Speaker 1: Before FIFA was corrupt, it was merely racist, built in
Speaker 1: the image of its colonial architects. FIFA's view of the
Speaker 1: world reflected the privileged white status of its founding members,
Speaker 1: and maybe because of this the corruption was inevitable. Maybe
Speaker 1: it wasn't the results of a few bad apples in
Speaker 1: the barrel, but a bad barrel itself. It's a question
Speaker 1: that might be best answered by looking at FIFA's six President,
Speaker 1: Sir Stanley Rouse, a man with many laudable qualities except
Speaker 1: the one he and the lords of soccer needed most,
Speaker 1: the ability to see beyond the world as it was
Speaker 1: and see the world as it could be if international
Speaker 1: soccer was made a fair game for all. I'm Connor Powell.
Speaker 1: This is episode five. The colonialist. Bobby Moore's white shorts
Speaker 1: were caked with mud, his red number six long Sleep
Speaker 1: England's jersey dripped with sweat as he led his team
Speaker 1: up the steep staircase at London's Wembley Stadium to the
Speaker 1: Royal Box. Bobby Moore leading them up to the Royal
Speaker 1: Box to receive the Jewelry may Cup and the Windows medals.
Speaker 1: Standing there in a light mustard yellow coat and matching
Speaker 1: hat was the young British monarch Queen Elizabeth the second,
Speaker 1: as was FIFA's president, an Englishman named Stanley Rouse. After
Speaker 1: one of those dainty royal handshakes, Queen Elizabeth passed the
Speaker 1: World Cup trophy, named after FIFA's third president, Jules Romay,
Speaker 1: to England's exhausted but ecstatic captain. Before kissing FIFA's golden trophy,
Speaker 1: as was the tradition, More raised it above his head
Speaker 1: in triumph. Winning the nineteen sixty six World Cup over
Speaker 1: West Germany on its home soil remains the proudest moment
Speaker 1: in English soccer history. For mini soccer fans around the world,
Speaker 1: that nineteen sixty six tournament is the golden Age of
Speaker 1: World Cup soccer, an era before commercialism took root, when
Speaker 1: the game itself, not politics or profit, was front and center.
Speaker 1: This golden era, like most of its kind, is a myth,
Speaker 1: an incomplete and often inaccurate story old men tell themselves
Speaker 1: to avoid an honest historical accounting. Two years before More
Speaker 1: raised that precious trophy, FIFA's leadership made a series of
Speaker 1: decisions that caused the entire African continent and it's fifteen
Speaker 1: World Cup eligible nations to boycott the nineteen sixty six tournament.
Speaker 1: Think about that an entire continent skipped the World Cup.
Speaker 1: That's quite a footnote for the history books. The seeds
Speaker 1: of this boycott were planted years before, and while FIFA
Speaker 1: was not then the criminal organization that we've come to
Speaker 1: know in our previous episodes, run by the likes of
Speaker 1: Set Bladder, Chuck Blazer, and Jack Warner, it was very
Speaker 1: much a Eurocentric colonialists and straight up racist institution. In
Speaker 1: this episode and the next few, I want to tell
Speaker 1: you about FIFA's history, one that looks beyond the polished
Speaker 1: golden air packaging that you find on FIFA's website and
Speaker 1: share a reeler history that includes the bigotry and racism
Speaker 1: that robbed an entire continent of even a chance at
Speaker 1: World Cup glory, and the embrace of ruthless authoritarian regimes
Speaker 1: that put profits ahead of everything the game stands for.
