Entertainment For Lively Minds
Sepp Blatter
Posted by stevelake on 17 February 2010 - 3:31pm.
Apologies for dragging the debate away from the Brits and back to the occasionally fertile land of football, but I have just read this and couldn't let it pass.
'Sepp Blatter is allowed to move through airports with no need to show a passport or for any of the usual customs and immigration procedures to apply, a privilege he shares only with the UN secretary-general.'
And people say the world of football has lost touch with reality...
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He has
Nothing to declare except for his aversion to English Football.
Sounds like bollocks to me...
I'd be really surprised if that was the case. He's not a Head of State, he's merely involved with a popular sport.
I call nonsense too
I suspect that he's been given dispensation to jump round South Africa during the tournament without having to queue at airports, but I'd be amazed if the courtesy was extended to everywhere he travels.
The source?
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v31/n24/rw-johnson/diary
I read that before commenting
Given that it's a piece about this year's World Cup, and that the paragraph in question is talking about the ways things are shaping up on the ground in South Africa, I wondered if the point about Blatter and airports was also referring to local conditions, albeit not at all clearly.
That is...
...indeed the source. Having read it again, it is possible that he's talking only about airports in South Africa although it's certainly not obvious. And wouldn't there be more people than just the UN sec general who had access to South Africa on this basis? Whereas if he meant the whole world then the fact there are only two people with the privilege makes more sense. Also, would anyone travelling by air internally in South Africa need to show a passport and go through immigration?
Doesn't really matter does it?
The fact that it's even slightly believable tells you all you need to know about Herr Blatter.
Question
How do you prove you're the Secretary General of the UN without showing your ID? Do people have to take your word for it?
Maybe it's like The Queen
who travels sans passport. They travel on the basis that everyone will know you are coming and no-one will have the nerve to ask.
Which, if I recall was where Diana Ross came unstuck at Heathrow.
She has to carry one now...
... and it's because of European regulations. Must be true - I read it in the Daily Mail.
I thought she just carried a first class stamp
or a tenner and said "It is One, so let One in".
http://www.royal.gov.uk/MonarchUK/RoyalVisits/passports.aspx
Maybe the website is out of date. She certainly doesn't blog like she used to.
I've been duped!
Bloody Daily Mail...
Picture the scene upon arrival at the airport...
Ah Mr Blatter - nice to see you again. There's no need for you to queue - just come right in and get your baggage. No, there is no need for a customs check. We won't ask to see your passport because I expect you are too important to actually carry one and we don't wish to waste your valuable time.
Don't forget to skip the customs, security and migration checks before boarding the aircraft when you eventually decide to leave. Enjoy your stay!
More Blatter Balls
From The Guardian / Observer
Sepp Blatter says European fans who won't buy World Cup tickets are disrespecting Africa: "There's still this anti-African feeling in the so-called 'old world': a feeling that why the hell should South Africa have a World Cup? Colonialists over the past 100 years have only gone to Africa to exploit it, to take out all the best things. There's just no respect."
2007: Sepp awards exclusive rights to sell World Cup hospitality packages in South Africa to Swiss firm Match. The £342m deal means South African hotels must pay 30% of their income to Match, a firm part-owned by Zurich-based marketing group Infront. Most pleased with the deal: Infront's president and world's happiest nephew, Philippe Blatter.
Top three other ways Fifa have refused to go to Africa and take out all the best things:
1) Backing stadium workers: rewarding "the real 2010 heroes" with two free tickets each. (88p: workers' hourly wage.)
2) Ensuring fairness: protecting the Fifa corporate family by taking legal action against independent South African businesses, including a keyring salesman, for using the phrase "World Cup" on products. "They tried to take advantage of the FIFA World Cup™," said Fifa.
3) Promoting tickets as accessible to neighbouring African nations. (Ticket price range: $80-$900; Average daily wage in neighbouring nations: $1.)
Sepp's nephew was the COE of the company that got the media rights to the 02 and 06 World Cups as well. How does he get away with it?
Just beat me to it!
I was going to link to that piece from the ever excellent "Said and Done" column in the Observer. Sepp Blatter's deputy, Jack Warner, is from all accounts even less charming than Sepp.
If this were true...
...wouldn't it be an indictment more of passport control than football?
I would like to nominate..
both the FIFA and Olympic Committees for the first manned mission to Mars. I will only change my mind if I can somehow get on one of them.
I will second the nomination
provided there is no method of return journey.