Benito Mussolini famously claimed that "Race is a feeling, not a reality." FIFA president Sepp Blatter's comments this week that, essentially, racial abuse in football is non-existent, can be put down to misunderstanding and can be shrugged off with a handshake, has similarly unpleasant overtones.
Drawing a parallel with one of the founding fathers of Fascism, responsible for the death of nearly half a million people, is not very complimentary. Sepp Blatter hasn't killed anyone. But his incredibly suspicious stranglehold on power, along with a stubborn resistance to change the status quo, have earned him a reputation that will blight the football history books for years to come.
Surprising as it may be to learn, Sepp Blatter began his career in public relations. You would have thought, therefore, that he would be well aware of how toxic he has become to the FIFA brand, and the only way to salvage things is to resign. His blunt refusal to do so paints a picture of a man who is willing to sacrifice progress for the sake of power, and every year he remains is one that costs the sporting world dearly.
If FIFA were a country - Blatter would be the third-longest serving leader in Europe. One of those ran unopposed, the other was elected after opposing candidates were beaten by police. The next man on the list after Blatter would be Vladimir Putin. Again, this is not pleasant company to be linked with, but after winning four elections, two of them unopposed, with serious challengers finding themselves thrown out of FIFA shortly before the vote, how else should his career be interpreted?
You then have to consider Blatter's continued outbursts, which serve only to grow football's reputation as backward-thinking, sectarian and and exclusive. In recent years, FIFA's president has managed to offend and alienate the most marginalised and vulnerable sections of the football community, particularly women, homosexuals and now blacks. If football is to grow, these are precisely the groups that need not to feel threatened by the game. Under FIFA's current leadership, this is never going to happen.
The latest outburst may be Blatter's most outrageous. It has certainly caused the most press controversy, and rightly so. From the president of world football's governing body, the only response to racism allegations that you can give is a very hard line. Regardless of whether he was mis-quoted, this is nothing like the response that Blatter gave.
Unlike other names mentioned here, getting rid of him will not be achieved by military coup. Only by adopting the one language that Blatter understands, namely sponsorship and endorsements, will results be achieved. At the risk of exclusion from official FIFA events, few are likely to be bold enough to take this kind of action. But the continued popularity of the sport may require that they do.
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