Westminster lashes out at Blatter after racism row
By Ian Dunt Follow @IanDunt
Westminster was united in calling for the resignation of Sepp Blatter today, although the sports minister warned he would expect "the English press to pile on him".
The Fifa chairman, who holds little political capital in the UK after a chain of allegations of corruption, told reporters that racist abuse should be settled with a handshake. Elsewhere he said "there is no racism" in modern football, a remark which will raise questions about his ability to oversee a change in the culture around the game.
Sports minister Hugh Robertson said Mr Blatter's opinion was "completely wrong as well as morally indefensible".
Mr Blatter "will expect the English and the English press to pile it on him", he added.
"The president of the world body [should not be] dismissing [racism] out of hand, not saying it can be solved as a hand shake, but actually rolling his sleeves up with the rest of Fifa and making sure this is sorted out".
Shadow sport minister Clive Efford said the comments were despicable and demanded his resignation.
"Sepp Blatter's comments are utterly unacceptable and totally outrageous and they show how he is deeply rooted in a bygone era," he said.
Chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association Gordon Taylor said the comment was "the straw that broke the camel's back".
He told the Today programme: "When you see the corruption they've had at FIFA, the comments he made about homosexuals not going to Qatar, the way he talked about women's football, the style of the arrangements for the World Cup, the fact he won't have technology.
"It is embarrassing – if one person should get it about racism it is the head of FIFA, which has 200 countries in the world, is so diverse with different cultures, creeds and colours."
Former England captain Rio Ferdinand attacked the Fifa president on Twitter, saying he was "astonished".
He wrote: "@SeppBlatter your comments on racism are so condescending its almost laughable. If fans shout racist chants but shake our hands is that ok?''
Later he wrote: "'I feel stupid for thinking that football was taking a leading role against racism…..it seems it was just on mute for a while."
The comments could not have been made at a worse time, with England captain John Terry under police investigation for alleged racist comments and Liverpool striker Luis Suarez charged with racial abuse against Manchester United's Patrice Evra.
Mr Blatter's comments were made on two separate TV interviews.
To Al-Jazeera, he said: ''During a match you may say something to someone who's not looking exactly like you, but at [the] end of [the] match it's forgotten.''
He told CNN World Sport: "There is no racism. There is maybe one of the players towards another, he has a word or a gesture which is not the correct one.
''But also the one who is affected by that, he should say that this is a game."
Once the comments exploded online, Mr Blatter tried to kill the controversy on Fifa's official website, writing: "My comments have been misunderstood.
"I want to stress again that I do not want to diminish the dimension of the problem of racism in society and in sport.
"I am committed to fighting this plague and kicking it out of football."
