At last. Prem League chair Richards accuses Fifa; Arry lays into the Arabs « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News. Supporting the Lord Wenger; coach of the decade

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Could you write a regular column in Untold Arsenal?

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By Tony Attwood

When have I ever supported Sir Dave Richards, the Premier League chairman and a Football Association vice-chairman?  Never must be the simple answer.  Until today.

Because now he has made a speech that has made me think again about what is being thought within the Premier League and the FA.

Of course I don’t agree with everything he said, but at last it seems someone in the FA and Premier League is thinking outside that awful little box that says, “Fifa is right, Uefa is right, we must bow down to them all.”

Meanwhile our old chum Arry has been saying a few words about Arabs as well, which give a clearer view of his view of the world.

But first, Sir Dave.  Speaking at a sports conference in Qatar he said…

“England gave the world football. It gave the best legacy anyone could give. We gave them the game.

“For 50 years we owned the game … We were the governance of the game. We wrote the rules, designed the pitches and everything else.

“Then, 50 years later, some guy came along and said: ‘You’re liars,’ and they actually stole it. It was called Fifa. Fifty years later another gang came along called Uefa and stole a bit more.”

When it was pointed out that China too like to claim that they invented the game, Sir Dave said: “It started in Sheffield 150 years ago. We started the game and wrote the rules and took it to the world. The Chinese may say they own it but the British own it and we gave it to the rest of the world.”

(The reality of course is that football was played as early as the 15th century in England, and was regularly banned by English monarchs throughout the ages – but I think Sir Dave meant “organised football” as we know it today, with a football pitch marked out with lines.)

Sir Dave has been Premier League chairman since 1999 so he knows a thing or two about the organised game at the highest level – and he showed it when he also told his hosts who will also be the hosts of the World Cup they had their “heads in the sand” over alcohol at the 2022 finals.  I don’t think he mentioned that in Qatar the punishment for homosexuality is five years imprisonment, but you have to start somewhere when you are telling it like it is.

Sir Dave added: “In our country and in Germany we have a culture. We call it ‘we would like to go for a pint and that pint is a pint of beer’. It is our culture as much as your culture is not drinking. There has to be a happy medium.

“If you don’t do something about it, you are starting to bury your head in the sand a little bit because it needs addressing. You might be better off saying ‘don’t come’.   But a World Cup without England, Germany, the Dutch, Danes and Scandinavians – it’s unthinkable.”

Of course the FA had to bow down to Fifa and Uefa as it always does – which is why we play insane internationals at the start, middle and end of the football season.  A spokes person said, “The FA greatly values its relationships with Fifa and Uefa, which it is working hard to strengthen.”The comments of Sir Dave however could undo all the crawling that the FA has been doing to  Fifa.  Instead of walking away from what many people see as an utterly corrupt and appalling organisation, they are now apologising for Sir Dave.  Personally I suddenly like the guy.

Meanwhile our old chum Sir Arry Redknapp, (at least I assume he is now knighted given the way the press hang on his every word) has done an interview with Lord Sugar (ex Tottenham chair) in Radio Times.