REVEALED: The SAFA letter from Wilson Raj Perumal, master match-fixer. Not sent to Leslie Sedibe but to Kirsten Nematandani

EXCLUSIVE: This is the letter now-banned former SAFA CEO Leslie Sedibe
was waving about at his press conference today. His name does not appear. But
former SAFA President Kirsten Nematandani and Wilson Raj Perumal ARE there

EXCLUSIVE: original notes from Leslie Sedibe's FIFA interview, mentioned today
He says SAFA was dysfunctional. And that Bafana Bafana had no money or plans
for preparation. Here's what it goes on to say:

He found that with the 2010 World cup looming Bafana Bafana had no established training camp and all the main locations had been taken, the team had no warm up friendlies booked and they were running out of time to get them as most teams in the tournament had booked the best opposition already.

Mr. Sedibe went on to say that SAFA had no money at this time and few major sponsors even though they were hosting the world cup.

He felt he needed to concentrate on fund raising for training camps and bringing in sponsors.

Mr. Sedibe recalled that early in March games had been hastily arranged against Swaziland, Namibia and Zimbabwe.

He said the bank had funded the training camp in Brazil as the Association had no money and that the team had mainly played club sides. The coach did not view this as ideal preparation for a World cup and requested another camp and against International competition, preferably against South American teams in preparation for Mexico who was to be Bafana Bafana’s opposition in the first stage of the WC.

The coach wanted a match that would be against opposition with a similar playing style and Mr. Sedibe agreed they should try to find a team that would be good opposition from South America but it proved to be quite difficult.

The team held a camp in Germany and had a game against China prepared but China pulled out at the last minute and the camp in Germany was not ideal preparation. The Team manager was deemed to be negligent and charges were listed against him. The team manager had also failed to provide a budget for the training camp after numerous requests to do so by Mr. Sedibe and the head of finance Mr. Gronie Hluyo. The team manager was removed from the training camp and pulled off the flight to Germany.

There were a number of issues Mr. Sedibe had to deal with in respect of this camp. There was no branding, matches were cancelled without notice by Bafana Bafana causing embarrassment to the sponsors Addidas who had acted to secure the team friendly matches at the last minute.

Mr. Sedibe called in Keith Darcy of KAM, a sports management company based in the UK to assist in recovering the training camp. Friendlies were arranged against Korea DPR and Jamaica.

Other international sides such as Italy, Brazil and Argentina were approached but they already had full warm up schedules.

The next camp was held in Johannesburg and again it was poor quality. Mr. Sedibe had managed to secure some funding from the Lotteries board at this time to ease the financial burden on the association but they were still in dire financial straits.

It was at this point that the approach to provide referees was made by football 4 U. The association was struggling for funding even with some money coming in from the lotteries board, the organization itself was dysfunctional and Mr. Sedibe spent most of his time away from the office working on sponsors and other revenue streams.

Mr. Sedibe did not remember Ace Kika or Steve Goddard bringing anyone to his office to discuss Football 4U, but he did not rule it out. He said it was entirely plausible but added that he would have seen any number of people and contracts through out a working day at that time, with the World cup countdown well and truly in progress.

Oh, and here's SAFA's response to the banning of Sedibe, Adeel Carelse and Steve Goddard in an official statement tonight, from Poobalan Govindsasamy, head of their Ethics Committee:

“At SAFA we have a zero-tolerance policy for any corrupt activity which impacts negatively on this beautiful game and for that reason we welcome strong measures against any individual who is found guilty of such offenses. This should serve as a warning to anyone harbouring intentions of engaging in nefarious activities within the sport that the long arm of the law will catch up with them. Be warned."

Govindsasamy, when challenged by Robert Marawa later, admitted he had no documents on the latest bannings and insisted he was NOT a paid official at SAFA. He claimed not to have been properly briefed by SAFA on the match-fixing affair. Shocking.

Sepp Blatter is Superman. Pass me the Krytonite, Danny Jordaan.

“Sepp Blatter is Superman.” That’s what some bloke called (deep breath) Liutauras Varanavicius told England's Daily Telegraph as he arrived in Zurich for today's FIFA Presidency vote. Lit, as I like to call him, is the president of the mighty Lithuanian Football Association.

Inside the footballing halls of power, Blatter greeted the 208 members of his footballing congress by confirming he is, by a remarkable twist of FIFA fate, the only candidate after Qatar’s suspended representative Mohamed Bin Hammam withdrew on Sunday.

Yes, Bin Hammam. The man who persuaded FIFA his tiny, overheated, oily emirate should be awarded the 2022 World Cup ahead of mighty Australia last December.

