And the hits just keep on comin'....

[Paul Marin]

Diego Maradona accuses Argentine critic of FA of corruption

The Argentine Fifa heavyweight who told England to “leave the Fifa family alone” has been accused of defamation and corruption by Diego Maradona.

Julio Grondona, president of the Argentina Football Association and senior Fifa vice-president, launched a stinging attack on the FA this week, describing the English as "pirates" having previously told the 2018 bid team to return the Falkland Islands if they wanted his vote.

Grondona fired Maradona as national team coach following the 2010 World Cup, and now faces legal action from the former World Cup winning captain.
Maradona’s lawyers say they will launch a legal action for “slander, defamation and discrimination", and accused Grondona of corruption.

The spat follows Maradona’s allegation that the Argentina team was offered stimulants - “speedy coffee” - before a crucial 1993 World Cup qualifier against Australia, and Grondona removed doping controls from the games to prevent positive tests.

Argentina won the two-legged play-off, but at the 1994 World Cup Maradona failed a drugs test.

Grondona has hit back at Maradona, making veiled references to his former drug habit, but has admitted that there were no doping controls at the games. Grondona claimed the Australians agreed to remove them, something they deny.

"Don;t mess with me anymore!” Maradona told newspaper Clarin. ”This confirms how gaga [Grondona] is. There are certain limits and I will not tolerate anything he has been saying. That's enough! This will now continue through the courts.”

“This is a 'Maradoniana' fight with someone who is gaga says bullshit things and does not want to relinquish (the) power." Maradona’s lawyer Dr. Alejandro Sánchez Kalbermatten told radio station FM Identidad: "We will go strong against Grondona. We have evidence that means as the case goes on and he could go to jail.

"We will focus on everything that he has said about Maradona. He has wronged him, slandered him and discriminated him. Grondona has a partnership with lots of fraudulent economic and personal interests between himself and his entourage of corrupt employees.

"We have the accounts where they have deposited the amounts used. It's all proven."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/foo...orruption.html

[Peter R]

Paul this is just another example of English badmindedness...look who write the article... you dont get it by now? don't you see this is just the English trying to hit back at FIFA? Triesman or one a dem set Maradona up to this...

after reading the comments on both sides on this issue, it is much clearer to me why we Caribbean people are in such dire political straits... if we FEEL we can't control it (bad behaviour) we accept it as the norm. We then set the bar at what we consider to be the "correct" level (which is WAAAYYY below the accepted level with anyone having a modicum of incorruptibility in them would)and then everything else is measured by that. So what if a senior administrator in the Caribbean has been shown to be enriching himself and family from his ties with the FIFA family (since the late 80s), we sit back and accept the occasional juicy bones thrown at us because we are lapdogs and you know what, if it wasn't for him we wouda be much worse off (yeah right)... so it's okay for him to do what he does with impunity...and if him get ketch is not him fault...blame it on the dyam Englishman dem cah a fi dem fault.. a dem create de house ni@@ah dat continue to feather his and his families nest to our (the larger footballing community) detriment... blasted English...at the root of all FIFA evil!

[Paul Marin]

Paul this is just another example of English badmindedness...look who write the article... you dont get it by now? don't you see this is just the English trying to hit back at FIFA? Triesman or one a dem set Maradona up to this...

after reading the comments on both sides on this issue, it is much clearer to me why we Caribbean people are in such dire political straits... if we FEEL we can't control it (bad behaviour) we accept it as the norm. We then set the bar at what we consider to be the "correct" level (which is WAAAYYY below the accepted level with anyone having a modicum of incorruptibility in them would)and then everything else is measured by that. So what if a senior administrator in the Caribbean has been shown to be enriching himself and family from his ties with the FIFA family (since the late 80s), we sit back and accept the occasional juicy bones thrown at us because we are lapdogs and you know what, if it wasn't for him we wouda be much worse off (yeah right)... so it's okay for him to do what he does with impunity...and if him get ketch is not him fault...blame it on the dyam Englishman dem cah a fi dem fault.. a dem create de house ni@@ah dat continue to feather his and his families nest to our (the larger footballing community) detriment... blasted English...at the root of all FIFA evil!

