About vote in RFU: choosing between menu in hospital and canteen
Election of the president of the Russian Football Union has ended. The final result was expected. Anyway, there was some hope for an intrigue. The sports staff of Realnoe Vremya tells about the past election and its consequences.
Unsinkable system
Whatever we choose, whoever we vote for, an election campaign is likely to take place in Russia as a mere formality in order to admit that the people do have the right to choose. Actually, every time we got a usual event that lasts for several months. Moreover, the people are tired of this election. So sometimes it doesn't pay attention to them. We 'had to' organise an election in football as well. The winner was known a long time ago, we even forgot about other candidates. Valery Gazzaev is an odious person, of course, who has a ready wit. But even he failed to shake up this swamp. However, like one TV presenter said Russian football will have nothing good regardless of who of them we would choose. But not because we are not a football country but because none of them is credible. It is like we are asked to choose between menus in hospital and school canteens. Either place is fine but food in a restaurant is yummier.
Characteristically, the prime candidates used many facts. But one of them is the most important one. These two men are state functionaries who have so many failures under their belt so that it is difficult to imagine Gazzaev who was a great coach in his old days as a good candidate for the director of football of our country. Mutko has dopings and failures in all sports, while Gazzaev has, for example, the United Championship of Russia and Ukraine that heard gigabytes of bombastic speeches and tens of hundreds of kilometres of waste paper. But no match was held. These two men would be dismissed for even one lost project in other countries where there is a strict responsibility structure for a result. But it seems these two men are unsinkable. Anyway, despite the absurdity of the election, the very event was very intense. And even today we can imagine some changes in our football.
Yefremov, Pryadkin — out, Mutko, Gazzaev — go!
All this disorder began with the Russian Coaching Union whose representatives wrote a petition on the necessity to investigate the legality of the nomination of Vitaly Mutko's candidate for the RFU president. However, Kurban Berdyev, who was one of the people who signed the petition, insinuated very soon a fake of his signature in this letter because he even did not discuss this issue. At the same time he announced he was going to leave the coaching union. Then the vice-president of Rostov gave a detailed interview to Match-TV all of a sudden and wrote a huge article in Sport-Express newspaper about the reasons why Russia was not a football country and clearly supported our sports minister. However, a former president of Spartak Andrey Chervichenko said such an activity of Berdyev has something to do with the desire to relieve the pressure of double standards in recent matches from Rostov.
In answer to this insult, Vitaly Mutko organised its own insult. So he stated quite frankly that Valery Gazzaev leaves not a burnt land but makes projects disappear from the football map. Naturally, it was about Vladikavkaz where Valery Gazzaev and his son Yury organised a 'dissolution' at Alania – the first backwater team in the Russian history that became a champion of Russia.
The circus continued at the very election. To start with, a development programme of football in Russia called rather strangely Strategy-2030 was presented. It is strange because it raises a question: why does the strategy have such a remote date? Has our football sunk in desperation so seriously that they have to choose dates that the creators of the strategy probably won't see to solve its problems? And if the plan fails, who will be responsible for it? Or is not power in football going to change down to the 30s?
Then Yefremov and Pryadkin appeared 'on the stage' one by one who withdrew their candidacy in favour of Vitaly Mutko as if they had come to an agreement. I will say you it was very 'unexpected'. The former candidate's phrase that now everything in our football was good and they supported stability especially surprised me. Why did they declare their candidacies? European inspectors also paid attention to it. But it was done without any desire and due interest. But the president of Torpedo Aleksander Tukmanov did not keep silence and stated: 'It turned out the first speaker told about the programme. Two candidates withdrew their candidacies in favour of the third one. There is an element of agreement!'
Anyway, the most dramatic events broke up in WC on the floor where the conference took place. If you have already thought that the delegates poured our football there a long time ago, you are not correct. Simply the head of the All-Russian Supporters' Community was arrested. It is said that Shprygin prepared a serious text and wanted to fit his hair before that, but 10 OMON officers entered and handcuffed him. Nobody knows why he was arrested or, more precise, there were too many points of view — an embarrassment of riches. However, there is a pile of such cases.
Mutko — as president, Mayor of Kazan — as a member of the RFU executive committee
The acting president of the football union Vitaly Mutko expectedly won by a majority of votes. Nobody was surprised by this decision. But many people expressed their discontent. For example, Oleg Romantsev reminded well, like he did when Spartak used to be a winner, that Mutko doesn't keep his promises and forgets what he said 5 minutes ago. The former RFU president Vyacheslav Koloskov chose the same road and insinuated that Mutko needs to leave his post as the Sports Ministry because he told about it himself once.
Election of the president of Rubin in the executive committee of the RFU was another landmark for our Tatarstan football. Aside from him, only Zenit and CSKA – Dyukov and Giner respectively – were on the list as football club presidents. Taking into account that how fine these two clubs were while solving administrative problems, we hope Rubin-Kazan will also have such a pleasant attitude. Considering not a very bright start in the championship of the country, it will be a good help for future achievements of our club.
Well, we will draw conclusions to the conference in 2030: will we be able to realise Strategy-2030? Will Russia finally become a football country? Such important problems should be solved every year. Let's see what happens in real life. We can see some advances in the work of Mutko right now. Because abolition of such a careless organisation as Shprygin's organisation is a huge advantage for our victories in football.
Only the question whether the Minister of Sport will change or Vitaly Mutko will occupy two seats at the same because of the latest scandals and shameful naturalisations for such an enormous country as Russia remains open. Anyway, we are entering a new and old era of our football life. And let's hope it won't be so unclear like it has been in recent years.