The Kick Project

Our latest article, run on the Sport and Development website, on the peace potential in the dispute between Israeli settlers and the Palestinian Football Association. "It's disappointing FIFA has so far chosen not to lead on the issue of Israeli settlement teams playing in Palestinian West Bank. This is a real opportunity for the beleaguered overseer to take a stance, especially as it appears doing so would simply be by enforcing its own rules..."( more )....

We watched the FIFA Extraordinary Congress on Friday night our time. We saw the speeches. We watched the votes being cast in those odd little tents. We watched the glad handing. We sensed the deals. As Australians we had our own small role, as our own David Gallop from the FFA acted as a scrutineer, shuffling bits of green ballot paper like playing cards. We were surprised by the results (only 4 votes for Prince Ali bin Al Hussein?..None for Champagne?.....). But, did we like what we saw, what we heard? Simple answer: Yes and No. Not really so simple. First, the positives. The fact that FIFA has been forced to look into itself and to accept the verdict of the people on the disastrous impact of the Havelange-Blatter era has to be good. The solid vote in favour of the reform process is a favourable result. The very reason for the meeting is the resignation of Sepp Blatter after he was elected with the usual insult to democratic process. His step down is a victory for the game. ...

Pic.Reuters.com We just received an update from FIFA on how the football body proposes to regain credibility after what it says were "the difficult challenges of the past year." As the linked video above shows, the body aims to delineate its reforms into four areas: Governance, Transparency, Accountability and Diversity. It also seeks to overhaul the structure at the heart of the organisation. Part of this is the use of "fully independent" processes in areas like remuneration and eligibility for the new 36-member Council. On first glance, it's a PR response to a cultural problem. They are using all the right terms and buzzwords, but how these noble goals will be actualised seems to remain a grey area. For us, two areas stand out. Firstly, there is an avowed commitment to honour human rights in all areas, including programs and funding, sponsorship and commercial deals. This appears promising. But this is unlikely to go beyond national laws in ...

Pic: Daily Mail We at The Kick Project take girls playing sport very seriously. We reckon both girls and boys can gain significant benefits playing organised sports. Increasing the numbers of girls in sport, in particular, is a vital goal for the well-being and health of not only the feminine half of the population, but to all society as a whole. While we respect all cultures, we are often disappointed that some cultures frown on women and girls playing - or even watching - sport. Our position is that we respectfully disagree with that position. But part of the problem we - and other like-minded organisations - face, is that there are too few positives to point to, even if the seemingly "liberal" western world. One case which has come to prominence lately has been here in our home country of Australia. Australian Example The Australian women's football (soccer) team, known as The Matildas recently went on strike, refusing to play unless better pay and condit...

With news that FIFA bigwigs Sepp Blatter, Michel Platini and Jerome Valcke have been "red carded" by FIFA and will have to sit out the next three months, it looks like finally the dead wood is being pruned at the world game HQ. However, worse may be yet come. What can be done to get the people's game back to the people? The current danger is that as the poison is leeched from FIFA, nothing will be left. If corruption is as rife as many - including us here at The Kick Project - believe then more will be shown the door and still more, aware that the gravy train has terminated, will move on voluntarily. The result may well be a vacuum at the heart of the world's most valuable sport. The immediate consequences of this may be no Confederation Championships and no World Cup in three years time or beyond. That's bad enough, but the real concern is who or what will fill this void. There are essentially three likely outcomes. One, would be to hand FIFA over to e...

While The Kick Project welcomes the  decision to remove ex-FIFA Vice-President  and head of CONCACAF, Jack Warner from any official role in the world football family, we would caution that this is not enough. While Mr Warner appears to have dragged the game through the mud in the quest for personal aggrandisement, we feel his story should not be allowed to act as a diversion nor should he be a sacrificial lamb. By all accounts, FIFA corruption goes deeper than even Mr Warner's voluminous pockets. FIFA claims that "In his positions as a football official, he was a key player in schemes involving the offer, acceptance, and receipt of undisclosed and illegal payments, as well as other money-making schemes," But Mr. Warner took himself out of FIFA four years ago and resigned all his official positions. It's no surprise he is non-plussed by the ban. He is  reported to have said on Facebook , "if in September 2015 (some 4 years and 5 months after) the FIFA wants ...

