Soccer official Velappan makes ´desert´ jibe

Gaffe-prone former top Asian Football Confederation official Peter Velappan was forced to apologise after telling the AFC president to go home “to the desert.”

The remark at a press conference, in which Velappan was critical of Qatari AFC chief Mohamed bin Hammam, drew the ire of Arab journalists, who condemned it as racist.

Velappan, who was the AFC’s secretary-general for 30 years, was asked to retract the comment, with former AFC official Mohamed Awada leading the demands.

“I come from the desert and that is an insult to us,” said Lebanon’s Awada, the organisation’s former press officer.

Velappan issued a statement of apology.

“I also want to express my most heartfelt regret to all member associations of the AFC as well,” said the Malaysian, who has come out of retirement to drum up support for Bin Hammam’s challenger, Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa.

Bahrain’s Sheikh Salman is looking to unseat Bin Hammam from his FIFA executive committee seat in a bitter battle that has been marked by mud-slinging.

The AFC’s 46 member nations will vote on the matter at their Congress here on Friday.

Velappan, who retired in 2006, is renowned for firing from the hip.

He was famously forced to apologise in 2004 for blasting Chinese fans and questioning whether Beijing should host the 2008 Olympics.

Velappan denied that he wanted to unseat Bin Hammam so that he could return to AFC House.

“I am 74 years old. Fifty-eight years of my life has been in football. You think I’m crazy to want another position in football,” he said.

“I am doing this (campaigning against Bin Hammam) because many of my friends asked me to do it. I am doing it for Asian football.

“Bin Hammam must disappear on Friday. My heart cries after having established the organisation. Why go and destroy it … because of the greed and ambition of one man.

“So on 8th May, on his birthday, he should return to the desert.”