Cockroaches and Blatter/Platini

Day -920. World Cup2018.

I resolve that tomorrow there will be no mention of Sepp Blatter or Michel Platini. It is very hard to escape any mention of them as their names pop up everywhere. I was looking up Michelin tyres for my car and I got as far as typing in "Mich" in google and "Michel Platini corruption ban Fifa Ethics Committee" popped up. Once I battled through that and figured that I didn't need Michelin tyres anyway (I somehow, maybe through association, had a bad feeling about them) I remembered that I meant to do some research into blattelidae and "Blatter Fifa corrupt enjoying caviar Swiss alps chalet" popped up. It's kind of fitting really since blattelidae are, after all, part of the cockroach family of insects. I will, of course, not go as far as to compare the individuals roaming the Brazilian marble-walled Fifa boardroom to the lowest level of dirty household pests. I can't because Sepp Blatter is not allowed into that boardroom while he serves his 90 day ban.

So my last mention of the Blatter/Platini black humour comedy act will be to amplify today's news that Platini has decided to boycott his own hearing in front of Fifa's Ethics Committee on Friday.  Why? Because he really thinks he has been wronged, that this is all a conspiracy to deny him running in the presidential elections. He, and his lawyers, believe the decision to hand him a seven year ban has already been made anyway.

Platini's lawyers statement: "Michel Platini … has decided not to attend his hearing at the Fifa ethics committee on 18 December 2015 as the verdict of this ethics committee has been announced in the press last weekend by one of its spokespersons, Mr Andreas Bantel, in disregard of all fundamental rights, starting with the presumption of innocence. By this decision Michel Platini means to express his deepest indignation with a process he regards as solely political and intended to prevent him from standing for the Fifa presidency."

The matter of a conspiracy against Platini seems a little odd, but, if true, maybe shows the division between Fifa, the organisation, and Fifa the federation comprised of the 209 national associations. The 209 members vote for the President and Platini seemed to be a favourite amongst many of them. It was the Ethics Committee, the same one that banned President Blatter, that banned Platini. So does Platini maintain that while he has the backing of the many of the member associations,  the members of the Ethics Committee, independent members appointed to police Fifa and ensure adherence to Fifa's Code of Ethics, have a good reason for him to not become the next President? Possibly he believes that the reason for his ban (the alleged "disloyal payment") was brought to the attention of the Ethics Committee by someone who is vehemently opposed to his candidacy. Or, maybe, just maybe, that person, or people, had good intentions and knew it was the time to put an end to the cycle of secret, backroom big money deals happening at Fifa that are destroying football.

There is a lot more to be known, much more to be investigated. This needs to be re-visited, but not tomorrow.