Speaker 1: These are the golden years. The President's as Stanley Ross
Speaker 1: and officials are FIFA. The International Football Federation met at
Speaker 1: the London Hotel to make the draw for the World
Speaker 1: Cup competition. It was a very English affair, shiny silver
Speaker 1: trophy cups with decorative winged handles line the front of
Speaker 1: the podium in the smoke filled ballroom of London's Royal
Speaker 1: Garden Hotel. There are four trophies, one for each of
Speaker 1: the four groups that will play in the first round
Speaker 1: of the upcoming World Cup. A sea of old men
Speaker 1: with mostly white faces stared intensely at the FIFA officials
Speaker 1: sitting on the stage. A fifth trophy, also silver plated
Speaker 1: but covered with a handkerchief, is full of sixteen slips
Speaker 1: of paper. Each slip of paper has the name of
Speaker 1: a national team, and after a shake or two, piece
Speaker 1: of paper is pulled out, the name of the country
Speaker 1: has read aloud and the slip of paper has dropped
Speaker 1: into one of the four corresponding trophies. That's how the
Speaker 1: first round matches of the sixteen teams are decided. England,
Speaker 1: in the opening match on July eleventh at Wembley, one
Speaker 1: by one, FIFA's president Stanley Rouse, that was his voice
Speaker 1: there read out the names of the teams competing in
Speaker 1: the nineteen sixty six World Cup. It's a quaint scene
Speaker 1: that had been repeated in one form or another seven
Speaker 1: times previously, ever since FIFA had become the lords of
Speaker 1: Soccer and held it's inaugural championship tournament in nineteen thirty
Speaker 1: in Uruguay. Unlike today, where FIFA's big decisions have become
Speaker 1: star studded affairs, early events were more like high tea
Speaker 1: and far less flashy as British soccer historians do. Horseville
Speaker 1: told me the draw for the World Cup, for example,
Speaker 1: it's very business like. It's sort of two platforms of men,
Speaker 1: names drawn out. It's noted down on paper, it's popped
Speaker 1: on a board and not setting. Everything's finishing. So let's
Speaker 1: go back to FIFA's very start in nineteen o four.
Speaker 1: The organization was far more rudimentary than it is today.
Speaker 1: It was all about staging matches. It was the end
Speaker 1: of the nineteenth century and soccer's popularity was surging around
Speaker 1: the globe, particularly in Europe and South America. The oldest
Speaker 1: international football matches England versus Scotland. The second oldest is
Speaker 1: Argentina versus Uruguay. You know, so it was a very
Speaker 1: much two continent sport. There was a big problem. The
Speaker 1: rules of soccer vary from country to country. Even town
Speaker 1: to town matches were regularly played under one set of rules.
Speaker 1: During the first half of the game and another in
Speaker 1: the second half. Promoters have begun to stage international competitions,
Speaker 1: and for soccer to survive, i even thrive, the rules
Speaker 1: needed to be unified. So I'm May one. Four representatives
Speaker 1: from seven national federations France, Belgium, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland
Speaker 1: and the Netherlands met in the back room of a
Speaker 1: Parisian sports club to codify the rules of international soccer.
Speaker 1: You'll notice the slate doesn't include any South American countries.
Speaker 1: In nineteen o four, many of those countries were treated
Speaker 1: as more colonies aligned with Europe than as fully independent nations.
Speaker 1: Will be then the footboard associates FIFA. FIFA's own portrayal
Speaker 1: of the moment is captured in a ridiculous self produced
Speaker 1: propaganda film called United Passions, released in America at the
Speaker 1: height of FIFA's two thousand and fifteen corruption scandal. The
Speaker 1: film grows less than a thousand dollars in the US
Speaker 1: on its opening weekend. The film celebrates the signing of
Speaker 1: the FIFA Charter, treated it as something akin to the
Speaker 1: signing of the Magna Carta or the Declaration of Independence.
Speaker 1: The humorous is just well pronounced, but back to our
Speaker 1: history lesson. Within a few years of its formation, FIFA
Speaker 1: added England, Germany, South Africa, Argentina and Chile to its club.
Speaker 1: This made the soccer organization, at least on paper, global.
Speaker 1: In reality, FIFA's beating heart remained European, and its administrators
Speaker 1: did little to integrate the South Americans, who really had
Speaker 1: no role in managing world soccer. During FIFA's first seventy years,
Speaker 1: all eleven of its permanent presidents in general secretaries came
Speaker 1: from Europe. South American soccer and its issues rarely, if ever,
Speaker 1: made it onto FIFA's agenda. It was a very Eurocentric organization,
Speaker 1: so with that came this philosophy of colone realism imperialism.
