Iraq 0 v Qatar 1 Post your comment 22 June 2008
Qatar decision a dark day for football
"Well all I can say is bollocks, FIFA. If world football's governing body demands respect from fans and journalists and governments it needs to be consistent.
Danny Vukovic was rightly made to serve his ban without an FFA-tailored "window". Various FAs (Kenya, Iran, Iraq) have rightly been brought to task for political interference.
So what on earth has the Qatari Football Association done to escape serious sanction for fielding a Brazilian, Marcio Passos De Albuquerque aka Emerson, in a World Cup qualifying match in Doha when he was ineligible to represent the Middle East state, having turned out for the Brazilian under-20 team in 1999?
Qatar should have been docked three points. They should be out of World Cup contention and Iraq in their place.
But Emerson and the Qataris got off scot-free because an official letter of complaint made by the Iraqis came after the March 26 match in question and not before. Once a ball was kicked, FIFA's hands were tied.
It was quick to point out to the Iraqis that article 13 of the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa Regulations clearly stipulates that all protests about player eligibility in WCQs be submitted in writing to its general secretariat 24 hours before the matches are held.
I've checked out the fine print and it says just that. All well and fine.
But then there is article 7 in the same document, which states unequivocally: "Each [national football] association shall ensure the following when selecting its representative team... a) all players shall be citizens of its country and subject to its jurisdiction; b) all players shall be eligible for selection in accordance with the Regulations Governing the Application of the FIFA Statutes and other relevant FIFA regulations.
"Any team that is found guilty of
fielding an ineligible player shall forfeit the match in question. Victory and the resultant three points will be awarded to the opposing team as well as the score of 3-0, or greater, depending on the score of the match." I don't know how it can be more clear-cut. The Qatar FA was asked to "ensure
" before selecting its national team that all its players be "eligible for selection". It did not. It demonstrably failed its obligations to FIFA. Yet for some unfathomable reason we have a situation where the original offence committed by the Qatar FA under Article 7 has been overridden by the tar
diness of the Iraqis under Article 13, which now, lo and behold, now obviates the Qataris of all responsibility and punishes Iraq. Emerson, meanwhile, has been informed that he can never play for Qatar again. The only explanation proffered by FIFA for this outrage is that the Qatar FA is "not respo
nsible". How so? Clearly the guy was a Brazilian not Bedouin. Whether or not he falsified his passport to change his age is irrelevant, a red herring (Emerson was arrested in Brazil for travelling with false documents in 2006). It was incumbent upon the Qatar FA to vet Emerson's footballing record
. There are only two explanations for what transpired once he became a citizen of Qatar. The Qatar FA did not check -- or, worse, it did check but still went ahead and fielded him anyway. Either way, guilty in my book. But I don't make that decision. Who does? Guys like Salman Bin Ibrahim Bin Hama
d Al Khalifa, the deputy chairman of FIFA's Disciplinary Committee and president of the Bahrain FA, one of the many Al Khalifas who run Bahrain and a good part of the Middle East. Mohammed bin Hammam, the Qatari president of the Asian Football Confederation, visited the Gulf in February with FIFA p
resident Sepp Blatter to inaugurate the AFC-funded Bahrain FA Accommodation and Training Centre in Manama. I'm not alleging any corruption or impropriety on anyone's part, but it's not a good look for FIFA when Bahrain, the beneficiary of AFC largesse, is entrusted with making a decision that deter
mines the World Cup future of a country, Qatar, that happens to be the home of the AFC president and host of the 2011 AFC Asian Cup. I'm not even about to go into the conspiracy theories surrounding the Iraq-Qatar match in Dubai just gone, but suffice it to say some important people in very high pl
aces are convinced something was awry with the final result. Anyone with enough time and interest can plough through the websites that have sprung up discussing everything from the choice of referee (a Qatari-born Emirati!) to the adverse pressure put on those Iraqis contracted to Qatari clubs to t
he benching of Younis Mahmoud. Football fans the world over are owed a better explanation than the Qatar FA was "not responsible" for the Emerson affair. If FIFA wants to promote fair play, it also has to practise it." Article taken from SBS The World Game http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/socceroos
/qatar-decision-a-dark-day-for-football-121838/ By Half Time Orange - Jesse Fink | 27 June 2008 | 12:31

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