A DAY IN THE LIFE

I read the news today, oh boy. How's the mood at FIFA at the moment? 

A question i've been asked a few times over weekend & today.

On Friday, I passed a BBC journalist on my way home, whom i've known a long time. He asked me this. Then said: "We know the majority of people at FIFA are normal, just going about their daily jobs, doing positive work." It's true. 

So, what was FIFA like today? My first 'event' started at 9.30am. I spent 90 minutes there. And it stayed with me all day. Approximately 16 women gathered in a meeting room. On Friday, it was the media working room. Today, it was where 16 mentors met, who are taking part in the first ever FIFA Female Leadership Development Programme.

My job was easy. To sit at the back of the room, take a few photos, and post some tweets on our @FIFAWWC Twitter account. 

I arrived. And then something weird happened. Wonderfully weird! The mentors were asked by the external company organising the #FIFAFLDP , to get into small groups. An ice-breaker, to re-introduce themselves to each other. They were then asked what they hoped to get out of the forthcoming week. How were they feeling? Suddenly, two women linked arms, and started to sing. "When you're smiling, when you're smiling, the whole world smiles with you." 

I looked around. I wanted what they'd had in their coffee! Then the room laughed. "Why did you choose to sing?" they were asked. "Because we're really happy to be a part of this programme. To pass on our experience. To hopefully help encourage more women to pursue their goals and dreams of progressing their careers in football." 

Sounds cheesy doesn't it? But it was 100% genuine. And it was infectious. And this was a programme organised by FIFA. You know...that company in the news all the time. 

Over the weekend I read an article by Philippe Auclair. It went over all the recent news. But somewhere in the middle, it made an unfashionable point. That hammering FIFA has become such a special sport in itself, that to acknowledge publicly it does anything good, is to invite ridicule. To invite accusations of being a FIFA stooge. And so on.

Mentors on this FIFA Female Leadership Development Programme include former international players. Coaches: Hope Powell; Hesterine de Reus; Heidi Store. Two current ExCo members. The MLS Director of Social Media. A former board member of Galatasaray. And someone who has received the MBE for their services to women's football in England. 

One of those women had her story explained to the group today by Moya Dodd. Moya, as some people may know, is a former Australian international footballer. She's a Lawyer. And she is also currently making her voice heard in and around FIFA, demanding the current Reform Taskforce take seriously, a target of 30 per cent for women’s participation on boards and committees and in senior management roles. You can read more here.

The woman Moya introduced, is a South-African called Fran Hilton Smith. I've met her a few times. Apparently, she plays in South Africa's top jazz band. And. Her story is amazing. 

She was a teacher for 20 years. During apatheid, she ran football courses for white, and black children. Together. And she spread her love of the game, as Moya explained "more or less, from the back of her car." Then, something happened. She was invited to become a FIFA Instructor. She got a FIFA tracksuit. And that tracksuit suddenly opened some serious doors. Yes....a tracksuit. 

Since then, she currently serves as the South African FA Technical Director. She founded South Africa's High Performance Centre for Girls hosted by the University of Pretoria. And she has been acknowledged by the SA State Presidential Award for the development of women's football in South Africa. Today, she was just bloody happy to be among people like her. People who had fought. Battled. Never listened to those who told her: "You can't do that." And now she believes that these women, together with FIFA, can mentor 35 young women from all around the world, and hopefully help them blaze a similar trail to her.

To be fair, some media today asked about this programme. Hopefully more will want to find out about it over the rest of the week too. If you want to read more about the programme, you can. And here.

In this ramble, I mentioned earlier, an article by Philippe Auclair. In his article, he didn't try to sugarcoat things. But there is one passage that stood out. As I could have written it...but not as well. 

"Those who pray for a complete meltdown of FIFA do not know what they wish for......Like it or not, it is indispensable for FIFA to survive. My conviction is that it can, as long as we move away from the current default position (outrage, and little else) and seek ways to revitalize an organization that has done a lot of good over the past three decades."