Speaker 1: With the exception of Switzerland, all of FIFA's founding members
Speaker 1: were former or current colonial powers. FIFA's early administrators came
Speaker 1: from that world, grew up in that world. Nineteenth century
Speaker 1: colonialism and Christian superiority were to them given, and they
Speaker 1: often viewed non European countries, particularly they're current and former
Speaker 1: colonies with disdain. Some, like General Secretary Carl Anton Wilhelm Hirschman,
Speaker 1: even resisted FIFA's South American expansion on the grounds it
Speaker 1: would dilute the organization's European and enlightened character. Even presidents
Speaker 1: who supported FIFA's early expansion from Jewels were made to
Speaker 1: Arthur Drury to Stanley Ross still believe soccer radiated from Europe.
Speaker 1: They viewed these non European countries as less civilized and
Speaker 1: incapable of leadership and global affairs. Most shamefully, Fee of
Speaker 1: his founders believe these countries would only come into the
Speaker 1: twentieth century if they followed the steady hand and firm
Speaker 1: rules of European institutions. Nowhere was this reality more evident
Speaker 1: than in World Cup draws, where the lords of soccer
Speaker 1: often excluded non white countries. Here, again, Stu horse Field,
Speaker 1: when you have European presidents who come from nations who
Speaker 1: have colonized African states, there is always going to become flat.
Speaker 1: There is always going to be this issue of race
Speaker 1: and repression. So in the spring of nineteen sixty six,
Speaker 1: as Sir Stanley Rouse read out the names of the
Speaker 1: sixteen nations invited to compete in the World Cup, I
Speaker 1: wanted to put this sequence of matches now on the
Speaker 1: board on the lift ten were from Europe, five or
Speaker 1: from Latin America, and one was from Asia. None were
Speaker 1: from Africa. It might have been called a World Cup,
Speaker 1: but it was more like a European Championship with a
Speaker 1: few friendly nations invited to the party. Which it's just
Speaker 1: the way FIFA's European leadership liked it. Keep in mind
Speaker 1: it was now nineteen sixty six, not eighteen sixty six.
Speaker 1: The Beatles were closer to their end than their beginning.
Speaker 1: The Summer of Love was just two years away. The
Speaker 1: US Civil Rights Bill had just been passed. FIFA, in
Speaker 1: all of its humors, was continuing to expand with the
Speaker 1: idea that its vision would rule the world. But the
Speaker 1: world was starting to see things differently. Small plumes of
Speaker 1: black smoke rose into the air. It's March nine sixty
Speaker 1: and the Sharpville township of South Africa. Men, women, and children,
Speaker 1: young and old are seeing hymns as they burned their
Speaker 1: government issued identification cards. The white police ordered the black
Speaker 1: demonstrators to stop and back away from the police station's
Speaker 1: flimsy chain length defense. They protesters ignored the parking commands
Speaker 1: and continued protesting. The Aparthei regime's newest racial decree that
Speaker 1: required black South Africans to always carry their ideas or
Speaker 1: face arrest. The peaceful protests turns ugly when a squadron
Speaker 1: of US built Fight SI saber jets buzzed the crowd
Speaker 1: to scare protesters away. That's when the rocks begin to fly,
Speaker 1: raining down on the one and fifty or so white
Speaker 1: police officers. Police get the command to load their weapons,
Speaker 1: then can be ordered a fire. Gunshots ripped through the
Speaker 1: backs of unarmed protesters as they fled. The Charville massacre
Speaker 1: as the march murders are now known, left sixty nine
Speaker 1: people dead and hundreds more injured. It all so put
Speaker 1: an international spotlight on the South African government and it's
Speaker 1: horrific apartheid system. Historian Peter A. Legie wrote about the
Speaker 1: events of that day in his book African Soccer Escapes,
Speaker 1: How a Continent changed the world's game well apart It
Speaker 1: was a harsh form of government sanctioned racism and segregation,
Speaker 1: carried out by a white minority in a country where
Speaker 1: they never represented more than twent of the population. If
Speaker 1: the white Afrikaans government was embarrassed or remorseful about the
Speaker 1: vicious and racist attack, they didn't show it now they
Speaker 1: doubled down a little more than a week after the
Speaker 1: Sharpville massacre, the Interior Minister Yon the Clerk, said the
Speaker 1: segregation of South African sports would continue, especially in the
Speaker 1: increasingly popular game of soccer. Not only were mixed race
Speaker 1: teams outlawed in South Africa, but so were mixed race
Speaker 1: teams from other nations. This would be a big test
Speaker 1: for FIFA. The Agusty era was thick and oppressive when
Speaker 1: FIFA gathered for its nineteen sixty World Congress, but the
Speaker 1: scorching Mediterranean son wasn't the only thing causing delegates from
Speaker 1: FIFA's now sixty nine member nations the sweat that summer.
