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Four Corners: Sept 12

Four Corners investigates the money spent on our failed FIFA World Cup bid and possible conflicts of interest.

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If you are any kind of fan of the FIFA World Cup then set your eyes on Monday night’s episode of Four Corners, when it investigates our failed bid to stage the event, the money spent and whether there were conflicts of interest.

When Frank Lowy took over the administration of football in Australia he wanted the game to compete with AFL, Rugby Union and Rugby League. His dream was to host the World Cup itself in Australia. Four Corners reporter Quentin McDermott investigates the strategy and the people used by Football Federation Australia (FFA) in its failed bid to win the right to host the biggest sporting event on the globe. Talking to insiders who have never spoken at length about the World Cup bid, he asks how $42 million of taxpayers’ money was spent to win just one vote from football’s international governing body FIFA.

The program raises questions about how taxpayers’ funds were spent during the bid, and asks whether the consultants employed to run the bid strategy were good value for money. Were there conflicts of interest at work? It also looks at the lobbying of FIFA Executive Committee members, some of whom were subsequently banned or suspended for alleged corruption over their dealings with other bidding nations.

The program also raises questions about the role played by AusAID in Australia’s World Cup bid.

While millions of taxpayers’ dollars have been lavished on the failed bid, domestic clubs have struggled, several surviving only because wealthy owners have been able to inject millions of dollars of their own private funds just to keep the clubs afloat. Now, the FFA has requested millions more to help it stage the Asian Cup in 2015.

As Frank Lowy comes up for re-election as Chairman of FFA, the Federal Government is taking a long, hard look at the governance and structure of football, and football fans and clubs are asking, can football survive in its present form, led by its current team of administrators?

Monday 12th September at 8.30pm on ABC1.

4 Responses

  2. They would have been better off if they had just divided the money into 42 bags and left it at the doors of 42 Executive Committee members.

    I thought we’d moved on from the days of Soccer Australia but we’ve taken a step back under the financial mismanagement of Ben Buckley and his cronies. That $42 mil would have had a real benefit if it had been spent locally instead of having some of the teams in the national comp fold or be propped up by the private funds of some benefactor.

    In the words of a show which has recently been given the kiss of life – Ben, it’s time to go.

  4. As a fan of football i will be watching with great interest.
    Perhaps Four Corners can do a show of the millions of tax payers money wasted on a stupid car race held in Melbourne each year.

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