FA chief wants end to gift culture
Greg Dyke insists he will not resign as Football Association chairman after receiving a watch worth more than £16,000 but has called for an end to the culture of gifts being given to football officials.
It was revealed earlier this week that Dyke – along with the association heads of all 32 teams which qualified for the 2014 World Cup – was given a Parmigiani watch worth £16,400 in a gift bag handed out by the host Brazilian federation (CBF) during the tournament.
FIFA’s ethics committee called on Thursday for all the watches to be returned by October 24 and Dyke has said he will return his, adding that he did not know the value of the watch and had planned to give it and other gifts he had received to charity.
Sunday Times columnist David Walsh said Dyke was “fortunate” to hold on to his FA role and had “lost the right to question anyone on ethics”.
Asked on BBC Radio Five Live’s Sportsweek programme whether he would quit over the matter, Dyke said: “I don’t think having a watch that you have no idea the value of and have never used is a resigning matter.
“Where this thing is wrong is that I don’t think people should be giving out £16,000 watches. If they are, they should at least tell you the value of the watch.
“I don’t like the present-giving culture within football. Everywhere you go, every time you have a game, they give you some sort of present. If they’re going to start giving presents of £16,000 that’s not acceptable.
“The FA should lead the way by saying ’we’re not going to be part of this culture any more, we’re not going to give presents and we’re not going to accept them’.”
Dyke was in Geneva on Friday when Wembley was chosen to host the final and semi-finals of Euro 2020.
He said the FA would continue to lobby to stage future UEFA tournaments, but reiterated that his organisation would not bid for competitions run by world governing body FIFA while Sepp Blatter remained president.
The 78-year-old Blatter confirmed earlier this month that he will stand for re-election as FIFA president next year.
England lost out to Russia in the bidding for the 2018 World Cup back in December 2010. In response to English criticism of that decision, Blatter has said the FA “must learn about fair play” and described British media investigations into the decision to award the 2022 finals to Qatar as being racially motivated.
Dyke criticised Blatter for the remarks he made about the British media at the FIFA Congress in June.
Asked by Sportsweek whether he regretted that, Dyke added: “I don’t think we had much to lose anyway. There was no relationship with FIFA.”
