KINGSTON, Jamaica – We are not in the least surprised with the news this morning of the arrest of nine FIFA officials for corruption in Switzerland, as that August body prepared for its much vaunted congress.

What is surprising is that these arrests and subsequent indictments on charges of corruption, including racketeering and money laundering of millions of US dollars over two decades, were just making their appearance in the public domain.

While we are cemented in the view that any individual is innocent until proven guilty, it is common knowledge that corruption has long been mooted as part of the existence, part of the DNA of the world’s richest and largest sporting organisation.

What intensified the feeling that FIFA was indeed corrupt was the seeming reluctance of the FIFA leadership to openly and transparently deal with allegations of corruption. That it took the FBI to lead corruption investigations is a signal to the world that none, not even ultra-rich FIFA and its leaders are beyond scrutiny and accountability.

Football, soccer, call it what you will, is the most played and watched sport in the world, it is also the richest. It therefore behoves its leaders to be of the utmost integrity to uphold the principles of the sport and to protect the rights of all concerned, especially the poor and oppressed.

Today’s arrests and indictments now cover football with uncertainty which will forever haunt its present leaders. The house needs to be purged, not cleaned, but purged with the disappearance of the old, wrinkled faces and infused with a healthy dose of young, bright and committed people willing to represent the ‘glorious’ game with openness and innovativeness.

While there is much concern about today’s development, OBSERVER ONLINE cannot help but note that all the individuals arrested and indicted are from South America, Latin America and the Caribbean. 

The roost of FIFA is controlled by Europeans, yet no European has yet been mentioned, much less arrested. This is not logical and many may think that the situation is yet another case of zeroing in on the bait and not the Kingfish.

Let’s hope that this ‘ongoing’ investigation, as so termed by FBI and Swiss police, hauls in all the corrupt and decaying fish in the FIFA sea.