Blatter and his Fifa colleagues are not fit to run football

This article will be short and unfortunately not so sweet as I only have one point to make, and I plan to make it as abruptly as possible.

Sepp Blatter and his cronies at the top of football's international heirarchy are no longer fit to represent the game and are damaging the credibility, integrity and long-term future of world football. For too long they have stood in the way of the reasonable evolution of the game and by dismissing the possiblity of any form of technology being used to assist referees in the future, they have once again shown us they are not fit to govern.

As Patrick Barclay points out in his ever-eloquent column in The Times, the level of debate on the matter appears to have been "staggeringly low". So low in fact, that there can be little doubt they were ever seriously considering the options.

The argument of football purists about the ebb and flow of the game, and the potential problems an appeals system could introduce could be overcome by limiting the use of any technology to an assistant with a monitor. With no influence from either team, and a simple responsiblity to inform the referee discreetly and promptly of any mis-directed officiating, the introduction of video refereeing could be an almost invisible addition and enhancement to the game. No fanfare required, no major overhaul of the way we play the game, just one guy with a montior and a radio-linkup to the man in the middle.

Personally I lost faith with the world governing body and it's suitability to run the game a long time ago - just about the time Sepp Blatter came to power in fact. Nothing has happened since to make me change my mind, and in fact my opinion of Fifa has only deteriorated over time. If there is someone within the ranks who can make a difference, they need to start making a stand now, before it really is too late. I genuinely fear for the future of this most beloved of sports while it is in the hands of Blatter and co., and I only hope that they aren't allowed to sabotage our game for much longer.

Did UEFA and FIFA miss something?

Take a look at uefa.com, find the match report from last night's game between France and Ireland, take a read, anything seem strange?

Here is how UEFA reported William Gallas' goal:

And so came extra time where in the eighth minute a hopeful France free-kick found its way to Henry, who squared for Gallas to head the goal that takes his country to South Africa.

Hmmmm.......

Well that surely must have been an oversight, surely FIFA - the world governing body wouldn't have missed the same thing would they?

Les Bleus came into the contest after the break but remained vulnerable to Irish attacks, meaning the tie had to be resolved in extra time, when William Gallas equalised to send his team through to their fourth consecutive finals.

Interesting......

What are we to make of this? Regardless of intent or the characters involved what occurred last night was an injustice, and a significant one at that. The World Cup is the self-proclaimed biggest show on earth and for any player probably the pinnacle of their career. To deny a nation the opportunity to compete because of this kind of error is nothing short of a travesty.

The response of FIFA and UEFA? Apparently it never happened. Presumably they hope that everyone on the planet gets their football news through uefa.com and fifa.com and they are looking for complete ignorance of the issue?

So will FIFA or UEFA make a statement about this? Will they do ANYTHING? Well when your leader is Sepp Blatter, reality is not often something that you have to deal with, so I am going to stick my neck out here and say.....no.