Monthly Archives: October 2015

  The Winter of Our Discontent (1961) was John Steinbeck’s last novel. Steinbeck said that the wrote Discontent to address the moral degeneration of American culture during the 1950s and 60s. I am no John Steinbeck, and have never written a novel. However, I think chances are good that 2015 may in the future be looked upon as international sport’s Year of Discontent – a year in which the public began to become aware of deepening degeneration in governance in international sport. FIFA President Sepp Blatter Suspended In early October the FIFA Ethics Committee issued ninety (90) day suspensions to two of the most powerful men in international soccer, FIFA’s Swiss President Sepp Blatter and European soccer’s French President Michael Platini. Make no mistake, the elimination of Blatter and Platini from their powerful positions is permanent and a watershed moment that signals that the corruption that thoroughly permeated world soccer has finally eroded the once impregnable status of these former potentates of the beautiful game. Yet, for all its portent, last week’s action by FIFA should be met with a single question: “What took you so long?”