Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Bribing Sepp Blatter

"I'm shocked, shocked, that there is corruption going on here!" ~ Sepp Blatter
"Your daily five figure bribe, sir." ~ FIFA concierge
"Oh, thank you." ~ Sepp Blatter

My apologies to the late, great actor Claude Rains for playing around with his dialogue from Casablanca. Unlike the former FIFA head, Captain Louis Renault had some scruples.


The FIFA Women's World Cup is being held here in Canada this year, in six cities across the country: Moncton, New Brunswick, Montreal, Quebec, here in Ottawa, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Edmonton, Alberta, and Vancouver, British Columbia. The tournament got underway over the weekend, with 24 teams from around the world. The Ottawa games are being played at Lansdowne Park. Oddly, one of FIFA's rules mean that the brain trust behind the Ottawa Sports And Entertainment Group (otherwise known as the Usual Suspects) have to remove or conceal any logos for companies not associated with the event. Given that the stadium is called TD Place (thanks for nothing, tacky corporate branding), and given that the TD bank is not involved in this whole thing, all those TD logos have been hidden away, including the huge one on the wood screen on the back of the stadium. FIFA and World Cup banners have taken their place for the time being.


I took these shots of the stadium over a couple of different days last week. Last minute work was being done to prepare the stadium for the event.



42 comments:

  1. How exciting to have these games in your back yard! I would love to see a game live!

    Janis
    GDP

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  2. The stadium looks great and you can't be more right about corporate branding. Funny that the bank haf to withdraw its logo in the end...

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  3. The Fifa scandal was the daily headline in England in May. Blatter impressed me as the kind of guy who thought he was untouchable despite the obvious. Bye bye, Blatter.

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  4. I have not seen tulips anywhere ...What happened ...? (just kidding).

    Tomás.

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  5. Don't worry, FIFA doesn't really care about women's football. It's just to keep up appearances that ladies sports are interesting to them, there's not enough money in it for any worthwhile bribery.

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  6. It's a huge stadium William so I'll be watching out to see if it's televised here in Australia.

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  7. It is the first time a Dutch women team is joining the world games. Those rules from Fifa for stadiums are insane. The whole Fifa organisation is insane I think.

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  8. I can remember when soccer, well, just a game played with a ball. :-)

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  9. Hahaha, funny quotes.
    That's a beautiful photos of the stadium. The red color on the seating area and green turf look nice and bright!

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  10. I had to enlarge the 3rd photo, William, at first I thought they are red tulip fields :)
    Seriously..., the stadium looks great, but for which reason are the seats red ?

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  11. Oh pahlaese, don't start me on soccer and FIFA...

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  12. kind of funny to have to hide the 'namesake' brand. :)

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  13. I am not a real fan and supporter of football anymore, like I was in the 80's and 90's. I'm a little sick and tired of all nasty deals in Fifa, but I will try to follow our orange ladies during this tournament. I have missed the first match of our ladies, because 3:00 o'clock in the morning is way too early for me (or too late, it's just the way you look at it). I hope too see Netherlands-Canada on Monday/Tuesday at 1:30. It would be nice to see them play in this stadium. I like your photos of it.

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  14. that's a nice stadium! fifa was in the news here but we don't follow soccer so i don't really know what was going on!

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  15. @Janis: admittedly I've never understood the fascination with soccer/football.... let alone why it inspires fans to riot.

    @VP: I wonder if they're going to demand a month's extension to their branding agreement with OSEG.

    @Oakland: the corruption in this organization and the IOC is reprehensible. I have been following the story.

    @Tomas: it was time to move on!

    @Halcyon: that is true. Canada was the only one putting in a bid for this one, which speaks volumes of FIFA's priorities. While they award the men's games to dictatorships.

    @Dianne: I know a couple of Canadian networks are carrying all of the games.

    @Jen: thanks!

    @Marianne: and eminently corrupt.

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  16. @Revrunner: the game's changed, and not for the better.

    @Tamago: in a lot of ways, it's a brand new stadium, particularly the south side stands, which were completely rebuilt.

    @Karl: I'm not sure- it could be team colours for the CFL team that plays here, but I may be wrong.

    @Ciel: it's ridiculous, but at least for a month this place can't get referred to as that corporate brand.

    @Tex: I'm sure the high executives at the bank dislike the lack of advertising.

    @Jan: the hours can be strange- I know some of the games are evening games, while others are afternoon games, and given the size of our countries and the multitude of time zones, that can really add up. The final game is in Vancouver, which is three hours behind us.

