Jack Warner - football’s unacceptable face

England playing football in Trinidad was a hit with the locals, but the reasons for the game were less paletable.

The FA wants the World Cup and to get it they are prepared to do pretty much anything. That includes toadying to Jack Warner, a man who more than anyone epitomises the worst side of corrupt sports administrators. The stories of his nepotism and corruption are widespread, and yet because he has friends in high places in the equally sordid halls of FIFA, he is almost untouchable.

Check out the background to this utterly reprehensible character. And then decide if even the FA really should be courting people like this?

Herr … sorry, Hair Mosley

At least we can count on Max Mosley’s Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile to stand ever-ready to apply the riding crop of stern discipline to the quivering buttocks of slacking standards. Max’s minions have severely reprimanded the French world rallying champion Sébastien Loeb for the unpardonable sin of not having shaved or combed his disgracefully “tousled hair” before stepping on to the winners’ podium after the Mexican rally. Driving for three days in searing heat on treacherous mountain roads was no excuse for looking so “undignified and disheveled”. (The Guardian)

But good old Mosley sees nothing wrong with a bit of slap and right-wing tickle with prostitutes. It has to be assumed while he was being … er … entrapped, not a (pubic) hair was out of place.

Zimbabwe’s cricket corruption exposed

Questions continue to be raised over a media productions company acquired by individuals in Zimbabwe Cricket using board funds, but whose proceeds never benefited the organisation, but the individuals involved.

Reliable sources state that a considerable figure of money exchanged hands in the acquisition deal, and police’s fraud department is already investigating the matter.
The board’s managing director Ozias Bvute, former ZC marketing executive Andrew Muzamhindo and media manager Lovemore Banda are some of the directors and major stakeholders of the company, Tatu Media Productions. The others are relatives and friends of Bvute.

Muzamhindo, infact, resigned from ZC to assume the post of the company’s managing director, but has since quit the venture under unclear circumstances.
Tatu was purportedly purchased as a ZC subsidiary to “internally carry out graphics and printing jobs for ZC in order to cut costs”. It turned out that Tatu was nothing but a private business project for the individuals despite ZC equipment such as cars, fuel, furniture and computers being used there. ZC’s bloated media department worked from the company’s offices for some time.

Tatu cashed in on of several millions of dollars by billing ZC for jobs done by the company with inflated invoices.

Some of the paid jobs include, newspaper and television adverts, coaching manuals, journals and match tickets. The payments made by ZC are believed to have been pocketed by the shareholders.

Tatu also publish a sports magazine, Sportlight, with ZC meeting the printing costs. The last edition of the magazine was printed in China. The magazine, dominated by football content, has been making losses.

Russia’s unacceptable excess

Dick Advocaat, the respected Dutch manager of Russian side Zenit St Petersburg, claimed that his club do not sign black players because their fans would not accept it.

‘I would be happy to sign anyone, but the fans don’t like black players. Quite honestly, I do not understand how they could pay so much attention to skin colour. For me there’s no difference between white, black or red. But they care.’

Imagine if the manager of a German or English side said that. UEFA would jump on them in a trice - and rightly. But the money in Russia buys a right to do pretty much as they please. Why else stage a European final in a country where prices are astronomical, accommodation non existent and visas all but impossible to secure. Cash, as every, talk … a greases palms where it matters.

Cricket an extension of worst aspects of Mugabe’s regime - Hoey

Kate Hoey, the former sports minister and the chair of the UK’s all parliamentary committee on Zimbabwe, has called on the government to renew attempts to obtain a copy of the independent forensic audit commissioned from KPMG by the ICC.

The audit, which the ICC executive board voted not to release, is believed to have been unsuccessfully requested by the government last month. David Morgan, the ICC’s president-elect, revealed at the weekend that Giles Clarke, the ECB chairman, was one of those on the ICC executive that voted not to make the report public.

Speaking in a debate on Zimbabwe in the House of Commons, Hoey, who is also a honorary vice-president of Surrey, renewed her demands that Peter Chingoka, Zimbabwe Cricket’s chairman, not be allowed to enter the country.

“[Robert] Mugabe is a ZCU patron, and Chingoka and managing director, Ozias Bvute, are both deeply implicated in the financial corruption that props up the regime,” she said. “Through cricket, they have access to hard currency, which they misuse to exercise corrupt patronage in collaboration with the bigwigs of Zimbabwe’s ruling party.

“At international matches Chingoka uses the VIP pavilion to host the ZANU-PF politicians, CIO operatives and senior army officers on whom he relies for protection.

“Zimbabwe cricket is an extension of the worst aspects of Mugabe’s regime. Those of us who care for Zimbabwe and cricket in particular, or human rights and sport in general, must do all we can to support the prime minister’s proposal to ban the Zimbabwean cricket team from touring in the UK. I hope the [foreign] minister will confirm that no UK visa will be given for Chingoka to come here to attend any ICC meetings, or for any other reason, in the next few months.”