential directly into politics, he was participating in trying to get the UK a pretty damn good deal. Odd as this many sound.. it’s too bad they didn’t succeed. Probably because countries such a Quatar will do a hell of a lot more
but joke about knighthoods. It’s not William who decides all this, it was Cameron he sat next to at the table. William was working for the benefit of the UK, with Cameron taking the lead. It’s not the same as Charles pushing his own interests and opinion under politicians’ nose. Lobbying is a totally different sort of practice. Not everything can be compared.
Not surprised about the corruption but William shouldn’t have been involved. Like you said, KMR, it’s exactly like when Fergie was caught trying to sell access to Andrew and HM for money. It’s just trashy all around.
Update: Finally got to hug my donor mom, siblings, nephew, SIL, uncle & aunt! We spent 4.5 hours together! The first hugs lasted forever. ???Hopefully, I’ll get to spend time with my donor sister tomorrow when she gets off work. I’m glad I brought the stethoscope. Also, I learned that my donor, Dulce, LOVED cheese and spaghetti and meatballs. ? When I heard that I thought, “that explains a few things…..” ?
I’m so pleased that all is going well, Kimothy. The stethoscope was an inspired idea; maybe you could record your heartbeat and they’ll have it forever. I’m sure they just loved you and your energy and goodheartedness (intentional pun). Hope tomorrow is equally good.
Oh Wow! I’m so happy for you Kimothy that the meeting went well.
And taking along your stethoscope was a brilliant idea too 🙂
Oh Kimothy, how marvellous. Love, love your update. ??
There was a reason for William to be there, he is the president of the English Football Association, David Cameron would have been there as he was Prime Minister at the time, and David Beckham was there, well because he was David Beckham? They were there for a reason – to bring the World Cup to England.
Each of these men would know about the corruption in FIFA so I would be surprised if they had taken part without having advisors with them. David Cameron would certainly have had government advisors with him and would listen to those advisors even if William was there sans advisors like a Private Secretary. For this reason I don’t think there was any corruption on their behalf. It was someone else who asked for a knighthood, William didn’t offer one.
I’m hoping the government advisors would have told all 3 men to step away as soon as the conversation turned dodgy.
When you are in the public eye you do need to take care with the company you keep. A perfect example of this would be Prince Andrew’s “friendship” with Jeffrey Epstein. Who knows how friendly Andrew was with Epstein? But now Andrew is guilty by association?
So it is a storm in a teacup? The corruption levels have been mind boggling and it does need to stop.
When everything first came out I was thinking it would be so hard to play it straight, without bribes, when other countries are so into bribery. But in some countries it’s a way of life? A friend of my father’s was given the job of heading up a large company in Russia. Part of his budget actually included an amount to be used for bribes. As a New Zealander he found this extraordinary, we don’t even tip here, but when he questioned his bosses they just shrugged and said that it was necessary to bribe to make things happen.
I’m with Jen and totally agree with her comment…
“We have to demand more and call out corruption, wherever it is. “
”Jamel
July 2, 2017 at 9:03 am
I think he should not even have accepted the position of president of the FA.
Cathy
July 3, 2017 at 12:01 am
There was a reason for William to be there, he is the president of the English Football Association,…”
The FA has no president listed on their web site today. And, the presidency of the FA has disappeared from PWs Charities and Patronages List on the Royal UK web site. it was there a few days ago. I know because I checked to see what position he held with them when reading articles about the FA problem. Let’s see how long it takes to delete it from Wikipedia. It’s still there in at least 3 entries.
Yeah, while the royal.uk website still says HM is Patron of the Football Association, it does not say that William is President. It used to. However, KP did tweet earlier today that William is President of the Football Association: https://twitter.com/KensingtonRoyal/status/881891470009147392
I know it was there because I was updating my list of the patronage of the 3 amigos to make corrections if needed. Was working on year-to-year comparisons of RF accounts.
Will we be seeing a letter of resignation? From either royal?
This too:
http://www.thefa.com/news/2017/jul/03/england-women-duke-of-cambridge-kensington-palace-euro-2017-030717
”The Duke of Cambridge, President of The Football Association, will host the England Women’s team at Kensington Palace on Thursday 13 July.
The Duke has invited the squad for a good luck reception at the Palace, before they fly to the Netherlands for Euro 2017.”
So someone went to the bother of removing his association with FA from the royal web site but is still tweeting about it and FA is promoting women’s squad mentioning him as president. Really coordinated PR staff.
I really dislike the current BRF website. The use of the never-ending web page, the dislocated photos that aren’t very helpful for navigation and the very literal (instead of intuitive) search functions make it an exercise in futility — and I think that was intended in its construction. It’s the poster child for Obfuscation Web Design. For readers with a short attention span and a tablet computer, I guess it works. Oooh pretty picture, lets go there — and you can’t return to the point of origin, it’s gone. The idea of the Information Age has devolved into the Age of Flummox As Often As Possible. How sad. I appreciate reference librarians at my local library more than I did even two years ago.
The BRF website’s design is horrible.
Yep.
I can not find anything i am searching for on the BRF anymore simply because i can’t go backwards nor are there intuitive suggestions that might help in the search.
You have to type in exactly what you are looking for, BUT if the information has been folded into something else, search comes up empty.