Speaker 1: Only three years before, Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan and South Africa,
Speaker 1: the only four independent nations in Africa, united to form
Speaker 1: the Confederation of African Football or CALF. CALF gave the
Speaker 1: continent a permanent say inside FIFA, and while some in
Speaker 1: FIFA's leadership saw the formation of CALF as a healthy
Speaker 1: sign of soccer's global reach, the expansion was a political
Speaker 1: conundrum for FIFA's old guard. Here Again, as historian Peter A. Legie, Egyptians,
Speaker 1: Ethio Opens and Sudanese demanded that South Africa field they
Speaker 1: racially integrated team at that inaugural African Nations Cup in Cartoum,
Speaker 1: but the White Association refused to do so, basically hiding
Speaker 1: behind an excuse that they couldn't do anything about government policy.
Speaker 1: Citing its policy of racial and tolerance. These three African
Speaker 1: countries voted to expel South Africa from CALF shortly after
Speaker 1: its formation. Now in Rome, with the Sharpville massacre still
Speaker 1: fresh in the mind of its delegates, the same three
Speaker 1: African nations demanded FIFA boot South Africa from the global
Speaker 1: soccer community. It was an inherently racist football organization that
Speaker 1: would not tolerate mixed race teams. It would not tolerate
Speaker 1: competition between black teams or white teams. FIFA was formed
Speaker 1: by Europeans for the sole purpose of governing international soccer,
Speaker 1: so the idea of FIFA expelling one of their own
Speaker 1: for political reasons was unthinkable to most of FIFA's Eurocentric members,
Speaker 1: especially since such a move would force those same nations
Speaker 1: to look directly at their own colonial pass FIFA was
Speaker 1: terribly concerned about the political ramifications of this Within the organization,
Speaker 1: Many of the non European, non white delegates felt the
Speaker 1: organization had to act. Doing nothing risk undermining FIFA's policy
Speaker 1: of non discrimination towards players of all races. Under the
Speaker 1: sweltering Roman sky, FIFA's Congress voted fifty two to ten
Speaker 1: to adopt a resolution declaring soccer matches open to all people,
Speaker 1: regardless of race or religion. They stopped short of kicking
Speaker 1: South Africa out directly. Instead, they said in the nation
Speaker 1: that continued to practice racial discrimination would be expelled from
Speaker 1: FIFA within a year. It was a courageous policy forced
Speaker 1: on the founders by FIFA's newest members, and it had
Speaker 1: real consequences, as Allegedy explains, by a late nineteen six one,
Speaker 1: time was up. South Africa turned down the opportunity to
Speaker 1: introduce racially integrated football, and FIFA suspended South African September
Speaker 1: of sixty one. The suspension meant that the apartheid regime
Speaker 1: would be banned from the World Cup and from any
Speaker 1: other international soccer competitions, a devastating blow to a sporting
Speaker 1: nation that had not yet faced international pressure for its
Speaker 1: apartheid system, and this was a symbolic victory at a
Speaker 1: very difficult time for deliberation movements in South Africa. When FIFA,
Speaker 1: this major global body, sanctioned white South Africa, it instilled
Speaker 1: hope at a very much needed time for most black
Speaker 1: South Africans. It was historic. FIFA had set itself apart
Speaker 1: from most international organizations for its willingness to tackle a
Speaker 1: difficult human rights challenge. This was really the first major
Speaker 1: incident in international football of expulsion due to racial discrimination,
Speaker 1: but the moment was fleeting. Just three days later, the
Speaker 1: very same group that booted South Africa out elected the
Speaker 1: conservative Englishman Stanley Rouse, a staunch defender of South Africa,
Speaker 1: as its president, and in so doing set up more
Speaker 1: than a decade of conflict. Stanley Rouse rarely gave an
Speaker 1: inch to anyone. At six ft three inches tall, the
Speaker 1: former English referee, school teacher and soccer official was a
Speaker 1: mountain of a man on and off the pitch. Stodgy
Speaker 1: and self righteous, he believed the rules of soccer, like
Speaker 1: the rules governing civilized society, were sacro sainct. There was right,
Speaker 1: there was wrong, there was black and there was white.
