FIFA President Receives Mixed Response Over Racism Apology
FIFA President Sepp Blatter declared that he would not be resigning from his post despite overwhelming calls asking him to step down.
Responding to recent turmoil in England, where national team captain John Terry was accused of making racial slurs against a black player during a Premier League match, Blatter said that racial issues can be “settled by shaking hands after the match.”
His remarks caused uproar in England in particular; with the “Kick Racism Out” campaign, accusing the FIFA president of failing to recognize how serious the issue is, according to the BBC. Although a lot has been done in recent years to combat the problem, black players are still subject to racial abuse across Europe, especially in Eastern European countries.
Blatter admitted that it was wrong to make such remarks, and issued a full apology on Friday.
"When you have done something which was not totally correct, I can only say I am sorry for all those people affected by my declarations," said Blatter to BBC.
However, Blatter said that he has no plans to resign, and that he will try to correct things and fight on, as he always has during his career.
Blatter and the English media are still experiencing sour relations over FIFA’s choice to turn down England’s bid to host the 2022 World Cup, awarding it to Qatar instead, and several English football managers have said that Blatter’s apology over the racial issues is not enough.
Neil Warnock, the QPR boss, was far from convinced by Blatter’s statement, and said that he has been calling for him to resign for many years now, according to The Telegraph.
"He's a clever old man. You can make any apology sound sincere if you want to,” said Warnock. "I don't think he'll give two hoots if I'm honest. Not about England. Some of the other countries put (racism) under the carpet.”
Others, however, like Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas, came to Blatter’s defense.
"Blatter made his apologies today and end of story. When a person assumes he has made a mistake, it's for all of us to accept a mistake was made,” said Villas-Boas to the BBC.
