The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senio Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

After “blowing the whistle” on some of the corruption that was going on in the sport, Bahamas Football Association (BFA) president Anton Sealey said there was no way that they would have supported Joseph ‘Sepp’ Blatter for another term in office as president of FIFA.

So when the news broke that Blatter had decided to step down yesterday, four days after the 79-year-old was elected to his fifth term, Sealey said he wasn’t surprised but felt it was only a matter of time before Blatter would have done the honourable thing and quit.

“It wasn’t unexpected by me. I thought that he would have to do so within three months, but as it turned out, it will be in three months, so it wasn’t unexpected for me,” said Sealey, who was recently returned to office as president of the BFA.

“I just thought that the situation was deteriorating around him much too rapidly and he really had little choice in my opinion, than to resign. I was just surprised that it happened so soon.”

FIFA, the governing body of the most lucrative sport in the world, has been rocked by a series of controversies that surfaced during the past administration term. Several soccer officials were arrested last week in Zurich and the organisation’s Miami office raided on the eve of Friday’s elections.

As head of the BFA, Sealey led a group of Caribbean football officials who blew the whistle on corruption that took place in May 2011 after it was disclosed that an alleged attempt by an aspiring FIFA president to bribe regional officials with $40,000 each to support his bid during the elections that year.

Sealey told The Tribune yesterday that because of all of the allegations and scandals that had surfaced, there was no way that the BFA was going to support Blatter. Instead, he said the federation threw its support behind Jordanian Prince Ali bin al-Hussein, who conceded defeat in the second round of the voting and lost 133 votes to 73.

“It was no secret being the ones who blew the whistle and exposing a lot of this corruption, it would have been highly hypocritical for us to continue to support Blatter,” Sealey said. “It was an open thing that we supported Prince Ali. He made several trips here to see myself and the executives of the BFA, so it was no secret who we were supporting.

“We were intimately involved in what was going on, so it would have been highly hypocritical for us to support Blatter. It was obvious it wasn’t something that we were a part of and we didn’t want to be identified with because it was obvious that things were not right at that level and we felt that the image of the institution was being severely impacted and so it only solidified that we were on the right side of the issues.”

While there were some of the view that, because the BFA blew the whistle, their support from FIFA had lessened, Sealey said it was quite the opposite and they garnered more respect and credibility within the organisation for the position they took.

“What we did had little to do with us supporting one or the other,” Sealey stressed. “FIFA is more than one individual. The programmes that have been instituted were policy decisions and I expect that those policies, that were aggressive, will continue. So I expect for us to continue to benefit from the programmes that FIFA has to offer.”

Contrary to beliefs of some detractors, Sealey said the BFA is in good standing with FIFA and they are looking forward to a harmonious relationship as they move forward.

“Unfortunately, I didn’t see the press conference today by Blatter,” Sealey said. “I was in my car and was called by one of my buddies from UEFA (the European governing body), who was telling me that this was going on. What I understand that is going on is that in the next three to four months, an extraordinary congress will be called at which time Blatter will demit office and a new president will be elected.”

While nobody yet has declared their intention to run, Sealey said the BFA will look at the potential candidates and make a determnation.

“Judging from the last elections, we don’t know if the Prince will run again. I don’t know if the other guys who pulled out (Michel Platini, Luis Figo, Michael van Praag) will contest, we will just have to wait and see what develops over the next few days, weeks and months ahead,” Sealey said.

“Once the candidates are announced, we will review the manifestos or documents they put out and as executives, we will sit and make the best decision in the best interest of the Bahamas.”

Despite blowing the whistle four years ago, Sealey said he was surprised by all of the allegations that surfaced in recent times and he knew there was no way that the sport would continue to enjoy its glory days in the manner in which it was proceeding.

As for the BFA, Sealey said they have a lot of things in the pipe, but right now the focus is on getting their under-15 boys and under-17 girls prepared to travel to compete in their regional competitions this summer. And once school re-opens in September, Sealey said their new technical director, Kevin McGreskin, will be hard at work getting their new educational programme for coaches off the ground.

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