England 2018 bid chief slams ´unpatriotic´ BBC

The head of England’s 2018 World Cup bid on Wednesday slammed the BBC as “unpatriotic” over its plans to air a documentary about FIFA corruption just days before the vote to decide the tournament hosts.

The England 2018 bid had already written to members of FIFA’s 24-strong executive committee to distance themselves from British media reports which alleged officials had offered their votes for cash.

However England 2018 officials are incensed by the British Broadcasting Corporation’s decision to screen an edition of its Panorama programme three days before the December 2 World Cup vote in Zurich.

The programme is believed to focus on allegations of corruption which are nearly a decade old relating to FIFA’s former marketing partner ISL.

England bid chief Andy Anson said Wednesday he was “incredibly disappointed” with the timing of the Panorama episode.

“If they (the BBC) truly believe there’s a journalistic reason to run this Panorama — and that that’s their decision — then they could have done it at any time in the past two years,” Anson said.

“To do it the week before the vote is about one thing — sensationalism. I don’t think that’s helpful and I don’t think it’s patriotic.”

Anson has already visited BBC director general Mark Thompson to voice his concerns about the effect screening the programme may have on England’s bid.

“I didn’t ask him to do anything. All I said was ‘Here are the implications of doing it, or the potential implications. Here are the things that it might cause,'” Anson said. “He gave an articulate response about it.”

“I don’t think it’s very patriotic of the BBC to be doing this right now. They could have done this anytime in the past two years, or anytime in the next two years if the story is valid.”

Anson also offered a thinly veiled criticism of the involvement of investigative reporter Andrew Jennings in the Panorama episode.

Jennings, best known for his best-selling 1992 expose on corruption within the International Olympic Committee “The Lords of the Rings”, is a long-time critic of FIFA and its President Sepp Blatter.

“I think it’s a surprising choice. I’ll leave it at that,” Anson said.

A BBC spokesman told AFP: “The findings of the Panorama investigation into FIFA will be in the public interest.”

England, Russia and joint bids by Spain-Portugal and Netherlands-Belgium are in the running to host the 2018 World Cup, with Australia, the United States, Japan, Qatar, Russia and South Korea in contention for 2022.