Bin Hamman footballed out of FIFA race

"Not me guv!"

Football is an industry. Part of the entertainment industry. It is run by businessmen (no women much in evidence at the top) who see it as a way to enrich themselves. The fans are just a commodity. Where vast sums of money are involved greed is always round the corner.

The last few years have been constantly talking about corruption at the highest level of the game. Mohamed Bin Hammam is a top notch FIFA character. He was in a two-horse race with Sepp Blatter, the current FIFA president, for the presidency of FIFA. Both men are facing corruption charges and both deny the claims. Now Bin Hamman has dropped out. He said he did not want to see Fifa's name "dragged more in the mud". Well, it's always being dragged through some kind of mud.

Bin Hammam stressed his withdrawal must not "be tied to the investigation held by the Fifa ethics committee", pledging that he would appear before the panel to clear his name. This is a common mantra. Sepp Blatter's been saying it for ages.

The trouble is that this is no longer a game of football but a game of who gets the best pickings. Football is now just a means to an end for these guys. Either they reform themselves or they will collapse like a pile of rotten tomatoes.

Posted in: FIFA,football corruption,Mohamed Bin Hamman,Sepp Blatter