Currently, and understandably, the 'what happens to FIFA next', is of huge interest news-wise because of events that have been exhaustingly documented. But what about the future? 

When some people, including Politicians - and others aboard an ever-growing in popularity bandwagon - hop off to jump back on their soapboxes, please remember, that the organisation has done a lot of good things. Continues to do a lot of good things. And has 'normal' people, who are desperately trying to still continue to do those good things. 

And that is equally the challenge of whoever will follow next. There's a big world out there. And hopefully, FIFA can continue to turn them on to football too.

So.....that was my day today. Oh yes. And there was a staff meeting. But you know that!

Thanks for reading.
Alex

CONTEXT IS EVERYTHING

I’ve never done this before. I doubt I will again. But after a week which veered from the normal, to the seriously abnormal, I wanted to try to write something. To those who know me well, unsurprisingly, that ‘something’ has become rather long. A ramble! 

Six years, and one month ago, I made the journey from London to Zurich with my family, to start a new stage in my career. A free transfer from The Football Association, to FIFA. Or, as one close friend suggested: moving from the frying pan, into the fire.

I worked at The FA for eight years, joining on the first day of Euro 2000. Portugal and Luis Figo ruined Day 1. My first role, for around 15 months, was in the newly set up Customer Relations Unit. At the time, the three of us shared an office with the Bid team for ‘England 2006.’

During the first month, we watched as the team came and went, traveled around the world, and kept our fingers crossed that maybe we too in future, could be involved with the hosting of a World Cup. It didn’t happen. I still have a coffee cup with the England 2006 logo on it, a reminder of what could have been. The World Cup went to Germany instead. The reasons why were well documented at the time. Mainly forgotten now.

For eight years, I was proud to work for the Governing Body of English football. I was heavily involved in trying to promote the fledging work of the ‘National Game Division’, trying to get to grips with the shocking under-investment in grassroots football. I drove around the country, working with County FA’s, helping to establish (or re-establish) relationships with local media. These were organisations now challenged with housing young staff who wore tracksuits (not suits), were in many cases half the age (or more) of the Chief Executive, and were out in their local communities every day. It was a massive culture change from just collecting disciplinary fines from Sunday Pub teams. I’ve never met a more committed group of individuals than people like Kelly Simmons and Les Howie who drove this overhaul.

I also worked heavily in promoting women's football, heading Comms on Euro 2005 in England, whilst doubling as press officer. This continued into the China 2007 Women's World Cup, and concluded the night England qualified for Euro 2009 in (Bobby!) Zamora, Spain. Not everyone inside the organisation was supportive. But those of us involved did the best we could.

Of course, grassroots football, nor women's football sells newspapers. What did, and still does, is scandal. During my time, I watched a succession of Communications Directors come and go. At one point, articles and cartoons appeared in papers saying working at The FA 'must be like being in the Benny Hill Show': randy old men, chasing pretty young secretaries. Context? 

I’ll always remember leaving the office on a Friday night as one Comms Director was waiting for a story to break over the weekend. He was a family man, who also cared hugely for his team. He was already hurting. I popped my head around the door of his office and said, on default mode: “Have a good weekend.” He looked at me, and then burst out laughing, as did everyone else still there, at the ridiculousness of what I’d just said. He was exonerated. 

But the stigma, and the headlines affected everyone; that The FA really MUST be like this. For the people in the National Game Division, it hurt more. Why do the papers (and therefore public) care more about this they asked, than the work they are doing, up and down the country every week, trying to make football in England better. Easy to answer. Harder to fix.

Over 14 years on, The FA is still regularly bashed, sometimes, as it was back then, fairly. But it’s always very easy to criticise from the outside. Much harder when you are trying to run, or work inside an organisation with multiple stakeholders, that all have different views, opinions, and levels of self-interest. 
Which brings me onto FIFA.