Well, the news hounds at The Kick Project have been out of the loop a little lately. But, after a break, Caught Our Eye is back. FIFA Presidential Race Gets Ever Murkier PROGRAM INFO Gaza: One Woman's Plea for Gaza to be Noticed Gaza:Children Forced to Work to Help Broken Families Rohingya in Malaysia: New Book Gives Children's View of Persecution REFUGEES Germany Calls for More EU Intakes as Refugee Influx Balloons-Critics Consider Walls FOOTBALL FOR PEACE US Tournament Brings Young People Together, Including Those from Areas of Conflict

One year on from the escalation of violence in Gaza and things are still looking very sour.  A news quote from Save the Children CEO Paul Ronalds is pertinent: "Save the Children is urging Australia and other nations to use their diplomatic influence to promote the lifting of the blockade to allow the entry of essential humanitarian aid and enable the rebuilding of homes and schools, and support a return to some level of normality for the many distressed children in Gaza.” The Kick Project is still working hard to take a program to Gaza. But, these plans have been re-scheduled for various reasons. Mainly, the program has proved to be a little more complicated than we had anticipated and we have re-focussed on plans for our Rohingya program in Malaysia. We feel that at this early stage of our development as a not for profit organisation we need to build more critical mass in our funding and our management infrastructure before launching into Gaza. We are wary of wast...

Pic:Lockerdome.com A good friend of The Kick Project, Jared Genser, founder of the human rights activist group Freedom Now, alerted us to this piece he co-wrote with well-known Chinese dissident Yang Jianli, in the Wall Street Journal, on the sometimes fraught relationship between big sporting events and human rights. It's an issue that's dear to our hearts here, especially given the plight of migrant workers employed to help construct the facilities for the Qatar World Cup in 2022 (the same year as the Beijing Winter Olympics) It's Important reading. Let's hope it focusses more attention on the negative impacts of big sport in relation to human rights and social justice so as to better harness the many positive outcomes sport can generate. BEIJING OLYMPIC SCANDAL REDUX August 7, 2015 Beijing has been selected to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, making it the first city tapped to host both the Summer and Winter Games. In deciding this, the Internationa...

Pic: latestonsports.com This week, with the Women's World Cup reaching the pointy end, some insights into women and football, and sport in general.* And, finally, a comment on the Palestine v Israel dispute at the latest FIFA Congress. Sport and Women Girls Tackle Stereotypes (And Each Other) in US Football League How FIFA Discriminates Against the Women's World Cup (possibly for the better...) Is Women in Sport a Feminist Issue? Pic: Zimbio.com Women's Star May Have Violent Past Female EPL Club Owner Shows Men How its Done Culture Must Change for Women's Game Prejudice Still Exists Norway's Team Takes a Shot at Detractors....By Laughing at Them Power of Sport This Young Girl Collapses Every Race, But She Keeps Racing Comment: On May 29, The FIFA Congress saw the culmination in the campaign by the Palestinian Football Federation to give the Israeli federation the red card, by kicking them out of FIFA on charges of player discrim...

Are we going the right way? My comment on FIFA and The World Game which ran in today's Courier Mail (Brisbane's main newspaper for those outside the country). It's pay-walled for some reason but here's the full version anyway.  Click on the link if you like it to make your interest known. Note, while this article concentrates on Messrs Blatter and Al-Hussein, two other candidates are running.  " A pparently, the big wigs of the World Game are in town for the Asian Cup. At least two major contenders for this year's FIFA presidential elections, Sepp Blatter and Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein, are here courting support, making deals, shmoozing and maybe even watching a game. Given our fair land is the first battle field of this vital moment in the future of the game, I thought I might take the opportunity to have a word in their ear. Sepp, Ali, lean in. Now, even within its first few days, Asian Cup watchers have witnessed the magic football can mak...

