Rabbatts Resigns From FIFA Force

Heather Rabbatts thinks more should be done to reform FIFA

The pressure on Sepp Blatter has intensified after a second Football Association director resigned from a FIFA post and a long-serving executive committee member warned that he too is considering his future.

Heather Rabbatts, one of the FA's two independent directors, has resigned from FIFA's anti-discrimination task force following Blatter's re-election as president.

Rabbatts' said it was "unacceptable" that so little has been done to reform FIFA and that the latest corruption crisis was "disastrous" for the world governing body's reputation.

Press Association report continues:

Her action follows FA vice-chairman David Gill rejecting his place on the FIFA executive committee in protest at Blatter's election victory.

Meanwhile, FIFA's medical chief Michel D'Hooghe is considering his own future within the world governing body and is expected to make a decision following a UEFA meeting in Berlin ahead of the Champions League final.

UEFA president Michel Platini is not expected to go down the road of a World Cup boycott - for a start more than a quarter of the 53 associations did not back Blatter's rival Prince Ali of Jordan - but there could be actions taken over positions held by UEFA members.

Rabbatts had been a member of FIFA's anti-discrimination task force chaired by Jeffrey Webb, the FIFA vice-president from the Cayman Islands who was one of the seven officials arrested in Zurich on corruption charges last week.

In her resignation letter to FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke, a copy of which has been seen by Press Association Sport, Rabbatts says: "I am withdrawing with immediate effect from the FIFA task force against racism and discrimination.

"My willingness to play a part in the development of policies in this area is outweighed by the disastrous effect on FIFA's reputation of recent events.

"Like many in the game I find it unacceptable that so little has been done to reform FIFA and it is clear from the re-election of President Blatter that the challenges facing FIFA and the ongoing damage to the reputation of football's world governing body are bound to continue to overshadow and undermine the credibility of any work in the anti-discrimination arena and beyond."

The FIFA scandal was also raised in the House of Commons where Culture Secretary John Whittingdale said he had spoken to FA chairman Greg Dyke and the pair had agreed to keep all options on the table in an effort to end the "culture of kickbacks and corruption that risk ruining international football for a generation".

Amid calls for a boycott of the World Cup, Whittingdale told MPs the Government would do anything in its power to bring about change in FIFA.

D'Hooghe comments, meanwhile were made on Belgian television to talk show de Zevende Dag (Seventh Day), where he said: "I thought the tornado that struck FIFA would change some people's mind. That maybe happened to a minor extent, but clearly insufficient to create a new majority.

"I have been shouldering the medical responsibility at FIFA for 27 years, but cannot reconcile myself with the institution now I understand that there are a lot of corruption cases.

"My conclusion is clear: I no longer want to participate in this situation. It's high time that changes are made. If this atmosphere persists at FIFA, then I don't have a place in it. I'm going to wait (to see) what will happen in the next few days and what else will be revealed.

"If there is an abscess, that a bit of medication is not enough. You have to use the scalpel and cut it open. Blatter also said that it is his job to clean up and I want to see how he does it. I want the structure to be totally transparent."

In another development, the New Zealand barrister who quit FIFA's ethics committee earlier this year has raised concerns about the Garcia investigation into World Cup bidding.

Nicholas Davidson, QC, told the New Zealand Herald: "I was very frustrated I could not get the Garcia report. Investigators need to know the whole story, in my view.

"FIFA's investigation team is independent, determined and very capable. There are some matters which must be addressed to make it as effective as it needs to be. The perception of independence goes with the reality.

"At the heart of the FIFA building, FIFA-branded suits, in my view, are incompatible with that independence. ... Telecommunications must be fully secure and I had my reservations about that.

"There should be established protocols for engaging with federal and local investigation and enforcement agencies. I raised this at my first and only meeting in Zurich."

Later on Monday, CONCACAF general secretary Enrique Sanz was added to the list of individuals banned from football-related activities by the independent ethics committee following the US investigation.

Sanz was not among those named in the scandal last week, but was reportedly placed on an immediate leave of absence soon after the arrests - including that of CONCACAF president Webb, who was provisionally dismissed on Thursday.

A statement read: "Following previous decisions and further clarification, and on the basis of investigations carried out by the investigatory chamber of the ethics committee and the latest facts presented by the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York, the chairman of the adjudicatory chamber of the ethics committee, Hans-Joachim Eckert, today provisionally banned the official Enrique Sanz from carrying out any football-related activities at national and international level."

The news was swiftly followed by another press release which revealed a similar fate for two members of the Congolese Football Association - vice-president Jean Guy Blaise Mayolas and general secretary Badji Mombo Wantete.

It read: "The chairman of the adjudicatory chamber of the Ethics Committee, Hans-Joachim Eckert, today provisionally banned the vice-president, Mr Jean Guy Blaise Mayolas, and the general secretary, Mr Badji Mombo Wantete, of the Congolese Football Association (FECOFOOT) from carrying out any football-related activities at national and international level, in accordance with art. 83 par 1 of the FIFA code of ethics."