Yesterday, among many other comments, a journalist who I've long held a high regard for (despite his love for Weymouth Football Club!), sent me a couple of tweets.

1. How you can keep defending that FIFA cesspit is beyond me.
2. Think sometimes those within FIFA live in some power and money-fuelled bubble and behave as if unaccountable to opinion and law.

I don’t believe or agree with the impressions of the aforementioned journalist. I don't think this is accurate or are fair. And I replied so yesterday.

What happened back on 2 December 2010 has been documented enough. The fall-out still continues today. I was briefly in the centre of Zurich that lunchtime, caught up with a few journalists from England for lunch, and then went home for the decision. I sat with my then 7 month old son on the sofa, watched Sky News, and hoped that when he was a bit older, I’d be able to take him to a World Cup in England.

Three hours after the decision, I flew to Dubai, for the Club World Cup. I was so disappointed. For the people who worked on the bid (many I'd got to know, or had worked with previously), and all those that did not win, I could imagine how how they felt. And I can still understand the resentment now, even though I don’t agree with some of the quotes I’ve seen this week.

In the build up to the 2018/2022 announcements (and since), numerous senior Committee members (who were appointed to FIFA by their Federation or Confederation, not chosen by FIFA), have since been removed from post, or left before investigations could continue.

At the press conference at the 2013 FIFA Congress, Mark Pieth said the progress of the reform process of the last couple of years in the intervening period had been spectacular. I was at the press conference, and wrote that piece. He said: "As we sit here today, there have been some very clear achievements. There are still some challenges ahead but this is a process of self-regulation, and it takes time.”

Those words are still very true today. The stories this week are understandably unfathomable, and unpalatable to many people. But the entire organisation, of over 300 employees is tarred with the same brush, just as back in the day at The FA. Context. It's often been lacking.

Since I joined FIFA, I have been to countries I never dreamed I would visit, growing up in Yeovil, Somerset. I went on a helicopter inspection of Abu Dhabi prior to the first Club World Cup (much to my Dad’s annoyance, who worked for over 30 years at Westland Helicopters and never flew in one once), tweeted through a big earthquake in Tokyo, where a 55-story hotel felt like it was made of paper, and been part of a team at the 2014 FIFA World Cup, that engaged 1 billion football fans on its digital platforms. Yes. One BILLION.

In six years and one month though, I’ve never seen the 'corruption' that seems to be felt is everyday; commonplace. Whether people want to accept it or not, and whether it fits their perception or preferred narrative, FIFA has changed. Honestly. 

FIFA’s Code of Ethics does now provide an opportunity for individuals (part of the ‘football community’), wherever they may be, to be dealt with, if they break the rules (like again this week in Oceania), or are found guilty of whatever charge it may be.

What happens in the future, remains to be seen. I’m passionate about football, love my current job as FIFA Social Media Manager, and believe that one of my next challenges is to better understand, and then implement, a fan engagement strategy for FIFA. We now have over 80 million followers on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Youtube. How can I/we do better for those fans?

I have friends and colleagues who work in different departments who are committed to developing football around the world; supporting NGOs as part of our CSR work; organise taster courses/provide footballs for young girls to play football for the first time. There are many others, like the team I’ve been working with over the last two weeks (about to launch a multimedia Public Health campaign, featuring international footballers, to help continue to raise awareness about Ebola). One thing they are not? Corrupt.

At the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, one journalist, after a drink or two, asked me: “How can you get out of bed in the morning and look at yourself in the mirror?” The irony, he later admitted was that he worked for a newspaper found guilty of phone hacking. Context is everything. Do all reporters deserve to be tarred with the same brush, because of the actions of a few? It doesn't sometimes feel that 'context' is foremost in the mind, when certain things are said/written about where I work.

‘Context is everything’ was a phrase I saw this morning in response to a tweet today. Another way to describe current events, would be to paraphrase the title of a rather well-selling book: There is black, white, and 50 shades of grey.
Thanks for reading....if you made it this far.

Alex