IFAB, You FAB, We All FAB
Posted on July 5, 2012 1:38 pm
Sepp Blatter really hates the International Football Association Board.
That’s mostly because, alone among all the deliberative bodies of international football, it’s the one he can’t order to do his bidding.
The IFAB, as you probably know, is made up of eight members, representing:
1) England
2) Northern Ireland
3) Scotland
4) Wales
5) Sepp Blatter
6) Sepp Blatter
7) Sepp Blatter
8) Sepp Blatter
Since six votes are required to alter so much as a comma or a paragraph break in the rule book, the President of FIFA cannot unilaterally order up changes in the Laws of the Game.
This inconvenience – call it an anachronism if you must – grates on Sepp’s nerves, and it’s why he has long dreamed of changing the makeup of the IFAB so that it is more “democratic”, by which he means “firmly in my pocket”.
So while, on the face of it, one can easily say “Gee, why should this creaky old antiquated system, clearly a vestige of colonialist oppression, white supremacy and imperialist dogmas, still be in place in our modern, democratic, multicultural wonderful new world”, well, it’s because the IFAB is the only thing standing between Sepp and the game itself.
All those in favor of Sepp Blatter – or whatever old, gray fatass replaces him in 2015 – having more personal power over the way the game is played please raise your hands.
Sometime today – perhaps even as we speak – the IFAB, in a “Special Meeting” in Zurich (normally the Board meets in one of the four permanent member countries, something else which Sepp no doubt finds annoying) will decide the immediate fate of the now familiar “Goal Line Technology”, otherwise referred to by its shiny new acronym, “GLT”.
Interestingly, the four British members have always been more or less in favor of approval as long as someone could come up with a rock solid infallible system. It has been the four members who do Sepp Blatter’s personal bidding who have been reluctant to go along.
Until Euro 2012.
Now it’s true that UEFA, in the person of Michel Platini, still feels that the extra goal line official is the way to go, and he’s sent a long, plaintive letter to the Board asking for more time to discuss, consider and think about this whole deal.
And it’s surely not a coincidence that Pierluigi Collina, UEFA’s Supervisor of Officials, is saying that in all of the over 1000 matches in which their system has been employed it has only failed once.
I’m sure it’s true. I’m also sure that it doesn’t matter. When it mattered, when the whole world was watching, it failed. Sorry Mr. Collina. Please don’t eat me.
The salient point today is simply this:
Looking at the list of eight gentlemen who will make this decision today, we see that the Brits (who are in favor) have four votes and Sepp (who is in favor) has four votes and UEFA (who is opposed) has no votes at all.
It’s really just that simple.
Also on the agenda today is the final approval of the head-”scarf” (for lack of a better term) designed for use by female Muslim players.
This was an issue which was supposed to have been resolved last month, as the concept was actually approved by the IFAB back in March, but they wanted certification from FIFA’s medical people that it was safe.
But to everyone’s surprise and chagrin, FIFA’s Chief Physician, one Dr. Michel D’Hooghe, told the Executive Committee that he and his people still had reservations about the safety of the final model, which is a velcro closure thingie (the previous design had a zipper) which, in theory, will tear off before some poor woman’s neck is severely damaged.
FIFA VP from Asia – and of course ExCo member – Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan (along with the rest of the Middle Eastern feds) was absolutely livid over the delay and, although nothing has changed and no further testing or evaluation has been conducted, a very much chastised Dr. D’Hooghe is scheduled to appear today with a glowing report on the thing.
The only surprise will be if he doesn’t walk in the room wearing one.
That doesn’t mean it’s not extremely controversial in some circles, with one side feeling that the whole thing is just another example of how Islam oppresses women while Muslims – led by the ubiquitous Prince Ali – claim that what they’re doing is really striking a blow for women’s “equality”.
Whichever is closer to the truth, the bottom line is that if this thing is not approved then a lot of women won’t be allowed to play, so there’s really not much choice.
In an ideal world perhaps there’d be a way to determine how the athletes themselves really feel about it, instead of having to rely solely on the assurances of a bunch of old men that of course the girls are simply delighted about wearing these things.