Pic: Ottawacitizen.com Recently, a game between North Korea and Finland became a political - yep - football. During the FIFA Women's Under-20 World Cup in Canada, fans of Korean unification turned out to support the DPRK, aka North Korea, and to show their unbiased approach to the coming together of the two Koreas,  separated after the Korean War 60 years ago. This was intended to make a non-violent statement, using the peaceful focal point of football as the vehicle. All well and good you might say. Not for FIFA. As you can read here in this eyewitness account, a FIFA official moved in and shut the support down.  The official cited FIFA regulations which require there to be no political statements in a FIFA sanctioned game. This looks to be a can of worms, allowing hypocritical applications of the rule to suit common or accepted prejudices. For instance, women are not permitted to attend many games in the Middle East (I recall a Socceroos World Cup qualifier ...

FIFA has announced a new children's health initiative in Burma. Part of the new awakening in Burma. Shame FIFA won't do a proper health check on itself...just saying... More here

With so much ado about FIFA's risible descent into farce, there's a lot of accusations and blame being thrown around. While it's fair to say FIFA and its head-honchos have stuffed up big time, many are also casting a jaundiced eye over those who have dipped into the FIFA trough and who would likely benefit from the status quo. Among them are the 180 or so national football associations who failed to join the English FA and others standing for ethics and call for a cessation of the entire voting process - including for the latest World Cup votes - pending a complete review of the corruption allegations (although the FA, to be fair, has a vested interest in having a recount on the World Cup bid as it may have a chance of winning it this time). Among them, I'm sorry to say, is the Australian FFA, rightly lambasted by former player and now commentator Craig Fozzie Foster in the local Australian press (and on his TV spots) on the weekend for falling into line and disgr...

This very good piece from the BBC is a great backgrounder to FIFA's current traipse through the mud of its own making. Highly recommended listening for football fans everywhere. As a not for profit in football, not unlike FIFA in some aspects at its founding, we at The Kick Project are very wary that becoming too tethered to sponsorships and revenue streams can damage our culture irrevocably, as well as, ultimately, that of our sponsors. It serves no longer term purpose of any positive nature. Easy (and appropriate) to be critical of those involved, but let's take the moment for what it is: an opportunity to learn from past mistakes. Lessons for us all here I think.

When I first heard that Qatar has won the 2022 World Cup, I admit I thought it was all over. The World Cup as a magical, beautiful and uniting event was, in 2022, to be run through the mud of vested interests, corrupt decision-making and the special insanity of money over morals. I still feel that to some extent. But this article gives me hope.  It is true that the first Arab World Cup may indeed be a means not only to promote Arab culture in general but can unite the Arab world and allow it to rise to the potential it offered during Europe's Dark Ages, when it effectively ruled the world in cultural sophistication. We can only hope the organisers and FIFA move the event in such a direction.

Apropos the previous post on The Kick Project. Not surprising that questions are being asked. If bin Hammam has any brains he won't be playing these kinds of games. You just dont get away with tricks like this these days... Critics Blast FIFA support for Burmese regime crony "Chiang Mai (Mizzima) - Members of Burma's opposition ctiticised FIFA President Sepp Blatter and the organisation's general secretary Jerome Valcke for visiting Burma this week at the invitation of Myanmar Football Federation President Zaw Zaw..."( more ) Thomas Maung Shwe Mizzima March 17, 2011  

Memo to Mr Blatter: Football has great social influence. Your job is to see that it is used wisely. Sincerely The Kick Project Enough said. FIFA and Burma: the beautiful game It's a match to conjure with: FIFA president Sepp Blatter and the Burmese generals. An unaccountable regime, long dogged by allegations of corruption, mismanagement of resources, and arbitrary decision making. And then of course there are the Burmese....( more ) Tim Johnston The Financial Times March 18, 2011 Picture credit: Christian Science Monitor

FIFA vice-president Prince Ali bin Hussein, half-brother of Jordan's King Abdullah II, plans to introduce "new work ethics" in Asia, he told AFP in an interview on Thursday. "We want to introduce new work ethics, not ones based on coming from above, but through working hand in hand with the national associations," said Prince Ali, who on January 6 unseated South Korean Chung Mong-Joo as FIFA vice-president. "This is very crucial because sometimes when it comes to work and development and football, they will take a model, let's say a European model, and they want to implement it completely on the continent." The prince has become the youngest member of the FIFA executive committee at the age of 35 after rallying Arab support behind him. "We have different countries, different societies, different economic backgrounds," he said. "We have to build things on a case-to-a-case basis. We want to fulfill that," he added, calling...