I found the games boring. I already knew the sport is corrupt. Despite the oohs and aahs from many quarters about the recent World Cup, I’ll chime in with a deep and long, “Boo!”
I covered sports as a journalist before turning to sports marketing for Burson-Marsteller. I worked there during the era when it was the largest international public relations agency. I’ve witnessed many boring sporting events. In all those years, I’ve never seen a more boring sporting event than the recently concluded FIFA World Cup championship game between Argentina and Spain.
Courtesy BBC Sport via Facebook
Some proponents of soccer, or whatever you want to call it, say it is “the beautiful game.” But beauty is only skin deep.
The World Cup exposed that soccer is ugly and corrupt. Examples?
–After the championship match, the Argentine losers turned their backs on the winning team from Spain. Several also started physical fights with Spanish players.
Exit Stage Left? Nah! (photo courtesy AOL.com)
–During the World Cup ceremony after the final match, FIFA President Gianni Infantino attempted to get President Trump off the platform so the Spanish team could celebrate and take their official photos. (My contact at the White House told me, “Everyone knows he’s not a publicity hog.” )
–President Trump was also given the first FIFA peace award, which showed me that FIFA doesn’t know what peace means.
–There were also fan protests alleging corruption against President Trump and Mr. Infantino in the U.S., Canada and Mexico throughout the tournament. In the U.S. and Mexico, there were also protests against government actions.
“Principles, morality, and integrity” do not appear in the reference dictionary of sports mogals. The word, money, does.
