The most surprising thing about the arrest of FIFA officials on corruption charges is that it finally happened. Anyone who has paid even a skerrick of attention to soccer's governing body over the years would see that there are deeply suspicious practices within the organisation. The 2018 and 2022 World Cup decisions, which to most observers seemed fairly obviously decided through means other than merit (particularly in the case of Qatar) seemed to push the majority into believing FIFA was very corrupt, rather than mildly so.
FIFA is hardly alone amongst sports governing bodies in terms of corruption or poor management charges, so much so that such things seem like the norm, rather than the exception.
We know that corruption is bad - otherwise, we would not call it corruption - and yet it seems to seep into sports so easily that we should really be asking if such things genuinely matter.
Consider the soccer World Cup. Or rather, the FIFA World Cup. FIFA, an organisation we know is corrupt, makes hundreds of millions of dollars from each of these events. It also earns millions more from all the other tournaments it runs, and from the bodies associated with it. It has unquestioned control over the biggest sport in the world. It is clear that the soccer-watching public care more about their sport than they do about the reputation of the body in charge of it.
Perhaps this is because the corruption doesn't appear to be directly affecting the game. While there are always murmurs of fixing for major sporting events, the reality is that the corruption in question tends to relate to things around the matches, not the matches themselves. For the average fan, this means it simply doesn't matter to them that much. Why should the average fan worry about who the vice president is when they can watch Lionel Messi carry Argentina to the final and be fairly certain that his doing so was legitimate?
Sports governing bodies do not own a sport, despite their efforts to do so. They run a business to make a profit, but most of the people in such organisations have a genuine interest in the sport they are running. The profits are meant to be put back into the game to raise its quality and quantity. Governing bodies are a necessary evil to ensure that a sport can run well and grow. In a way, they are like churches, evangelising a sport and ensuring its existing communities function well. Given the place sports take in the lives of many, this seems the most appropriate comparison, and perhaps also explain why cheating and corruption are so decried.
Ultimately, the governance of a sport runs almost parallel to sport itself. Professional sportsmen aim for a perfect performance. If you ask a coach like Ross Lyon about how his team performed on the weekend, the inevitable response will be that it was good, but there was room for improvement. There is always room for improvement. No sportsman can achieve a perfect performance, but it doesn't stop them from trying. It should be much the same with governance. The nature of humans means that perfect management is impossible, as there will always be someone, somewhere that looks out for themselves first. But we know what good governance is and we know that we like it, so we should always aim for it, and punish those who prevent it from happening.
For a governing body does not own a sport, but we the fans entrust them with representing it. The law represents us, so when they break the law they are breaking our trust. Let us hope that FIFA learns from this, even though many in the association may well believe that this does not affect them.
Corruption in sporting bodies may not be surprising, but it does genuinely matter.
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