a confusing attitude from Sepp Blatter

Here:

“ASUNCION, Paraguay — FIFA president Sepp Blatter said he will seek to reinstate fired Egypt soccer federation leaders, calling their dismissal “direct interference” by the Cairo government.”

I’m not sure what I think about this.

On the one hand, Blatter is right, in the sense that these leaders of the Egyptian soccer federation are being scapegoated for something that is not at all their fault.

On the other hand, if this had been simply a hooliganism disaster with no political causes, I think the government would be utterly justified in firing the whole bunch of them. That’s generally how things work in life, following a disaster. Lots of people get fired or resign.

So, the only way Blatter’s wishes are justified is if he makes a political interpretation of what happened in Port Said. He claims to be seeking a position of neutral, apolitical judgment on national football federations, but his attempt to intervene is justified only if he decides that the federation in Egypt is not to blame because some invisible hand was behind the attacks. Blatter has to get make a political decision, in short.

Further complicating matters, as the article itself notes, is that there’s already some hypocrisy within FIFA about the “no political interference” rule.

I do agree with reinstating the Egyptian Federation members, but only because they’re being unfairly raked over the coals for behavior that ought to be blamed on a far more shadowy group of people.