In the end, however, that’s exactly who’s making this call; 24 old men on the FIFA Executive Committee, eight old men on the IFAB and a dozen or so old men on the AFC board.
Not a woman in sight. Not even one wearing a velcro-enclosed head garment.
I’m with Sepp on this one. It’s outrageous that in 2012 one tiny, European nation gets four votes, while the rest of the world combined gets the remaining four votes. Completely ridiculous.
I don’t want Sepp or any of the ExCo members anywhere near the rules.
Remember that long babbling speech that Jack Warner gave where he started talking about how boring he thinks soccer is all the rule changes he had in mind? Larger Goals! Quarters! Time-outs! Yes, the trolling stuff that old dinosaur sports writers say in their dinosaurian rants about how Americans will never “get” soccer or something. Jack Warner said that stuff. Without ever having read the dinosaurian trolls in the U.S. sporting press. He came up with those bad ideas on his own.
Is that who you’d want to the committee in charge of the Laws of the Game?
The IFAB is set up so that it’s hard to change the Laws of the Game. It should take a clear and compelling case like passing back to the ‘keeper slowing down the game and giving the defense in unfair advantage or close-call goals in international tournaments to compel six board members to act.
If you dismantle the IFAB, every crazy idea that Jack Warner and his international counterparts will find its way into the game. The game will become unrecognizable. It would be sad.
Think of the NBA vs. FIBA rules, or the NHL vs. IIHF rules. FIFA isn’t really even bound by anything the IFAB does. Those nations only have power within IFAB because FIFA itself has decided to be bound by their decisions, but they aren’t really under any obligation to do so.
It’s called a hijab. And half a billion Muslim women around the world are proud and happy to wear them.
They have been modified for swimming so I’m glad to see they are being done for outdoor sports as well.
I wouldn’t call them all proud. It seems to be more that they don’t really have a choice so they wear one since it sure beats the alternative which would involve not being allowed in public. I doubt that most have really thought too deeply about it, more going along to get along. Fair enough.
As for the garment in sports, in an ideal world, their country would evolve to allow women to play soccer without such a garment. However, since that’s not happening soon, a garment that enables them to play soccer is better than them not being able to play soccer so I hope the version with the velcro can be approved.
Thanks so much for the obtuse, and yet arrogant, response.
Here’s the announcement from FIFA:
“The third main topic for discussion concerned Law 4 – The Players’ Equipment, and specifically the “headscarf”.
The IFAB agreed to unanimously approve – temporarily during a trial period – the wearing of headscarves. The design, colour and material permitted will be defined and confirmed following the IFAB Annual Business Meeting in Glasgow in October.
Currently there is no medical literature concerning injuries as a result of wearing a headscarf, and therefore the decision taken today will be reviewed at the IFAB Annual General Meeting in 2014.”
Three paragraphs, three uses of the word “headscarf”. Not a hijab in sight.
Just being accurate. If the IFAB had approved wearing the “hijab” I would have used that word instead.
As for how “proud and happy” women are to wear them while playing soccer, well, I’m glad you choose to believe all the old men who say so. I rather think I made that point above, but evidently your ability to read for comprehension has been compromised.
I’d love to see a world where these things are made legal and available for those women who truly ARE “happy” to wear them. I’d also like to see a world where they’re free to choose to wear one or not.
But we all know that’s not really the case here, don’t we?
Well, OK, SOME of us know this.
For what it’s worth, it was the autocratic government in Turkey that banned the headscarf. The more democratic the country gets, the more you see them.
Your supposed correlation applies to Turkey, but not necessarily to other countries. Consider the dress of Muslim women in present-day Saudi Arabia and Taliban-era Afghanistan.
Democratization in Turkey led to increased Islamicization, and it is generally increased Islamicization that correlates with wearing of the hijab.
Disclaimer: religion is an extremely personal matter, so far be it from me to tell a woman that she is wrong to choose to wear the hijab. I know that many women who do have the choice decide to wear the hijab, in part, because it empowers theml Bill is right, though, to state that many women wear it because they have no choice.
