Black_Ned
24-06-2000, 02:45:PM
England World Cup bid 'bleak'
- AAP
Organisers of England's bid to stage the 2006 World Cup admit their chances look "very bleak" after the violence by English fans at Euro 2000.
The 24-member FIFA executive committee meets July 5-6 to to decide the venue.
Former sports minister Tony Banks, who is on the bidding team which has traveled the world trying to persuade FIFA to favor England, says the media coverage of the violence in Brussels and Charleroi on Saturday and UEFA's threat to throw the team out of Euro 2000 has harmed the bid.
"It is accepted by FIFA as the best bid, but it is now looking very bleak indeed, because of the damage done by the images flashed round the world," Banks told BBC radio.
But Banks said that hopes of winning the 2006 World Cup for England were not yet dead.
"I have to travel optimistically, and I don't rule it out," he said.
England, which hasn't staged the World Cup since 1966, is competing against Germany, South Africa, Brazil and Morocco.
South Africa appears the favorite. FIFA president Sepp Blatter has frequently expressed support for taking the World Cup to Africa for the first time.
England's bid is based on its long tradition as a soccer playing nation and being the so-called birthplace of the game.
England is also rebuilding Wembley stadium and many of the remainder of the stadiums are already in place. England also claims to have virtually eradicated the hooligan problem at domestic games.
But its bidding committee, which includes former World Cup 1966 stars Bobby Charlton and Geoff Hurst, has constantly had to field questions about England's violent traveling fans.
Some 850 were detained in Brussels and Charleroi before and after England's 1-0 victory over Germany at the Euros.
England's first round elimination from Euro 2000 after Tuesday's 3-2 loss to Romania may have helped slightly because there is no longer the danger of repeated fan violence.
The fans behaved impeccably at the game in Charleroi possibly because of the UEFA threat to throw England out if there was any further major trouble.
Germany was eliminated, too, and that means its own unruly fans cannot damage its own bid.
- AAP
Organisers of England's bid to stage the 2006 World Cup admit their chances look "very bleak" after the violence by English fans at Euro 2000.
The 24-member FIFA executive committee meets July 5-6 to to decide the venue.
Former sports minister Tony Banks, who is on the bidding team which has traveled the world trying to persuade FIFA to favor England, says the media coverage of the violence in Brussels and Charleroi on Saturday and UEFA's threat to throw the team out of Euro 2000 has harmed the bid.
"It is accepted by FIFA as the best bid, but it is now looking very bleak indeed, because of the damage done by the images flashed round the world," Banks told BBC radio.
But Banks said that hopes of winning the 2006 World Cup for England were not yet dead.
"I have to travel optimistically, and I don't rule it out," he said.
England, which hasn't staged the World Cup since 1966, is competing against Germany, South Africa, Brazil and Morocco.
South Africa appears the favorite. FIFA president Sepp Blatter has frequently expressed support for taking the World Cup to Africa for the first time.
England's bid is based on its long tradition as a soccer playing nation and being the so-called birthplace of the game.
England is also rebuilding Wembley stadium and many of the remainder of the stadiums are already in place. England also claims to have virtually eradicated the hooligan problem at domestic games.
But its bidding committee, which includes former World Cup 1966 stars Bobby Charlton and Geoff Hurst, has constantly had to field questions about England's violent traveling fans.
Some 850 were detained in Brussels and Charleroi before and after England's 1-0 victory over Germany at the Euros.
England's first round elimination from Euro 2000 after Tuesday's 3-2 loss to Romania may have helped slightly because there is no longer the danger of repeated fan violence.
The fans behaved impeccably at the game in Charleroi possibly because of the UEFA threat to throw England out if there was any further major trouble.
Germany was eliminated, too, and that means its own unruly fans cannot damage its own bid.