    @Sharon: so am I.

    @Tanya: I don't follow it either, but I've been paying attention as of late. This is the first tournament since that corruption story broke. While the organization needs to be held to account, hopefully the athletes do get some attention.

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  17. Fifa is a sad situation where an organization gets too powerful and then misuses that power. Yes, I know I should put this in much stronger terms. Maybe they will clear out some of the scum. they won't get it all. there are too many slippery creeps in fifa.

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  18. Too bad FIFA and personnel is corrupt.
    I liked it when stadiums had meaningful names not after who put up the most money. Free advertizing for them. Harumpf!
    MB

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  19. For how long is FIFA known for corruption? Suddenly it seems "the wheel has been discovered"! Well, better late than ever, right? The icing on the cake is the choice of Qatar to house the 2016 Championship... Do you know 1,200 migrant workers have already died so far on the construction of the stadiums?

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  20. It's the 2022 World Cup, not 2016... Sorry!

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  21. So FIFA has more power than one of our banks? I bet the TD is being reimbursed in some fashion.

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  22. I have relatives watching the games avidly, but I'm not much of a sports buff. I didn't even know they were being played in Canada. Maybe we'll watch a little of it just for the atmosphere!

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  23. Hubby and I watch the soccer now with the girls. We watched the guys soccer for weeks. .

    I really like soccer. Our boys played soccer. My Grandsons played rugby and football. And hockey. Nice photos of Stadium.

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  24. I doubt I'll ever get into soccer. I'm biased against it because of all the soccer-playing brats in our apartment complex.

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  25. Most of the states in Brazil prohibit alcohol at the stadiums to prevent violence, but last year, during the world cup, laws had to be changed temporarily because beer companies sponsored the championship.

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  26. Looks like a wonderful venue for the event, although not something I would be watching.

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  27. I agree with Linda, looks like a great venue. Good luck with the whole thing I hope it al goes smoothly...

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  28. @Red: it is a frustrating organization.

    @MB: in its previous incarnation, this stadium was named after a renowned CFL coach. It would have been better leaving it that way.

    @Birdman: thanks!

    @Jose: I've heard the death toll totals for Qatar construction to be even higher.

    @RedPat: it wouldn't surprise me.

    @Cheryl: I imagine some of my relatives will be watching, particularly the Canada and Netherlands game.

    @Carolann: thank you!

    @Norma: I still find it strange that people get so caught up in the sport to the point that they'll kill the fan of another team.

    @Luiz: that is a solution, anyway. People are less likely to bludgeon a guy on the other side if they're sober.

    @Linda: it's not for me either.

    @Geoff: it ought to, anyway. The local organizers have thus far been on top of things.

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  29. we've been watching this, the games and following all the corruption press. Nothing surprises me with FIFA................

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  30. I like watching soccer, but don't get the chance very often. My grandson likes to play and of course I go to his games.

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  31. I am not at all a sports fan...but I do love watching the professional bowlers. Nice captures, William. :)

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  32. ((Sigh....)) Is there anything that isn't corrupt these days??

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  33. Corruption seems to be almost de rigueur these days. Sad, isn't it?

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  34. I had never heard of FIFA until a few weeks ago. But then soccer is not a sport we care much about in the U.S. I saw the head honcho resigned but I guess corruption is so deeply entwined, his departure won't have much impact.

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  35. Beautiful stadium William, you got super shots here to show us. Wonder if top sport has ever been straight up?

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  36. The removal of the logo associated with the stadium seems so petty. Get on with the game for goodness sake. A grand entrance to the stadium.

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  37. Spanish National football team is participating in its first women world cup.

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  38. @Gill: as I don't watch the game, I wonder how it all went, if the event ran smoothly.

    @Randy: I've gotten used to the stadium over time. For the most part I like it. I'm more or less resigned to the retail that's on the site, though I still wish that things had gone in a different direction.

    @Lois: some people really get into the sport. I know our Canadian women's team is very good at it.

    @Linda: thank you.

    @Kay: definitely not FIFA.

    @EG: that's true.

    @Lowell: it's true that soccer is more beloved outside of North America.

    @Grace: probably not.

    @Gemma: organizations can be profoundly protective of their corporate sponsors having rights to have their stuff displayed, even at the expense of those sponsors whose presence at a site is a regularity.

    @MDP: I wonder when the next one will be held in Canada. There was a multinational volleyball tournament held at this place on the past weekend.

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