Football crazy - Fifa’s disciplinary proceedings

THE headquarters of Fifa, the world governing body of association football, is located in a €250 million building in Zurich, Switzerland. The futuristic structure is made mostly of glass but that is the only bit of transparency anyone is likely to encounter with the organisation.

As soccer fans know, Fifa is a bastion of scandal, corruption, bribery, and Byzantine intrigue.

Given those concerns, you would imagine that it would prioritise cleaning up its own backyard before concentrating on less pressing matters.

You would be wrong.

Instead, the organisation is putting its energies into launching disciplinary proceedings against British and Irish football associations. Those in the UK, including Northern Ireland, face fines for wearing a poppy. The FAI in the Republic could also be sanctioned for allowing players to wear a symbol commemorating 1916 on their jerseys.

We have known for a long time that Fifa is bad.

Now it looks as though it is mad as well.