England fail in 2018 World Cup bid

RECRIMINATIONS and accusations have begun after England failed to land the 2018 World Cup, in staggering circumstances.

CELEBRATION: Russia fans rejoice in Moscow at the vote

Russia got the vote for the 2018 finals, the first time that the tournament will be hosted in Eastern Europe and the faces in the auditorium in Zurich from the England bid team said it all.  Their fate had already been sealed, as their bid came fourth out of fourth – even behind the 50/1 outsider bid from Holland/Belgium.  England only collected two votes, and one of them was from their own delegate on the FIFA team, Geoff Thompson.  It is a humiliating outcome.

Vladimir Putin, the Russian president flew into Switzerland, having not been present at the final vote, which hints at his high confidence that the bid was already won.  Russia, who had Arsenal playmaker Andrei Arshavin and Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich amongst its ambassador team, won the contest in the second ballot of voting, getting over the magical twelve votes it needed.  Russia failed to qualify for the last World Cup in South Africa, and despite its clubs like CSKA Moscow and Zenit St. Petersburg doing well in the UEFA Europa League, does have trouble in its own league, with hooliganism and racism issues.  Poor transport links, a lack of infrastructure and the plastic pitches around mean they have a lot to do, to pull off a staggering World Cup.  Nevertheless, well done to them and I wish them the best.

For England, many supporters will now never see a World Cup in their generation.  At the same ceremony, Qatar was awarded the 2022 finals and the 2026 finals can’t go to a European country.  England can’t bid now, until the 2030 finals and that makes the pain hurt even more.  There is already some serious questions about the validity of FIFA’s voting procedure, and accusations of revenge at the England 2018 bid for its extensive media coverage into corruption in FIFA has been mentioned.

England’s final pitch was polished, almost perfect.  It now feels totally pointless with how the voting went.  David Beckham said that “our dream was to stage a World Cup that will attract billions.”  That wasn’t enough for Sepp Blatter and the FIFA delegates.

BRAVE: William and Beckham's efforts were in vain

Outside, the bid team were putting on brave faces.  Prince William was dignified when he faced the media; “Obviously, we are extremely disappointed.”  “We had a very strong bid, sadly it didn’t work out.  Many congratulations to Russia, it will be a good World Cup.”  Having flown back to London, Prime Minister David Cameron couldn’t hide his frustration, at something he has worked extremely hard since he got into power hadn’t worked out; “It is bitterly disappointing.  According to FIFA, we had the best technical bid.  I think we had a very strong commercial bid too.”

FATE: Fingers pointing at Panorama and BBC

There is dignity within the camp, but on the inside, the bid team must be full of rage and fury.  Inquests were starting well before the embarrassment of the crushing defeat was fully revealed.  Finger pointing is already seriously being aimed at the BBC and the Panorama programme, which was shown on Monday night.  Panorama alleged that three FIFA officials from Brazil, Cameroon and Paraguay had taken part in massive corruption scandals many years ago.  The timing of the programme couldn’t be worse.  The Sunday Times also ran stings, which accused several other delegates of corruption in the game, which led to the suspension of two executives from the voting procedure.  Previously, chairman of the Premier League Sir David Richards and the FA chief Lord Treisman had resigned from the team, after conflicting issues and allegations of bribery were made, in Treisman’s case, again from revelations by The Sunday Times.  This result has led to dodgy practices and secret deals within the football world governing body being questioned again. 

Sports news reporter Steve Scott summed up the general mood on ITN’s News at Ten programme; “FIFA delegates were telling England one thing, then voted completely a different route.  The British press investigations did not help at all, but that wasn’t the only factor.  Now, Sepp Blatter has now managed to take the World Cup to Asia, Africa and now Russia and Qatar.  Maybe England never realistically stood a chance.”

Tonight, as the snow continued to fall outside a very chilly Wembley stadium, English football is left wandering just when the beautiful game that we created we end up coming home and welcoming the world.

Polish Air Disaster - A Nation Grieves

Poland is in a state of national mourning after yesterday’s tragic air disaster in Russia, which wiped out a fair number of their national government.  The Polish president, Lech Kaczynski was killed, along with his wife other key members of the political, financial and military areas of his cabinet.  They were amongst the 90 people killed when their ageing plane, the Tupolev-154 crashed into a forest full of trees whilst approaching Smolensk airport.

In thick and dense fog, some media sources in Russia are speculating that the pilot of the plane was giving severe warning about the adverse weather and was told to divert the plane to Moscow airport.  However, it seems like he may have ignored the advice of air traffic control and attempted to land at Smolensk, as he was so close to reaching the destination.  Human error or mechanical failure aside, this is just a side issue to the terrible tragedy that has engulfed a nation.  Kaczynski’s body has been flown back to his homeland today, as tributes pour in around a memorial site, set up in the country’s capital, Warsaw.  The Polish delegation onboard were flying in from Warsaw to mark the upcoming 70^th anniversary of the infamous Katyn massacre of thousands of Poles during WWII by Russian forces, under the darker days of the Soviet Union.

Russian president Vladimir Putin has visited the scene of the crash, and has paid his own tributes to the late-Polish president.  He has already confirmed that he will lead an investigation into the crash.  It is believed that no-one had any chance of survival, as the plane broke up on impact into several pieces, then burst into flames.  The pictures and videos taken shortly afterwards underline the impact and the amount of wreckage spread over the site of the crash.  The airliner might have also been in considerable trouble from an early stage, as contact with air traffic control allegedly lost contact with the pilot at least fourteen minutes before it crashed. 

Lech Kacyznski was sixty years old and had certainly had his fair share of ups and downs in power.  He certainly was a very controversial figure in world politics, especially when he adopted the Law and Justice Party in 2001, with his twin Jaroslaw Kaczynski.  He was elected President of the country five years ago and was not afraid to use his strong opinions politically, no matter how much controversy and strife he might bring.  As mayor of Warsaw, he twice banned gay parade marches in the city and spoke out of his belief to reintroduce the death penalty.  Nevertheless, he made an impact around the world and he will be profoundly missed, especially by his native followers in Poland.  This is a shocking national disaster to have engulfed the country, and now needs to rely on its spirit and belief to rebuild itself from this shattering tragedy.