FIFA Corruption arrests.

[easytiger95]

Yeah, like AZ said!!

[Syferus]

I really don't know what planet you're on easytiger if you think Delaney is going to be made resign over this storm in a tea-cup.

I'm no Delaney fan but this is so far from a sack-able 'offence' (hint: it's not even an offence in the first place) that it's hard to understand why anyone would be trying to rabble rouse over it.

[omaghjoe]

I wonder will Louth County Board be on the blower now to the Leinster Council re the 'referee mistake' in 2010?

I believe a plan for 3000 seater Dermot O'Brien stadium will emerge. This will have a silver roof and will be built on a hill overlooking the Boyne so that it can be seen throughout Meath.

Zey have ask, "Can't we have a replay?" (Laughter.) Ya. Ha ha. Zey have ask for zat. Really.

(Actually they never did, but the majority of gaeldom will swear they did. That's how legend trumps fact. Sure practically 100% of GAA people think John McDermott injured Peter Canavan.)

Wasn't a referee mistake in 2010, Im pretty sure he done it on purpose

Who injured Peter Canavan in 96?

[AZOffaly]

I think you are completely off base Syferus. You have to look at in context. A couple of days ago he was on about greater transparency in FIFA, and then it transpires he's off making side deals to shut his mouth, even as he preaches about 'integrity, not money'.

There's no crime here, don't get me wrong, but I think it's indicative of a man who at best is an egotistical buffoon, who is always trying to be billy big bollix in the media, and at worst it's indicative of a fella who is complicit in, and very comfortable with, the culture of backhanders and quieteners that FIFA is plagued with, even as he shouts the opposite.

[BennyCake]

If Ireland were found to have been wrongly denied a chance to win their place at the 2010 World Cup, due to FIFA corruption, shouldn't the whole tournament be played over again? It's only fair.

[AZOffaly]

And Chuck Blazer (brilliant name) said that he took bribes when that world cup was being awarded to South Africa, so they should be stripped of it, and it should be played in the Phoenix Park.

[easytiger95]

I tell you what is an "offence" in the harshest sense of the word - filing false or misleading accounts. "Our lawyers told us not to report this as a loan" is not a defence that will go too far. If there is no proper money trail, then there is no way to tell that this money went to where it ostensibly was meant to go - ie the Aviva. I'm not saying that it went anywhere else, but in a time where FIFA is being revealed as rotten to the core, do you think someone who went on radio boasting about the standards of transparency in his organisation will get away with having an invisible 5 million on the books?

I don't know what age you are, or what planet you are from Syferus, but I've seen plenty of FAI figures knifed for a lot less eg Fran Rooney, Bernard O'Byrne, John Delaney's dad. Never underestimate the capacity of the FAI to sacrifice one of their own.

[easytiger95]

Yeah, like AZ said!! (I need a quicker computer)

[Walter Cronc]

Jesus its turning into some craic now!!

http://www.the42.ie/germany-saudi-arabia-world-cup-2006-2145450-Jun2015/

[Hardy]

Never mind all that. Judging by the headline item on their sports bulletins all morning, Newstalk thinks the most important thing that happened in world sport today is that Roy Keane said nothing.

Big championship games in hurling and football (and soccer, I hear), Jerry Collins dead, French Open climax, etc., but Newstalk screams "Roy Keane has said he won't be drawn on the FIFA/FI controversy" as their headline item.

Not so much Newstalk as Celebgossip.

[Syferus]

I think you are completely off base Syferus. You have to look at in context. A couple of days ago he was on about greater transparency in FIFA, and then it transpires he's off making side deals to shut his mouth, even as he preaches about 'integrity, not money'.

There's no crime here, don't get me wrong, but I think it's indicative of a man who at best is an egotistical buffoon, who is always trying to be billy big bollix in the media, and at worst it's indicative of a fella who is complicit in, and very comfortable with, the culture of backhanders and quieteners that FIFA is plagued with, even as he shouts the opposite.

