ANY QUOTES USED MUST BE ATTRIBUTED TO MURNAGHAN, SKY NEWS

ANNA JONES: Now the allegations against FIFA just keep on coming.  This morning there are claims in one national newspaper that the 2010 World Cup in South Africa should really have gone to Morocco until votes were changed and that FIFA suppressed evidence of this handed to them.  There are signs of more revelations to come as the FBIs investigation continues and FIFA’s former Vice-President Jack Warner hints that he’s got more to say too.  Well let’s talk now to Chris Eaton, who is a Director at the International Centre for Sport Security and he resigned as Head of Security at FIFA, meaning he was in charge of investigations, in 2012.  Chris Eaton, thank you very much indeed for talking to us, I wonder first of all if you can respond to the new revelations that have come out today, the Sunday Times reporting that it had secret tapes that they say exposed alleged World Cup bribes, they were sent to FIFA and that they were suppressed.  Did you have any knowledge of tapes like this when you were there?

CHRIS EATON: Good morning, Anna.  No, I didn’t.  There are a lot of allegations out there about the bidding processes in the past but they were not as clear as these allegations now are.  What we are seeing really is a pattern of behaviour, similar acts if you like, and it’s not surprising that it goes back all the way in fact to the German World Cup in 2006.  

AJ: Well yes, you talk about a pattern of behaviour but part of your role presumably was to focus on corruption, did you detect a commitment within FIFA to back you on that?

CHRIS EATON: Well that was part of my role but my most important role when I came to FIFA was the World Cup in South Africa and in 2011 I was focused primarily on match fixing, if you recall there was a major scandal of match fixing around in the world 2011.  It became clear to me around the end of 2011 and there were a number of allegations and investigations that were untaken during my tenure.  I left at the beginning of 2012.

AJ: Do many of these allegations ring true to you?

CHRIS EATON: As I say, let’s see how the investigation plays out.  The FBI and the Swiss officials are embarking on very powerful investigations and it’s time for those investigations to be thorough and complete.  Let’s see how they plan out.  Clearly we are seeing a progressive revelation that shows, as I say, similar acts and similar behaviour going back for decades.  

AJ: Given that the scale of the allegations, we’ve got 47 racketeering charges against 18 football officials, does that surprise you given your experience?  

CHRIS EATON: No it doesn’t and I’m certain there’ll be more to come.  The point is, this was a dysfunctional organisation that was not fit for purpose, FIFA had outgrown its purpose.  It was dominated by marketing, dominated by business generation and cash generation and wealth generation, it wasn’t focused enough on governance.  As I said before, it really was the wealth and business side of the house wagging the dog of governance.  It is now time for governance to dominate, it needs complete reformation.  

AJ: As I understand it, you arranged a whistle blower and an amnesty programme, did that work, did people come forward, were you supported in that?

CHRIS EATON: Well I was supported to the point that FIFA called a press conference and announced these reforms but it was cancelled by the President two days before it was to implemented on the basis that he was having the ITC, the internal governance committee being created, he thought it should have been referred to them. In other words they lost, in my view, four years opportunity to get it right.  If they’d done this in 2012 I have no doubt that would have been the model of behaviour right now.

AJ: What happens now?  Is it your believe, do you have faith that FIFA can be reformed?  

CHRIS EATON: I have faith that football as a sport can be reformed.  FIFA is not football, it is not all of football, it is federations, it is confederations, even the President Blatter himself said that confederations have a role to play here, he said he can’t control them, FIFA can’t control them.  The point is, the whole of football needs to address itself, it’s not just FIFA.  

AJ: And how important as well is the leader of FIFA?  Obviously Sepp Blatter says he will stand down in a number of months’ time, how important is who the leader is if FIFA is to be truly reformed?

CHRIS EATON: Well in any organisation the leader is vital isn’t it?  I mean we can’t deny that and it is very difficult for a leader who is overseeing an organisation that’s now been thoroughly discredited to institute reform, very difficult.  Perhaps not impossible but certainly very difficult.  What we need now of course is new leadership, he has already said that himself, and we are looking forward to that.  

AJ: And presumably it is going to be hard to bring unity as well to the organisation given the number of people that voted for Blatter to stay on as President.  How hard is it to find a unifying figure?  

CHRIS EATON: Very difficult but nevertheless I repeat, FIFA is not all of football, it needs federations, confederations, even leagues and clubs to stand up and be counted here, to show they are willing to reform too.  They need to embrace a holistic and a harmonious approach to governance, integrity and ethics in football.  

AJ: So you say it goes all the way down the various levels, explain to us in what forms that kind of corruption you think is taking place?

CHRIS EATON: I’m talking about a structure that is vulnerable to corruption.  The whole opaque nature of the football structure, the clubby nature if you like, the old man’s club style of thing, really it just needs to professionalise completely, become transparent and open and accountable.  I mean these are easy words to say, they are very difficult to implement when you have had generations of this closed opaque organisation so I’m talking about clubs and confederations who act in exactly the same way as FIFA does.  We are criticising FIFA but exactly the same criticism should be applied to those clubs, those federations and confederations who act in exactly the same way.  

AJ: So what level of optimism do you have about the future of football?   

CHRIS EATON: Well football is too big to be killed by this, it is too popular a sport around the world.  It is essential that there are key leaders, not just in football but outside football, this need external, independent and neutral advice and governments have a role to play here too.  Certainly we have this hallowed issue of autonomy in sport and the hallowed issue of sports not being touched by governments but when you commit crime you are accountable to governments, that’s the reality.

AJ: Chris Eaton, interesting to get your take on it here on Murnaghan this morning, thank you very much indeed for your time.  
    
CHRIS EATON: Thank you Anna.