Whistle concert for denying Sepp Blatter

When Fifa chair Sepp Blatter entered Soccer City during the finals (NL - ES) in Jo'Burg, the complete audience was whistling sharply as a sign of firm disapproval of his conservative and bureaucratic policies at Fifa, now and then threatening to kill the popular interest in the game. Later Blatter said to a journalist, who asked about the whistle concert, that he didn't hear that and that he felt to the contrary a warm welcome. Maybe that is his way not to loose his face, maybe he is in outright denial, or maybe he has lost all sense of reality at his age of 74. Probably all three has some truth in it. Anyway, it is probably wise not to extend the term of Blatter at Fifa, but probably he will manage to continue until his death like Samaranch as former president of the international olympic committee (IOC). Actually, this only shows that in its heart FIFA and IOC are not democratic at all, and far from transparant. We have a long way to go before these two biggest sport federations open up for the people it intends to serve.

A fair game is all we ask the FIFA

Also the worldcup final has shown that FIFA has to open up and become more transparant. Otherwise, it will gradually kill public interest in the football game. In many matches, including the final one, the referee was not able to judge off-side positions correctly, and in the finals referee Webb gave a record of thirteen yellow cards. It seemed that the referee was biased in favor of the favorite team: Spain. Maybe the complains about referee Webb in the Spanish press had helped Spain in the end. Or were the teams taking the prediction of octopus Paul serious?

FIFA officials have promised to change the referee structure. Putting more referees on the field will not do, because the ball is often too fast for the human eye. Placing chips in the ball for tracking if an outer line has been passed is very efficient and the result is available in a split second. The other menace, judging off-side positions, can be done via an instant video replay. But, for example, only when one of the sides (coaches) asks for it, like in tennis.

Also in case of penalties and red cards an instant video replay is necessary.

The Netherlands were not good enough to win the game during the 120 minutes playing time. Neither the Spanish side. It was a pity the defaulting referee impacted the game heavily by wrong decisions about an off-side goal for the Spanish and sending the wrong person off the field. Just saying that that is football is similar to saying "this is Africa" when the subject is the sky-high criminality figures in South-Africa. We shouldn't settle for less than a fair game.