BlatterWatch: What’s Sepp Been Up to This Week?

Sepp Batter has been a busy boy. This week the President of FIFA (or King of Football, if you were to ask him his job title) has…

1. Re-iterated his support for playing World Cup 2010 games on artificial turf. I can see that being popular.

2. Let it be known that he genuinely believed the Premier League’s plan for Game 39 was “a joke”. In Sepp’s defence, that’s an easy mistake to make.

3. Stuck his nose into the whole Martin Taylor and Eduardo business by requesting to see Martin Taylor’s disciplinary file. Does he now know about soccerbase? I could tell Sepp right now that in his nine year career before the Eduardo tackle, Martin Taylor had one red card and less than ten yellows to his name.

4. Done a huge u-turn on the very complicated matter of a potential Great Britain team playing at the 2012 London Olympics. He originally made assurances that the existence of a one-off British team wouldn’t result in pressure on the four home nations to merge permanently. But then changed his tune with this very Sepp-like statement: “This will put into question all the privileges that the British associations have been given. If there are four different associations how can they play in one team? Only a team composed of players from England should enter. You cannot have your cake and eat it.” I’m not sure that’s going to help anyone solve the problem.

5. Gotten involved in the stadium building problems in South Africa, where progress has been hampered by workers going on striker. Somewhat surprisingly, Sepp has sided with the little guy and said that “Although FIFA is not the employer or the builder responsible for constructing the stadiums, it is well aware of its social responsibility in connection with the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and is also keeping an eye on it.” He also appeared with trade union leaders in a photo opportunity show of solidarity. If this last move helps to smooth relations with construction workers and get the South Africa stadiums up in time, then this might actually have been a good week for old Sepp.

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