We cannot tar all of soccer with the same greedy brush

Deluding yourself into thinking that the governing body for world football was a bastion of truth and transparency would be like clinging to the notion that the Olympic Games was still the global stage for amateur athletes.

The reality is that the dogs on the street knew that FIFA at its summit was rotten to the core, and that, while the allocation of World Cups was decided on a number of criteria, one of them was always down to who greased the wheels most successfully.

So finally – and very belatedly – the top brass have been arrested, questioned and some have been hounded out of office, triggering what will be without question the biggest financial scandal to ever hit any sport.

There were millions moving around like these were the last days of the Roman Empire and because so many of those in high authority were grasping for ‘gifts’ they were all implicated to a point that no one could really shout stop.

Sepp Blatter built his kingdom by making sure those closest to the seat of power all had similar financial skeletons in their cupboard – proof yet again that nothing corrupts like power.

But this cancer isn’t just about FIFA, because the greed in football is strangling the game as we knew it – and yet it really has nothing to do with the sport at its core.

Because this stink of corruption is a world away from the reality of a sport that relies on an army of enthusiasts and volunteers to make it work at grassroots level.

Never mind the Rolex watch brigade with the Cayman Island bank accounts who made the worst excesses of Anglo-Irish Bank look like a raid on a child’s piggy bank.

So forget the Russian oligarchs who buy up famous football clubs for their delectation and general amusement.

Don’t just view football as a greedy game where 20 year olds aren’t happy with £100,000 a week, where teenagers drive around in Ferraris and engage in the exploitation of susceptible women by videoing them on their mobile phones doing things they wouldn’t dream of it they were even half sober.

Because that’s only one side of what was always known as the beautiful game – although some may rightly scoff at that description now, given the numpties who have taken over at the top.

But think instead in terms of those people who line the local authority pitches on a Saturday morning, those who wash the jerseys and hold onto the corner flags until match day comes around.

Remember those who take the Under 8’s for training when it would be easier to teach tactics to mice, the parents who continue to drive boys and girls to matches long after their own children have moved on to a different level.

This is not just soccer of course – the GAA is a much better example of the true Corinthian spirit where pride in the parish or the county will outstrip financial gain every day of the week.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.