Whenever you write on a topic like this and it’s read by Americans, someone will jump at the chance to play the “PC” card and try to call you ignorant or racist. Whatever….headscarf :p
Nice to know they are being evaluated for “injuries” during the trial period, but are they being tested for heat related conditions too?
When FIFA was founded, one of the founding statues was that it would adopt the Laws of the Game as written by the English FA. There was probably a number of reasons for this, but needless to say, that is how it began.
FIFA members were admitted to voting 7 years later in 1913 and then their voting powers increased in 1958. This was no doubt a reaction to the world becoming better at football than then British Iles nations AND the threat that FIFA might codify their own laws.
All these terms being agreed to for all of these years, I think the current system is really a unique balance that works well. It allows the countries of creation to veto unwanted or radical changes to the laws, but it also affords FIFA the same veto power so that the game cannot be solely manipulated by four small island nations. Changes to the law now require the approval of FIFA (representing the world) and at least two of the original countries. This makes changes difficult to make, but that can be good. Football is such a unique sport worldwide, in that it is played under the same code, everywhere.
The laws must be protected from radical change.
If there is to be any further change, I believe each confederation should recieve one vote as opposed to FIFA having four. Give FIFA two votes. Then give the founding nations two votes each (a block of 8). Still require the 3/4 majority to pass a change.
I’m surprised Adidas and Nike aren’t all over this final frontier of blank advertising space.
“It’s called a hijab.”
It is not a hijab as it is meant in Islam. Try walking around with it, Next Level, in, say, the streets of Qom or Mecca to see if the islamic authorities buy that one. What it is is simply an attempt at a sports-functional substitute for the hijab. In some places it is clerically approved, and in some it is not.
“And half a billion Muslim women around the world are proud and happy to wear them.”
Of course many Muslim women wear, say, a Burqua, or other similar cloaking, and not a hijab. And others of that “half a Billion”, if living in socially freer societies, wear over their head but their hair and a smile open to the sun….But let’s say you were right [which you ain't] and all “half a billion” indeed wore hijabs. You would then still be pathetically wrong that they all are “proud and happy” to wear them. If you, Next Level, are female, try the experiment of refusing such headwear in Tahrir square nowadays, nevermind Riyadh or Tehran, and learn for yourself, quicktime, what happens to those who dare such things.
But then you probably know this very well. It ain’t likely you really believed you were giving us good hard info to take to that Sharia Bank.
this morning on the public radio program The Takeaway, host celeste headlee interviewed assmaa helal, a muslim woman who plays soccer in australia and chooses to wear the “headscarf.” she sounded confident in her conviction that she made this choice out of deference to religious tradition.
http://www.thetakeaway.org/2012/jul/06/headscarf-ban-lifted-fifa/
i’m not saying this settles the debate, but she sure doesn’t sound brainwashed to me.
No one would suggest that she – or anyone else – is “brainwashed”.
If she wants to wear it, great. I wholeheartedly applaud her choice.
If her teammate does not wish to wear it, will she have the same freedom of choice?
You tell me.
bill, i understand that argument and i’m not discounting it. i just found some of the comments here, and on the Takeaway site as well, as summing the whole issue up as one of the subjugation of nitwit females. i should have offered a more thorough comment and i get where you and a lot of other people are coming from.
as an aside, does anyone remember when the taiban ordered all the male soccer players to wear pants? did i imagine that?
No, and you didn’t imagine when an Iraqi tennis coach and two players were dragged out of their car and shot for wearing tennis shorts.
I agree. If they want to wear one then, do it. But, if you are “required” to wear one, then it’s ridiculous. Of course, that’s common sense in most countries.
10 vote IFAB, 1 for each 4 UK “countries” and 1 for each FIFA 6 continental confederation, 6 votes to aproov.
I’m pretty sure that Scotland would not be happy being referred to as a “country” using those scare quote marks.
Your idea, to me, just creates the appearance of independence. The Confederations are all run by Sepp’s lickspittles.
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