Trophy vs Tournament

So we didn’t get the World Cup and, instead of the England bid, which FIFA admitted was technically, financially and security-wise the best, the 2018 World Cup was awarded to Russia, where it is difficult to grow grass and where corruption is rife!

But this is not sour grapes; I simply wanted to point out that there is always a problem when one culture meets another.  It reminded me of many years ago when a large IT company was selling computers to slightly dodgy countries.  At one point, so it was rumoured, it accepted payment for a mainframe computer with a container ship loaded with grain.  Eventually it stopped selling to those countries as the things it needed to do to secure the business did not sit well with its “whiter than white” corporate image.  So the result was that other companies sold to those countries instead.  But at least the company could hold its head high – or at least it could until it got done for passing bribes to US officials!

The reality is that corruption exists everywhere.  In our own country we have just had the MPs expenses scandal and before that the cash for honours debacle.  We may have a “free press” but that does not prevent it from being biased, opinionated and harmful in other ways.

So instead of moaning about how unfair and corrupt it all is, let’s get over the fact that we haven’t won the tournament and instead concentrate on winning the trophy.