Speaker 1: Here again as Stu Horsfield, he was very intelligent without
Speaker 1: being a great Denies are in a great thinker. He
Speaker 1: was very stable, incredibly stable person. FIFA sixth president was
Speaker 1: once asked by a journalist if he had ever been
Speaker 1: offered a bribe. Rolse sneered at the question and the
Speaker 1: implication that a man of his moral grounding could be
Speaker 1: corrupted by money. He insisted that any attempt to bribe
Speaker 1: him would be a foolish endeavor, and he vowed that
Speaker 1: anyone who tried would be expelled from the sport. He
Speaker 1: was so incorruptible. He said, anyone who wanted to be
Speaker 1: on a FIFA committee should pay for their own train
Speaker 1: ticket or airfare to Zurich, now the home of FIFA,
Speaker 1: and earned their spot. The only thing more rigid more
Speaker 1: immovable than Rouse's Victorian principles were his steadfast imperialist beliefs.
Speaker 1: Rouse believed in the superiority of the British Empire. He
Speaker 1: also believed, as only someone so set in their ways can,
Speaker 1: that his views were beyond politics. They were fundamental. As such,
Speaker 1: he said sports and politics should never mix, nor should
Speaker 1: sports be used to promote a political agenda. As a
Speaker 1: very well educated young man, he was also all his
Speaker 1: time a man who believed in the amateury thoughts and
Speaker 1: the sport shouldn't be a battleground for politics. Rouse once
Speaker 1: described an African referee training program as missionary work, which
Speaker 1: I guess means Rouse wasn't against mixing sports, religion and
Speaker 1: politics if his own conservative, Christian and colonialist beliefs were
Speaker 1: being upheld. So it might not surprise you to learn
Speaker 1: that Rouse was a vocal supporter of and regularly expressed
Speaker 1: sympathy for South Africa's brutal apartheid regime and it's all
Speaker 1: white soccer association. When Rousse was elected FIFA president just
Speaker 1: three days after the organization suspended South Africa, he immediately
Speaker 1: went to work to undo the ban. He was constantly
Speaker 1: trying to find ways to get a party in South
Speaker 1: Africa readmitted, and this really angered many members of FIFA
Speaker 1: as well as, of course, the anti apartheid movement as
Speaker 1: a whole. In January of nineteen sixty three, Rouse led
Speaker 1: a delegation to South Africa too. I guess the word
Speaker 1: is investigate the situation. You'll hear the details in just
Speaker 1: a moment, but let me give you the top line.
Speaker 1: RALS met with the government sanctions all white pro apartheid
Speaker 1: Football Association of South Africa and he met with a
Speaker 1: breakaway football delegation, the racially mixed South African Soccer Federation.
Speaker 1: He took the side of the white guys here again
Speaker 1: his Stu Horse film the South African Soccer Federation, who
Speaker 1: set themselves up as an alternative governing body whose mandate
Speaker 1: was to represent all of South Africa, so white South Africans,
Speaker 1: black South Africans, mixed Ray South Africans, but Stanna Rousse
Speaker 1: refused to recognize them. FIFA's president returned home them with
Speaker 1: a glowing report of the Football Association of South Africa
Speaker 1: and recommended FIFA's Executive Council reinstate the old white group.
