French parliament discusses WCup fiasco
T&T Guardian.
PARIS—French legislators huddle behind closed doors to investigate an issue of national importance—not terrorism or recession, but the French football team’s meltdown at the World Cup. From taxi drivers to President Nicolas Sarkozy, France is taking the fiasco very close to heart and demanding answers—and defying a warning by Fifa that political power shouldn’t meddle with the sport.
For the French, this is about more than sports. It’s a blow to the national honour at a time when the country is already worried about its decline in the world. France finished the first round without a single victory, and the players went on strike and refused to train because forward Nicolas Anelka was sent home for insulting the coach. Then there was coach Raymond Domenech’s last gesture at the Cup: Refusing to shake hands with the rival coach after the final loss to South Africa.
Dubbed an “Affair of State” across front-page headlines for the past week, the debacle drove Sarkozy to summon an emergency meeting on French football, and Sports Minister Roselyne Bachelot to trash the French team in parliament. Sarkozy has also announced a national symposium next October to rethink how national football is run. That led Fifa president Sepp Blatter to warn France risks suspension from global tournaments if authorities intervene in the running of the national federation. Parliament doesn’t see it that way.
“It isn’t Fifa’s role to threaten French lawmakers; we’re in a democracy and parliamentarians have the right to hear anyone they want,” said lawmaker Eric Ciotti after France’s national assembly held a closed-door hearing with Domenech and federation president Jean-Pierre Escalettes on Wednesday.