Blazer sacked, saved and sacked again

Chuck Blazer’s sacking from CONCACAF has been confirmed once more, hours after he was initially relieved from his duties at the federation.

In the latest bizarre twist of a simply surreal saga, Blazer has been given his marching orders for the second time in less than six hours, after an email – allegedly sent by Blazer himself – had seemingly seen the 66-year-old saved from the axe as the federation’s general secretary.

Blazer, a member of FIFA’s executive committee, was sent a letter by CONCACAF temporary president Lisle Austin on Tuesday telling him he was no longer required at the federation.

The sacking came less than a week after Blazer accused Asian Football Federation president Mohammed bin Hammam and FIFA vice-president Jack Warner of corruption.

But just hours after news surfaced that Blazer was sacked, CONCACAF released a statement saying he had been re-instated and that Austin did not have the power to remove him.

The bizarre situation was exacerbated when Austin released a statement which rubbished the media release from the federation, and said legal advice was sought before Blazer’s removal.

“I have been made aware of a statement from CONCACAF Media Relations purporting that my actions to terminate Chuck Blazer as General Secretary in my capacity as President (Ag) of CONCACAF were unauthorized,” Austin said in a statement.

“It is instructive to note that the authority of the President to terminate Mr. Blazer rests in the CONCACAF Statutes and was taken after legal advice had been sort.”

“Article 29 of the CONCACAF Statutes states: “The President has the judicial and extrajudicial representation of CONCACAF. Moreover, the Executive Committee has no authority to convene a meeting without having the said meeting called and chaired by the President as articulated by Article 29 which confirms that “The President shall preside over the meetings of the Congress, of the Executive Committee, of the Emergency Committee and of the Committees.”

“The presence of four Executive Committee members in the hotel room of Mr. Blazer does not constitute an Executive Committee meeting.”

“The response from the CONCACAF Media Relations is not only the fruit of illegal actions on the part of Mr. Blazer who is no longer the General Secretary, but is tantamount to trespassing since, the unauthorized use of CONCACAF’s services and equipment by non-CONCACAF staff is unlawful.”

“I can assure you that this is my final statement on this matter, I will not allow myself or this organization to (be) dragged into a tit for tat war in the public domain. The reputation of this organization has suffered immensely over the last two weeks.”

“In my earlier statement, I called on the membership to heal the wounds my hope is that we can once again look upon each other without mistrust or prejudice. Our Confederation has suffered and let us move toward a brighter future from this moment.”