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Kick Racism out of Football –
– and Racist
Jack Warner as well
By Andrew Jennings
Sunday August 30, 2009
The man on the podium vibrates with rage, his finger stabbing the night air as he harangues a political meeting. He talks a dirty message.
‘No foreigner,’ he bellows, ‘particularly a white foreigner, will come to my country and harass me.’
It’s on a video clip of FIFA vice-president Jack Warner and I found it in a Caribbean archive a week ago.
He’d spat out these words in Trinidad in 2006, minutes after I and my BBC film crew attempted to ask him how much profit he was making from his huge World Cup tickets rackets.
Warner’s typical response was ‘Go fuck yourself,’ then he clambered on the platform and really let rip. A local news team captured his poison and at last I had a copy.
I asked a question about ethics. I got racist abuse. FIFA claims, ‘Racism has no place in football. FIFA is deploying all the means at its disposal to eliminate this form of discrimination.’ And there’s more: Racism is banned under Article 6 of FIFA’s Ethics code.
Sepp Blatter, who relies on Warner’s guaranteed 35 regional votes at each FIFA congress, kindly makes an exception for his supporter.
Watching the video again I remembered that a year later the loathsome Warner had the cheek to insult Scotland’s John McBeth as a ‘bigot’ and crowed - when England’s Geoff Thompson replaced him at FIFA’s high table - ‘Good has prevailed over evil.’ Later McBeth revealed to BBC Panorama that Warner had once tried to divert a $65,000 match fee for Scotland v Trinidad to his private account.
I’ve been teaching investigative reporting to Caribbean journalists and while there, observing the continuing embarrassing behaviour of Warner. He’s an MP in Trinidad and launches vitriolic attacks on his colleagues. He rants and his ravings bring FIFA into disrepute. They’ve got a rule against that as well but for FIFA, the Caribbean appears to be an Ethics-free zone.
You didn’t know that FIFA has an Ethics Committee? I did – but I can’t remember it ever doing anything.
Article 5 of FIFA’s Ethics code demands that FIFA officials remain ‘politically neutral’ but again, Warner appears exempted. So does his loyal supporter Reginald Jones, president of the Barbados football association – and his country’s Minister of Education.
When Warner isn’t calling himself a politician, he says he’s a businessman. His activities are aimed at making money out of football but last week he refused to say if he pays all the tax he should.
Like the other 23 members of FIFA executive committee Warner is paid huge fees and expenses. Some members – I’ve seen the confidential documents – stash the money in Switzerland. To avoid tax, some ship it home in cash hidden in their girlfriends’ knickers. Did he pay tax? No comment from Warner.
Warner makes more huge profits out of his industrial-scale World Cup ticket rackets. Even FIFA concedes – in another confidential document in my possession – that he made around $1 million profits in Germany in 2006. Did he pay tax? Silence from Warner.
Warner makes more huge profits out of his industrial-scale World Cup ticket rackets. Even FIFA concedes – in another confidential document in my possession – that he made around $1 million profits in Germany in 2006. Did he pay tax? Silence from Warner.
He made even more out of the Soca Warriors, Trinidad’s heroes who in 2006 became the smallest country to qualify for the World Cup finals.
They carried themselves with dignity, not responding to some dubious tackles when England beat them in the first round.
Warner and his son Daryll set up a company to harvest the revenues from TV, sponsors and ticket sales. They pulled in more than £3 million, supposedly to be shared among the players.
After the tournament Warner’s accountant produced a bundle of numbers. Unfortunately some of the documents had been lost so the expenses were estimated. If that didn’t smell funny, the next stroke was a surprise deduction of one third of the money ‘to prepare Trinidad for the World Cup 2010!’
When the Soca Warriors complained, Warner’s officials denounced them as ‘greedy’ –and offered them £500 a man. Sixteen of the squad consulted lawyers and Warner banned them from playing again for Trinidad.
They included Marvin Andrews, Shaka Hislop, Kelvin Jack and Brent Sancho.
The players petitioned FIFA, asking the ethics committee, headed by Lord Sebastian Coe, to intervene. No, said FIFA, we won’t help you against Warner.
In May last year an independent arbitrator in London awarded the players everything they asked for. Warner still refused to pay. The team have taken their case to the Trinidad courts where Warner has succeeded in delaying the case. It may be back in court in a few months.
The question I asked in Trinidad a week ago was this: Seeing Warner had hung on to £3 million for three years, had he paid tax on it? Warner declined to say.
Sunday Herald - Taxing questions for Warner
Andrew signs copies of FOUL! at the Readers Bookshop in Port of Spain
EkstraBladet (Danish language publication to be posted shortly)
THE LONDON media are cravenly self-censoring about Warner’s ticket rackets, even though hundreds of England fans were screwed by him in 2006. Because of England’s bid to host 2018, they chicken out and dare not go further than calling him ‘controversial.’
They also refer to him as ‘a key power-broker.’ He isn’t. He controls three of the 24 votes at FIFA’s ExCo – and that’s all. Nobody takes Warner seriously, senior members resent his racism and corruption and endless scandals darkening FIFA’s already tainted reputation.
When the England 2018 bid was launched in May there was disgust that a member of the fascist BNP was invited. One newspaper asked Warner to comment!
Warner warns England 2018 bid to correct BNP 'error'