It looks and smells like an out-of-court settlement to me. There's nothing inherently wrong in that even viewed through the glass of a corrupt FIFA. I think some are looking for everything that looks like a witch to burn it right now. FIFA being mostly corrupt doesn't make every payment they've made corrupt or even dodgy.

[Hardy]

I wonder will Louth County Board be on the blower now to the Leinster Council re the 'referee mistake' in 2010?

I believe a plan for 3000 seater Dermot O'Brien stadium will emerge. This will have a silver roof and will be built on a hill overlooking the Boyne so that it can be seen throughout Meath.

Zey have ask, "Can't we have a replay?" (Laughter.) Ya. Ha ha. Zey have ask for zat. Really.

(Actually they never did, but the majority of gaeldom will swear they did. That's how legend trumps fact. Sure practically 100% of GAA people think John McDermott injured Peter Canavan.)

Wasn't a referee mistake in 2010, Im pretty sure he done it on purpose

Who injured Peter Canavan in 96?

See what I mean?

[omaghjoe]

I wonder will Louth County Board be on the blower now to the Leinster Council re the 'referee mistake' in 2010?

I believe a plan for 3000 seater Dermot O'Brien stadium will emerge. This will have a silver roof and will be built on a hill overlooking the Boyne so that it can be seen throughout Meath.

Zey have ask, "Can't we have a replay?" (Laughter.) Ya. Ha ha. Zey have ask for zat. Really.

(Actually they never did, but the majority of gaeldom will swear they did. That's how legend trumps fact. Sure practically 100% of GAA people think John McDermott injured Peter Canavan.)

Wasn't a referee mistake in 2010, Im pretty sure he done it on purpose

Who injured Peter Canavan in 96?

See what I mean?

No

Who injured Peter Canavan in 96

[easytiger95]

I think you are completely off base Syferus. You have to look at in context. A couple of days ago he was on about greater transparency in FIFA, and then it transpires he's off making side deals to shut his mouth, even as he preaches about 'integrity, not money'.

There's no crime here, don't get me wrong, but I think it's indicative of a man who at best is an egotistical buffoon, who is always trying to be billy big bollix in the media, and at worst it's indicative of a fella who is complicit in, and very comfortable with, the culture of backhanders and quieteners that FIFA is plagued with, even as he shouts the opposite.

It looks and smells like an out-of-court settlement to me. There's nothing inherently wrong in that even viewed through the glass of a corrupt FIFA. I think some are looking for everything that looks like a witch to burn it right now. FIFA being mostly corrupt doesn't make every payment they've made corrupt or even dodgy.

Very simple syferus - for it to be an out-of-court settlement, a suit has to have been lodged. There was none, nor was there any civil law statute that it could have been litigated under. However, if Delaney et al had felt so strongly about the integrity of sport, they could have brought a case to the C.A.S. Instead, they used it for a cheap shakedown of Blatter - and he had so much unfettered control over funds that he could indulge them. Now you know my views on the particulars of the case, but in a general sense, what appalls me most about this transaction is that it had zero, absolutely nothing to do with sport, or any kind of ideal of sport. And one of these guys runs football in Ireland and one of them runs it globally.

And neither one of them had any kind of a handle on fair play, or trustworthiness, or honour - all of which, apart from staying fit, we get involved with sport to experience.

It was cheap and shoddy - two men, elevated beyond the capacity of their own characters, playing dice with the ambitions of the team and the hopes of the fans.

You don't need to shout about witches - that's the same kind of logic the No side used in the referendum, abusing people for naming their oppressors. The inability of many in this country and beyond, to tell a duck that he's a duck when he is waddling by them, quacking and eating some bread, is what has led to situations like this in FIFA and beyond (IBRC all the way back to Green core and the Beef Tribunal).

You may say it smells like a settlement, but to quote the great Ryan Adams "down here in the sewer, I'm smelling a rat..."

[easytiger95]

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/jun/05/fifa-money-fai-thierry-henry-handball

Nice take from Owen Gibson on Delaney/Blatter and the implications of it.