John Oliver explains the World Cup and FIFA to Americans

[juice_terry]

http://m.huffpost.com/uk/entry/5471605?utm_hp_ref=uk-sport&ir=UK Sport

 

[grubby local]

very good. required viewing even. that 4,000 deaths figure on Qatar is just unbelievable gx

 

[skyscraper101]

Good piece. Last Week Tonight is one of the very few things worth watching now on TV in America.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Great video: a real eye opener.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Nobody's posting on this thread. Is everything Oliver's saying just common knowledge to Europeans?

 

[Dandred]

Pretty much.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

That FIFA crowd seem like a bunch of arrogant twats.

 

[DotCommunist]

Nobody's posting on this thread. Is everything Oliver's saying just common knowledge to Europeans?

even people who don't really follow football are well aware of how the world governing body for it are shameless grasping fucks

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

even people who don't really follow football are well aware of how the world governing body for it are shameless grasping fucks

TBH if you've got a vague grasp of what 'The World Cup' is and what 'Qatar' is then you're pretty much there.

 

[DotCommunist]

That FIFA crowd seem like a bunch of arrogant twats.

I have a vague theory- in america land the corruption and illegal betting having been so long a real money spinner for the mafia (the pre drug faves- protection, bookmaking, prostitution) that governing bodies for the big team sports are under greater scrutiny, actual oversight and consequences. So while it no doubt goes on, its a little less brazen. Who can call FIFA to account? the pope? the ghost of pele?

 

[Lo Siento.]

Nobody's posting on this thread. Is everything Oliver's saying just common knowledge to Europeans?

common knowledge to British people. A lot of people elsewhere give FIFA a bit of a pass because when the Brits ran FIFA they were even worse.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

I have a vague theory- in america land the corruption and illegal betting having been so long a real money spinner for the mafia (the pre drug faves- protection, bookmaking, prostitution) that governing bodies for the big team sports are under greater scrutiny, actual oversight and consequences. So while it no doubt goes on, its a little less brazen. Who can call FIFA to account? the pope? the ghost of pele?

Also, if I recall correctly, there were some prominent bribery/game-fixing scandals as early as the Twenties, with baseball [the name 'Shoeless Joe Jackson' comes to mind, might be wrong]. The public scandal and outrage was big enough that it's reverberated through organized sports in the US, to the present day.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/blacksox/blacksoxaccount.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sox_Scandal

 

[editor]

John Oliver is very, very good. All of these are worth watching.

 

[editor]

And another!

 

[Maltin]

Putin has repaid the compliment by suggesting that Baltter should be awarded a Nobel Prize.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/33684831