Sepp Threatens to Suspend Iraq

By: Ian Rose | May 25th, 2008

Considering all the horrible things that have taken place in Iraq over the past five years and before, administrative suspension probably isn’t the biggest worry of many in the country. But throughout the war, the occupation, and the insurgency, there has been national team football, and today FIFA head Sepp Blatter came out to draw a familiar line in the sand (Spain, anyone?) – Keep politics out of sport, or else.

The start of this was the decision earlier this month by the Iraqi government to disband the Iraqi Olympic Committee. Blatter and FIFA claim that this clearly defies FIFA rules about the interference of government in sporting matters. Iraqi officials, though, have replied that the decision was just part of a larger effort to streamline and restructure an extremely inefficient government. The Olympic Committee has apparently not had a necessary quorum in months, and so has been unable to vote or essentially do anything. When the committee failed to hold elections, thus ensuring that things would stay exactly as they are for the foreseeable future, the government took action. Whether going so far as to disband the committee was the correct action is up for debate. In my own opinion, you don’t fix a leaky pipe by blowing up the sink, and dismantling the committee was a rather poor solution for its problems.

More importantly, though, it would be a terrible shame if Iraq was left out of the Olympics and World Cup qualifying, as Blatter has threatened they might. It’s true that the country hardly has a great World Cup record, qualifying for only one tournament, in 1986, where they lost all three group stage matches. In this year’s qualifying group, they are last with one point from two matches. But recent successes, like the 2007 Asian Cup win and the 2006 Silver Medal at the Asian Games, have reinvigorated the side and its supporters. When the national team plays, it has a noticeable positive effect on the ground in Iraq, with people huddled around radios and TVs. As club football crowds have disappeared, the national side is really all that’s left of Iraq’s most popular sport. To lose that as well would be absolute heartbreak for a lot of people that have already had their share.