Smoke free World Cup! Not really

Munich, June 18 :

It really has not been a smoke free World Cup as FIFA had promised and the football’s highest body had to swing into action and gave Mexican coach Ricardo La Volpe a warning for smoking a cigarette during his team’s game against Iran in Nuremberg.

Markus Siegler, FIFA spokesman told reporters: “We have seen a video recording and noticed it is true.”

FIFA knew ahead of the tournament that Mexico’s coach might spark trouble — La Volpe smokes a reputed 50 cigarettes a day.

Although there aren’t any rules against smoking on the touchline, FIFA wrote to the Mexican Football Association prior to the tournament reminding them that coaches and players

are role models for millions of young people around the world.

During the last World Cup in South Korea and Japan in 2002, a stadiumwide smoking ban was strictly enforced. But FIFA decided to relax the rules this time around. Germans are renowned for their ‘love of cancer sticks’ and an outright ban would have been near impossible to enforce.

FIFA has decided to go for a voluntary ban instead. Stadium announcements and video messages tell fans “No Smoking, Please” but nobody will actually stop you from lighting up.

La Volpe and many others clearly have not been listening to the announcements and may struggle to resist the urge to light up in the coming days. Even in the match between Poland and Germany at Dortmund, journalists, fans and even stewards were seen smoking in the stands and near the pitch.

In some more loss of face for the world governing body, FIFA Executive Committee member Ismail Bhamjee of Botswana confirmed today in a written statement that he has sold 2006 FIFA World Cup tickets for triple the amount of the face value. As an immediate reaction to this behaviour, FIFA’s Emergency Committee, under the chairmanship of President Joseph S Blatter, asked Bhamjee to immediately resign from all FIFA World Cup-related duties and leave Germany at the earliest possible.