Speaker 1: They produced a truly astounding report that concluded that there
Speaker 1: was no racial discrimination in South Africa, and as a result,
Speaker 1: FIFA lifted temporarily this suspension on a part to in
Speaker 1: South Africa. This was rather incredible, Indeed, the reaction of
Speaker 1: many members was outreache. The African continent just saw that
Speaker 1: as another indicated that while Stanley Rouse was in charge,
Speaker 1: FIFA would be an inherently racist organization. When Stanley Rouse's
Speaker 1: playing touchdown in Egypt in January of n Cairo's once
Speaker 1: rudimentary airport was nearing the end of a six year
Speaker 1: construction project, two new runways and a spacious modern terminal,
Speaker 1: or just weeks away from opening. It was to be
Speaker 1: a symbol of just how far Egypt and Africa had
Speaker 1: advanced since independence. But if the continent was looking to
Speaker 1: the future, FIFA's president arrived carrying the baggage of its
Speaker 1: colonial past. Rouse had just finished his investigation into South Africa,
Speaker 1: and after FIFA's Executive Committee officially reinstated South Africa under
Speaker 1: Rouse's direction, he stopped in Cairo for the Confederation of
Speaker 1: African Football's General Assembly. Much like the airport, CALF was
Speaker 1: going through a remarkable transformation, growing from just four member
Speaker 1: nations in ninety seven to more than thirty a few
Speaker 1: years later. As it grew in size, Peter Leggie says,
Speaker 1: and also grew in confidence. As more African nations wonder independence.
Speaker 1: In the late fifties and especially in the sixties, this
Speaker 1: relationship ship between FIFA and Africa became more and more contentious.
Speaker 1: The meeting between Rouse and the African delegates was every
Speaker 1: bit as tense and confrontational as you would expect. During
Speaker 1: his opening speech, Rylse City had seen no evidence of
Speaker 1: discrimination in South Africa, and in a very paternalistic tone,
Speaker 1: the Englishman suggested fiefa's African members would just have to
Speaker 1: accept the Executive Committee's decision. Now, South Africa was just
Speaker 1: one point of contention in that meeting. Despite adding dozens
Speaker 1: of new nations the FIFA's membership rollins since World War Two,
Speaker 1: the World Cup remained anything but a global tournament. At
Speaker 1: the nineteen fifty eight in nineteen sixty two World Cups,
Speaker 1: the only sides that qualified for the competition were from
Speaker 1: Latin America and Europe. There were no African or Asian
Speaker 1: teams represented. This only added to the strong sense that
Speaker 1: the World Cup was essentially a European soccer festival that,
Speaker 1: as I said earlier, allowed a few Latin American friends
Speaker 1: that crash the party. Calf lobby Rouse and FIFA's Executive
Speaker 1: Committee to give at least one automatic spot to the
Speaker 1: now sizeable African delegation. When FIFA announced that the top
Speaker 1: African and the top Asian team would be forced to
Speaker 1: compete in a winner take all playoff to secure the
Speaker 1: one non European, non Latin American spot in the nineteen
Speaker 1: sixty six World Cup, Calf decided the only way to
Speaker 1: force FIFA to take their concerns seriously was the withdrawal
Speaker 1: in mass from the global tournament. In other words, stage
Speaker 1: of boycott. So Africa just boycotts in the entire World
Speaker 1: Cup qualification process and didn't end to the tournament. Some
Speaker 1: seventy nations tried to earn a spot in the nineteen
Speaker 1: sixty six World Cup, none of course, were from Africa,
Speaker 1: but the continent was represented at least in terms of talent.
