Chuck Blazer told everyone who asked that his idol was Joao Havelange. Both worked hard for football, and that deserves to be acknowledged, yet both bent it into a game of self-enrichment. The goal became power and personal wealth, and while power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.
And not only in sport, but in politics, business and religion as well. Sepp Blatter, a man who should know (and who should know better), was fond of quipping that football could not expect to be immune to “the little devils of society”. True, but knowing he was supping with these little devils around the FIFA boardroom table, Blatter’s ultimate failure was in acquiescing, not acting.
CONCACAF funded his two private apartments. One he shared with his parrot, Max Blazer; the other, famously,…
