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 Back in 2011, with Trinidadian Jack Warner still at the helm of the
governing body for soccer in North and Central America and the
Caribbean, CONCACAF's deliberations were held in a chain hotel in
downtown Miami and were closed to the media.
On Thursday, football officials from the 41 member nations gathered
in the up-market Vegas style, Atlantis resort on Paradise Island in
the Bahamas, with media invited in.
There was a giant video screen that displayed professionally
produced updates on CONCACAF's activities and youthful CONCACAF
staffers in branded uniform buzzed around, assisting the
proceedings.
But while the new CONCACAF, led by the personable Jeffrey Webb,
looks very different to the rather shabby organization led by
Warner, the politics of the organization proved to be remarkably
similar.
The formalities had barely been dealt with before the first of 10
federation representatives began their eulogies to FIFA president
Sepp Blatter, whose organization has faced numerous allegations of
corruption in the past four years.
It was a familiar scene to anyone who had witnessed CONCACAF
representatives at FIFA congresses under Warner.
Throughout Blatter's reign, the region has been a rock-solid
stronghold for the FIFA president, with the Caribbean nations in
particular loyal supporters.
It was the very same process of a FIFA election that led to Warner's
downfall four years ago when he organized a private meeting between
the Qatari challenger to Blatter, Mohammed Bin Hammam, in Port of
Spain and evidence emerged of brown envelopes stuffed with $40,000
being handed out to Caribbean officials.
Many of those in the room were the same faces that voted as a block
under Warner's strong man rule and a good number of them had been
implicated in the cash-for-votes scandal.
Sat on the podium was CONCACAF's Jamaican vice-president Captain
Horace Burrell who was suspended for three months from all
football-related activities by FIFA following their investigation
into the Port of Spain meeting.
The most remarkably sycophantic speech in support of Blatter came
from Osiris Guzman of the Dominican Republic, who was banned from
the sport for 30 days and fined by FIFA. It was Guzman who spoke of
Blatter in the same terms as historical figures such as Moses, Jesus
Christ and Nelson Mandela.
The current president of the Caribbean Football Union Gordon
Derrick, who the day before had held his own mini-congress, had also
been reprimanded and fined in the same 2011 case.
Four years ago, according to Warner, Blatter offered CONCACAF
delegates an extra one million in FIFA funding.
This time Blatter offered their region an extra place in the World
Cup.
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OTHER CANDIDATES
As speaker after speaker hailed Blatter, the three other candidates
for the FIFA presidency, all sat in the hall and listened -- they
could do little else.
All three had asked for the opportunity to outline their ideas for
the future of FIFA and all were been denied that chance.
"I asked President Webb three weeks ago in writing if I was allowed
to address the congress and that request was turned down," said
Dutch FA chief Michael van Praag.
In contrast, at UEFA's congress in March, all four candidates had
been given the chance to make an address.
Prince Ali bin al-Hussein looked on in dismay as the speeches
continued and it was too much for former Portugal international Luis
Figo who afterwards said: "When some speak and others are silenced,
democracy and football lose".
Until Thursday, Webb had been careful to present himself as
impartial in the election process but he could barely contain his
delight at the pro-Blatter interventions saying they had sent a
"clear message".
CONCACAF then held their own internal elections but for every single
post, including Webb's position as president, there was only one
candidate.
There was not even a show of hands as all candidates were elected by
'acclamation'.
Not all in CONCACAF support Blatter but those delegates known to be
privately in favor of change in FIFA were reluctant to talk on the
record, several responding to questions about the congress with
shakes of the head or laughter.
A lot has changed in CONCACAF over the last four years and their
events and tournaments are certainly more professionally organized
and promoted and their grassroots work is worthy.
But when it comes to their politics in FIFA not much appears to have
changed since the days of Warner.
(Editing by Sudipto Ganguly)
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