Speaker 1: While England won the tournament on its home soil and
Speaker 1: Bobby Moore hoisted the Jewels were made trophy before eighty
Speaker 1: thou ecstatic English fans. The top goal scorer of the
Speaker 1: tournament played for Portugal and was born in Mozambique, then
Speaker 1: a Portuguese colony. Even though the African nations boycott of
Speaker 1: the nineteen sixty six World Cup qualifying process, kaf did
Speaker 1: achieve a big victory off the field. Seventy eight of
Speaker 1: FIFA's one hundred members voted to overturn Stanley Rouse's recommendation
Speaker 1: and once again suspend, though they didn't expel South Africa
Speaker 1: from World soccer play. Rouse had overruled FIFA's membership, and
Speaker 1: now three years later FIFA's members had overruled Rouse. It
Speaker 1: was a monumental slap in the face to South Africa's
Speaker 1: apartheid regime and to Rouse and by Africa had won
Speaker 1: a guaranteed spot in that year's World Cup and those
Speaker 1: turbulent times. The world was changing and Rouse and his
Speaker 1: ilk were stuck in the past, and he would soon
Speaker 1: ace once again the collective wrath of the African continent.
Speaker 1: It was a gray, rainy Dane Frankfurt when Stanley Rouse
Speaker 1: woke and walked to breakfast. For almost thirteen years, the
Speaker 1: aristocratic Englishman had been the most powerful man in world soccer.
Speaker 1: In his mind, his re election was a foregone conclusion. Yeah, sure,
Speaker 1: there had been some disagreements between FIFA's old guarden its
Speaker 1: newer members on his watch, but what Rouse thought were
Speaker 1: isolated disagreements over South Africa and automatic spots at the
Speaker 1: World Cup were clear evidence to his detractors of FIFA's
Speaker 1: inherent racism and ingrain colonial structure. They wanted change. Still,
Speaker 1: as Roose sat drinking his English breakfast tea on the
Speaker 1: morning of June, he saw a little reason to think
Speaker 1: there was anything to worry about other than a light
Speaker 1: rein in the day's forecast. Here's the story in John Sugden,
Speaker 1: author of the book Football, Corruption and Lies. When it
Speaker 1: came to the seventeen four election, he thought he could
Speaker 1: put his feet up and rely on the Africans and
Speaker 1: the agents. He thought he could rely on the support
Speaker 1: because he'd been so loyal to them in his own mind.
Speaker 1: As FIFA's members gathered in West Germany for its presidential election,
Speaker 1: the winds of change were blowing, and Rouse was oblivious.
Speaker 1: Here's Stue Horsfield. It was still convinced that this almost
Speaker 1: colonial attitude of we looked after you since you've come
Speaker 1: into the FIFA family. He still assumed that that was
Speaker 1: enough to secure the vote. He didn't acknowledge the mobilization
Speaker 1: of African nations, of Asian nations and the fact that
Speaker 1: they had had enough, that had enough of what they'd
Speaker 1: seen as an inherently racist organization. Frustrated with Rousse's colonial complacency,
Speaker 1: the Confederation of African Football, which had now grown to
Speaker 1: thirty seven nations, had thrown their support behind the wealthy
Speaker 1: and outspoken Brazilian sports administrator Jiao Havalanche. The fifty eight
Speaker 1: year old former Olympic swimmer positioned himself as a champion
Speaker 1: of the southern and to be blunt browner game of soccer.