Pedro, the truth is that the English have their fair share of corruption in FIFA history. There are fairly credible claims that have been made on how they rigged the 1966 World Cup tournament with favorable referees etc. However, as I told our friend Gamma, England is a red herring. If we fans don't look beyond our noses and realize that there is mounting evidence that the sport's corruption runs far deeper than we realize - to a point where we can't trust results - then we are kidding ourselves. This is what this is all about - the custodians are lining their pockets while playing the rest of us as patsies.

Anyway, the other news of the day was that MAFIFA appointed a former FBI investigator to look into the bribery allegations against MBH and JW and have an increasing mountain of incriminating evidence. Even so, I personally was shocked and disappointed they didn't appoint a former MI5 agent especially since me hear Roger Moore looking for work (although him is MI6). I am keeping my fingers crossed that Jack will indeed unleash his "tsunami" as I get the feeling that he will be the fall guy in all of this. MBH may be too powerful with his connections to the Qatari royal family to throw under the bus. Ironically, the "victims" may be Jack and his old foe England (dem goose cook a'ready).

[Gamma]

or maradona tek the opportunity to nentilate his own grouse.....

was FIFA ever "uncorrupt"? was the mafia ever NOT a criminal organisation?

i think that FIFA needs to be able to operate beyond governments (is then you would si corruption) and the trade off is what is happening. FIFA is kinda like a benevolent dictator ... blatter set out to say that each continent will get to host a WC, he has pretty much made good on that, otherwise europe, and south america it would have been for every single WC.

[Peter R]

i agree that maradona might have his own axe to grind, but if Grondona is corrupt he should be exposed... if he isn't maradon should be exposed.

i hope you're not suggesting that since they've always been susceptible to some form of corruption that we should continue to accept that...

yes, they have delivered on spreading the game globally, i welcome that philosophically, on another level it has opened more avenues for the corrupt ones to enrich themselves...BTW the legacy of the WC in South Africa is still yet to be fully assessed.

[Gamma]

depends on who is doing the assessing and what is being assessed .....

i am saying FIFA needs autonomy in order to function at a level beyond governments and it needs to be vigilant enough to regulate itself.

football caused wars to cease so that games could be played...that would have been impossible if it was susceptible to direct government intervention. i like that about FIFA and want it to be maintained.

[Paul Marin]

i am saying FIFA needs autonomy in order to function at a level beyond governments and it needs to be vigilant enough to regulate itself.

Vigilant enough to regulate itself? Are you kidding me? FIFA has been around for 100+ years, tell me where in that period they have been able to "regulate themselves"? LOL!!! Good one!!! Governance won't be credible without external oversight.

[Paul Marin]

Vigilant enough to regulate itself? Are you kidding me? FIFA has been around for 100+ years, tell me where in that period they have been able to "regulate themselves"? LOL!!! Good one!!! Governance won't be credible without external oversight.

Note that "external oversight" <> "government oversight"

[Gamma]

THAT is funny! is that time you would si corruption not only that but BIG countries would dominate.

no thank you.

bobby mcmahon of FSN was on point with his entire analysis of the situation.

[Paul Marin]

THAT is funny! is that time you would si corruption not only that but BIG countries would dominate.

no thank you.

bobby mcmahon of FSN was on point with his entire analysis of the situation.

I think you misunderstand. I am saying that I don't want government oversight either, but external oversight is warranted and has a place, especially in an organization that is known to be corrupt, otherwise, no one will ever (except you maybe) believe that they are clean.

As I see it, the process would be akin to an external audit function. FIFA's one country one vote system has already taken care of the big country dominance issue, now they need to focus on putting systems of checks and balances in place with enough transparency and oversight (both internal and external) for them to be credible.

Send me a link to what Bobby McMahon's assessment.