For the last few years, there has been a lot of talk about corporate corruption. It can probably be traced back to Enron, and the spate of corporate scandals that emerged at about the same time. More recently, the economic downturn has exposed some amazingly brazen corporate scandals, topped by the grand theft masterminded by Bernie Madoff.
Quite rightly, industries and countries alike are moving to try and cut out corruption at its source. The biggest danger is not rogue individuals (you can never stop them – the best you can hope for is to catch them early). The greatest danger is that corruption and rule breaking become endemic and “the accepted way” of doing business.
I remember as a young articled clerk at KPMG being stunned to be told by audit manager that a certain client account I was looking at was “for bribes”, because this was the “cost of doing business in the homelands” (the homeland states were puppet “countries” set aside for blacks in the old South Africa). Top multinationals, with the knowledge of their auditors, were involved in bribing corrupt local officials to make sure the wheels of industry kept turning. Maybe there was no other way. Maybe it was “how things worked”, but it didn’t help Africa, did it? We need to remove the CULTURE of corruption.
And there’s only one way to do this: immediate, brutal retribution when people are caught. One strike, and you’re out!
The reason I thought about this was because I watched the World Cup Qualifier between the Republic of Ireland and France last night. Ireland looked good to beat France, and force the game to penalties. This was a monumental result for them. But, in the dying minutes, Thierry Henry received a long ball just next to the goal, controlled it with his hand, and presented it to Gallas for an easy goal. Henry obviously knew he handled it – he handled it twice. In fact, he might as well have caught the ball and thrown it into the net. See the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qZJrOcgkYM (see especially at 39 seconds!).
The best that FIFA could do now would be to ban Henry from the World Cup. He clearly cheated. He did it knowingly, willfully, and has fundamentally created personal advantage at extreme loss to others. This is corruption, and football is filled with it! They should use digital referees – why they’re scared of it, I don’t know. A quick replay, after the Irish appealed would have been enough to disallow the goal – and send Henry off! But, now that it’s obvious what happened, they need to send the strongest message.
But they won’t. Because it’s France. Because it’s Henry. And so, corruption will remain. And then we are surprised when it becomes endemic. There is no surprise here at all.
Ban Henry from the World Cup. That will send the right message.
I have just been watching the comments pouring into a news site on this issue. There is a growing call for people to boycott Gillette, who are Henry’s headline personal sponsor. That’s interesting. I may consider boycotting Gilette as well – until they drop Henry from their campaign! Why not? We’ve got to deal with this somehow.
I sent en email to Gillette asking them what their take was on havinga cheater endorse their products. Here is the reply I got:
From: “P&G Western Europe”
Subject: Gillette [ ref:00D7JViV.5007AVQPo:ref ]
To:
Date: Thursday, 19 November, 2009, 13:46
Hello and thanks for your email.
Gillette is aware of the HENRY handball incident in the France v Ireland World Cup qualifier. Thierry Henry has publicly acknowledged that it was a handball. It is not our place to comment on the refereeing in the match. This incident does not affect his relationship with us.
Kind regards,
Karoline
Consumer Relations
I replied to them and put it to them that admitting to cheating made it ok then? I’ll defiitely be using Wilkinson Sword on my legs from now on!!!!!
Padraig Harrington has made an interesting comment, coming from his perspective in the world of golf. It’s a great point. In golf, if you even make a mistake, you own up and you are disqualified. If you don’t own up to something you did deliberately, you’d be kicked out of the game. It’s as simple as that! Golf is a great example of how this stuff should be handled. FIFA need to wake up to this.
PS, Kelly,
I also contact Gillette, and got EXACTLY the same email from them. I had said to them that they should watch the trending topic of boycotting Gillette. You know what. I think I will.
Here is address if you want to contact Gillette manager:
[email protected]
bcc: [email protected]
Just for laugh (unless you work in marketing and PR at Gillette, that is), this morning’s Independent newspaper has a run a full page story under a huge banner headline on “The Curse of Gillette”. See: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/advertising/henry-woods-federer-the-curse-of-gillette-1830663.html
“First, the world denounces Henry as a cheat. Then, police consider charges against Woods after a mysterious car smash. And, last night, Federer finally lost a tennis match! Susie Mesure asks the question: Gillette, the best a man can get?”
Read the article for an interesting take on it. And don’t forget David Beckham’s career started to slide just when he took Gillette sponsorship.