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Dear Gianni,

Greetings from the land of milk, honey and dust or Guruve. 

For your greater understanding, this particular land is the citadel of the ageless autochthons of Zimbabwe, where elders with cotton tuft hair remain an oasis of tested and tried wisdom and knowledge.

Most importantly, they have football at heart.

This villager, writes to you for the first time and true to village wisdom, an owl does not fly during the day for nothing, when you see it flapping its wings in broad daylight, you know something is after its life.

Gianni, it is football matters that bring me to you. Kindly lend me your ears.

Gianni, when you were elected in 2016, you were more of a compromise candidate after the long serving Joseph Sepp Blatter had become unwanted, moribund and inherently corrupt. 

Now we see that there was really nothing special in your character than simply the bravery to challenge Blatter. In electing you, we made a very regrettable mistake.  

In 2020, we then chose to give you a real term to run and show what you are made of. It was a great mistake. Some of us now feel it was a terrible mistake.  

You have really brought nothing meaningful to the beautiful game than promote football mafia gangs, corrupt executives, money launderers and western European politics. Things are even worse under your administration, than before.

If anything, you are making FIFA more irrelevant to football. FIFA must take football to the people not the opposite. 

For a man who speaks six languages and has a law background, it is a shame that you have become engrossed in western European politics of nations while at the same time, you seem not to understand the nexus between football and national politics. 

At one stage you seem to strongly believe that national politics has no place in football matters and yet moments later you mix the two. What will you have you smoked Gianni? What?

Only recently you suspended Zimbabwe and Kenya from international football on the pretext of interference by the national governments. 

Before the ink of your letters even dried, you were at Russia’s throat. Now your footprints can be traced to Chelsea.

Now tell me Gianni, what did Russian President Vladimir Putin do to football? Did his special military operation in Kiev target the Football Federation of Ukraine or it was a government to government conflict?

Is it not you now bringing politics to football? That chameleon behaviour is not good for you and neither is it good for football. It is crap. Real drivel. Malarkey!

Gianni, you cannot fool the world. Zimbabwe is fighting corruption and fraud in its local football administration and you suspend it. Russia is fighting Ukraine over nothing to do with football and you suspend it. What nonsense Gianni?

In the same context and art of war, how many people have the United States of America (USA) killed in senseless wars the world over and specifically in Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan and they still play football? The Americans themselves have lost count of the number of innocent people they have murdered in other countries but they still play football, blood dripping from their hands and boots. And you turn a blind eye. What is that which blinds you? It is corruption? Is it racism because you come from western Europe? 

It is hard to believe that because your kith and kin in western Europe have ganged up against Russia and you now abuse your position at FIFA to deal a blow to Russia. Fetid! 

Russia has genuine reasons to fight for its territorial integrity and that has nothing to do with football if we use the logic you applied on Zimbabwe and Kenya.

You are now standing with your natives in NATO in the Russian-Ukraine conflict and is that football? Is that not geopolitics and racism? It is even corruption to stand by your kith and kin and bring in matters non-football to the game. 

This villager puts it to you that you are very corrupt, arrogant and insensitive to the plight other football nations.

Respect is sacrosanct Gianni. Zimbabweans, Kenyans and Russians are also people. They have blood like you and your kith and kin in western Europe. They love their football. 

Allow us to fix our football problems without forcing corrupt leaders on our football.

 If you and your FIFA do not want governments to interfere in football matters, you keep away from national politics. You keep away from corruption, abuse of female referees, match-fixing and fraud. 

I may ask you, Gianni how many people has Israel killed in Palestine and is it not playing football? What an ugly orgy of daily violence and murder in the Gaza Strip, Golan Heights and Jerusalem? Do the same FIFA statutes apply Gianni?  Do they apply differently due to race or creed? Do they apply differently due to geographical location?

Gianni, we are not fools. Our eyes and ears are not for decoration. We hear and see. Our brains work. Don’t take us for granted. 

The Villager

Isdore Guvamombe