Speaker 1: As the Brazilian sports official Silvio Pacheco wrote at the
Speaker 1: time about Jaojavelange, his candidacy is not for South America,
Speaker 1: his candidacy is for the entire world. If Rouss was
Speaker 1: celebrated in the patrician dining rooms of London, Paris and Zurich,
Speaker 1: Havlanch would align himself with the players on the dirt
Speaker 1: pitches of Cairo, Kinshasa and Kingston. Before arriving in Frankfurt
Speaker 1: for the nine election, Havlanch toured the world with the
Speaker 1: Brazilian superstar Pale, visiting a remarkable eighty different countries. During
Speaker 1: this whistle stop tour, Havalanche courted supporters by attacking FIFA's
Speaker 1: European dominance. He vowed to expand the World Cup from
Speaker 1: sixteen to four teams and increase the number of automatic
Speaker 1: spots for Asians and Africans, an expansion Rousse opposed at
Speaker 1: a fear of deluting the tournament's European nature, and most crucially,
Speaker 1: Havalanche promised unlike Rouse to permanently ban South Africa from
Speaker 1: FIFA because of While Stanley Roush refused to acknowledge and
Speaker 1: refused to see, Havalanche very much takes advantage and can
Speaker 1: see the opportunity that's there if he can call the
Speaker 1: African vote and if he can mobilize the African and
Speaker 1: Asian nations. Now. As attractive as these policies were the
Speaker 1: FIFA's newer members, getting them to vote was an entirely
Speaker 1: different matter. Havlange very little scruples, very good at manipulating
Speaker 1: the situations to himself. In many of the newer national
Speaker 1: delegations were poor and they lacked the money to travel
Speaker 1: to far flung Frankfurt for a FIFA congress. So Havalanch,
Speaker 1: who was born the wealthy son of an arms dealer
Speaker 1: and made millions during a very successful business career, used
Speaker 1: his own personal wealth to fly in Key voters before
Speaker 1: the nineteen seventy four election. This just wasn't done within
Speaker 1: the stuffy and aristocratic FIFA, remember rals saying new members
Speaker 1: should buy their own tickets and Rousse they didn't have
Speaker 1: the money anyways to carry out such a crass strategy.
Speaker 1: Habland would later talk openly about the helping hand he
Speaker 1: gave would be supporters. By the time FIFA's members sat
Speaker 1: down to vote, Rouse's miscalculation was on full display. He
Speaker 1: didn't stand a chance. Havalans defeated the uncompromised Englishman sixty
Speaker 1: eight votes to fifty two and became fifa seventh president.
Speaker 1: Stew horse Field pinpoints where Rouse led his eye off
Speaker 1: the ball because of Stanley Rouse's refusal to change, in
Speaker 1: his refusal to accept politics, having a place in the
Speaker 1: sport that he loves ultimately becomes his own doing. Once
Speaker 1: the election was confirmed, Havalanche kiss Rouse on the cheek,
Speaker 1: presented the former president with a bouquet of flowers. Rouse
Speaker 1: would later comment that the bouquet felt more like a
Speaker 1: burial wreath. Under Havlange, a new era would begin, one
Speaker 1: of exploding revenues and commercialization and globalization. When he took
Speaker 1: control of FIFA seventy four, it was still a modest
Speaker 1: operation with virtually nothing in the bank. By the time
Speaker 1: the Brazilian retired in FIFA had four billion dollars in reserves,
Speaker 1: and it become a two hundred and fifty million dollar
Speaker 1: a year business. But the man who built FIFA into
Speaker 1: a multibillion dollar marketing machine. Would also be implicated in
Speaker 1: a string of scandals involving millions of dollars in bribes
Speaker 1: and shady kickbacks, and worse, Avalanche had a nasty habit
Speaker 1: of cozing up to gangsters and dictators and choosing profit
Speaker 1: over human rights. That's coming up next on The Lords
Speaker 1: of Soccer. The Lords of Soccer, Al FIFA Stole the
Speaker 1: Beautiful Game is an Inside Voices media production in conjunction
Speaker 1: with I Heart Radio. The series was written and executive
Speaker 1: produced by Gary Scott and me Connor Powell. Logan Heftel
Speaker 1: and Katie mcmurran provided the sound design with assistance from j. C.
Speaker 1: Swaddick and Jake blue Note. Alec Cowen is our associate
Speaker 1: producer and Jeffrey Katz was our story editor. Our fact
Speaker 1: checker is Alexa O'Brien and thanks to Miles Gray, who
Speaker 1: produced the series for I Heart Radio. If you have
Speaker 1: any comments or questions, please reach out. You can find
Speaker 1: us on Twitter. I'm at Connor m Powell and Gary
Speaker 1: is at Gary Robert Scott and if you have any
Speaker 1: stories about FIFA let us know. If you like what
Speaker 1: you hear, please give us a shout out at the
Speaker 1: hashtag lords of soccer