AUSTRALIA's lone voice on the FIFA ethics committee, which has suspended executive committee members Mohamed bin Hammam and Jack Warner following allegations they offered bribes, says the game's governing body has a massive image problem and needs urgent reform.
Broadcaster Les Murray, one of the 13 members of the committee, was present for Sunday's hearing to hear the evidence against bin Hammam, Warner and two other Caribbean officials. All four have been stood down pending an investigation whose results will be delivered in July.
Hours before the committee met to decide his fate, bin Hammam ended his bid to unseat the incumbent FIFA president, Sepp Blatter. The latter will now go into tomorrow's presidential election at the FIFA Congress unchallenged.
Speaking from Zurich, Murray said the only way to restore credibility in FIFA would be for it to change.
''I think the reform has to be very deep,'' he told the Herald last night. ''In all reality, there probably has to be complete structural and also constitutional reform. The structure of the organisation at the moment is too political. Decisions are based on political motives, and that's not healthy for any organisation. That simply has to change.''
Blatter was also ordered to face the ethics committee's meeting but was cleared of wrongdoing, allowing him to stay on as FIFA president and stand for election. Murray, however, says Blatter's promise of reform must be honoured.
''The platform he is going to run or announce on Wednesday will tell us what his program is, but whether it's Sepp Blatter or somebody else, I hope the president of FIFA understands the massive image problem that FIFA has and has to go about pro-actively fixing it,'' he said.
Asked if it was right for the election to go ahead just days after the ethics committee hearing called up both candidates, Murray played a straight bat. ''As an ethics committee member, I don't want to express an opinion on that,'' he said. ''But two days is a long time in football, so who knows what is going to happen between now and the congress?''
Broadcaster Les Murray, one of the 13 members of the committee, was present for Sunday's hearing to hear the evidence against bin Hammam, Warner and two other Caribbean officials. All four have been stood down pending an investigation whose results will be delivered in July.
Hours before the committee met to decide his fate, bin Hammam ended his bid to unseat the incumbent FIFA president, Sepp Blatter. The latter will now go into tomorrow's presidential election at the FIFA Congress unchallenged.
Speaking from Zurich, Murray said the only way to restore credibility in FIFA would be for it to change.
''I think the reform has to be very deep,'' he told the Herald last night. ''In all reality, there probably has to be complete structural and also constitutional reform. The structure of the organisation at the moment is too political. Decisions are based on political motives, and that's not healthy for any organisation. That simply has to change.''
Blatter was also ordered to face the ethics committee's meeting but was cleared of wrongdoing, allowing him to stay on as FIFA president and stand for election. Murray, however, says Blatter's promise of reform must be honoured.
''The platform he is going to run or announce on Wednesday will tell us what his program is, but whether it's Sepp Blatter or somebody else, I hope the president of FIFA understands the massive image problem that FIFA has and has to go about pro-actively fixing it,'' he said.
