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 Gordon Derrick, president of the Caribbean Football Union, which
represents 31 of the countries within the 41 member CONCACAF, said
it would be unfair to stigmatize the entire region as a result of
the scandal.
CONCACAF, which administers the sport in North and Central America
and the Caribbean, is one of six regional bodies that make up FIFA,
but its last two presidents have both been indicted by U.S.
investigators.
Jack Warner headed CONCACAF for 21 years, until he quit in 2011
amidst "cash for votes" allegations. Warner, who has consistently
denied any wrongdoing, faces a series of charges, including
racketeering and bribery offences and is currently fighting an
attempt by the U.S. to extradite him from Trinidad and Tobago where
he is based.
His successor, Jeffrey Webb of the Cayman Islands, was arrested last
month in Switzerland and has agreed to be extradited to the United
States to face similar charges.
"I don't think there is a black eye on the Caribbean per se, or that
because these two (cases) happened back to back and therefore no-one
else can do it. I think that would be unfair,” Derrick told Reuters
in a telephone interview from Boston.
"Yes the confidence (in the Caribbean) will be down, but we are a
proud people from a proud area, who have ability; who can govern and
who are intelligent. So if someone from the Caribbean steps up, they
will step up and do well," he said.
In the absence of the suspended Webb, Alfredo Hawit of Honduras was
named interim president of CONCACAF until an election can be held at
its next congress.
Derrick declined to discuss whether he will stand in that election.
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The Antiguan said that those critical of the Caribbean should not
generalize and offered a reminder that one of the key figures in the
FIFA scandal, is CONCACAF's former general secretary Chuck Blazer,
who is American.
“Not everybody in the Caribbean is tainted. If you look at this
scandal, you look at who the big player is and what country did he
come from?
“It is not just the Caribbean, it is throughout. Regardless of where
you are … there are people who are not on the straight and narrow,
that doesn’t mean everybody in that country is the same way,” he
said.
Derrick himself was reprimanded and handed a fine of 300 Swiss
francs following a FIFA probe into a 2011 meeting in Port of Spain,
Trinidad, where Warner was alleged to have distributed cash to
Caribbean officials on behalf of Qatari Mohammed Bin Hammam, who was
seeking their votes as he stood against incumbent Sepp Blatter in
the election for FIFA president.
The CFU president denied any wrongdoing and said the small nature of
the fine meant FIFA would not accept an appeal against the ruling
which, he believes, would have cleared his name.
(Reporting By Simon Evans; Editing by Martin Howell)
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