Jack Warner, the CONCACAF bloke who is also currently suspended, has blown the lid on Blatter’s over-long reign. He showed us an email from Blatter’s oily henchman Jerome Valcke which said “Qatar cannot buy the FIFA Presidency like they did the World Cup.”

Bosh. Done. Blatter’s reign must end. The decision to go ahead with Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022 must be reviewed.

Both the English and Scottish FAs earlier today called on FIFA to delay Blatter’s one-man election – but with Lithuanians and the like around, it just ain’t going to happen to Superman.

Unless Michael Platini, the head of UEFA, can be persuaded to run – or perhaps Danny Jordaan, the South African who ran the 2010 show so well - we may just have to accept another four years of Septic Blatter, 75, who has been in charge of the world game since 1998.

The FA statement insisted: “An external party should be appointed to improve governance of FIFA.”

Anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International joined the chorus, with Sylvia Schenk, their senior advisor on Sport, saying: "Free and fair elections cannot take place when there is a suspicion that voters may have been swayed. Fifa delegates know that they must clean house if their vote is to have legitimacy."

Stewart Regan, chief executive officer of the Scottish FA, said his organisation wanted the vote postponed for three to six months while there was an independent review into the matter.

He said: “Things are changing on an hourly basis so we’ll decide as close to the vote as possible about what well do with our vote.”

Delays? Independent reviews? Preposterous. Blatter would never allow it.

The sad old dictator who frantically waved his ethics booklet around when verbally savaged by journalists in Monday night’s classic press conference opened his congress last night by saying: “I thought that we were living in a world of fair play, mutual respect and discipline, and I must say this is not the case any.

“It’s no longer the case because our pyramid of Fifa is suddenly unstable on its basis and there’s a danger.”

At least he’s admitting that much. The night before he was insisting there was no crisis and telling us to be elegant and respectful.

Blatter, standing for a fourth term in his personal FIFAdom, said he would speak to delegates tomorrow, is reported to have told the English Daily Telegraph he will be telling his delegates today “about this danger that’s lurking and tell you how we can fight and react to this threat.”

But football can take guidance from that other famously troubled international sporting body, the International Olympic Committe. Their president, Jacques Rogge (pictured with Blatter above), took the chance to tell FIFA’s delegates: “Thirteen years ago we were having to face the same ordeal in the Salt Lake City case. The IOC ultimately emerged a stronger organisation, and from within. Our past calls for humility, and I will definitely not point the finger or lecture you. I’m sure FIFA can emerge stronger, and from within.”

We can only pray that happens. I'm not holding my breath.

Who the hell is Neal Collins (nealcol on Twitter)? See www.nealcollins.co.uk.

FIFA's profits soar into the blue and the Rainbow Nation is in the pink: Why the coldest World Cup could be the coolest

Just over a week after the big kick-off, FIFA and South Africa are basking in the glow of success – and vastly increased profits.

Though the World Cup’s first Vuvuzela-related injury has blighted one fan’s fun – Yvonne Meyer, 29, from Cape Town “ruptured her throat by blowing too hard” – the figures pouring forth from FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke suggest Africa’s first effort is set to surpass any previous global sporting event.

Valcke, perhaps the smoothest of FIFA’s many executives in the build-up to an event some thought would collapse before June 11, reckons his organisation will enjoy an increase of 50 percent on profits from the record-breaking mark set by Germany 2006.

Nicolas Maingot, the money man for FIFA, is expecting a “provisional income” of around over £2bn (R24 billion) from ticket sales and broadcast rights. Though most of that will go to Sepp Blatter’s organisation, dire predictions that South Africa would be bankrupted appear to be unfounded.

According to Danny Jordaan, the heroic local committee chief who has fought long and hard for the locals, an unprecedented 456,000 foreign visitors arrived in South Africa between June 1 and June 13. He expects “a second wave” of tourists next week and further increases as the tournament hits the knock-out stages.

While the local South Africa FA will earn £20m (R1,5bn) to help local football, that is peanuts compared to national income from foreign visitors, estimated to spend a minimum £1,000 per person. Audit advisors Grant Thornton gave a “conservative estimate” of £10m (R120m) being pumped into the economy.

President Jacob Zuma, urging South Africans to support the tournament even if their beloved Bafana Bafana exit prematurely on Tuesday, said: “As a country and as a continent we have already won. The success of the World Cup is our success. Let us keep up the momentum and keep the vuvuzelas blowing.”

Though the aforementionedVuvuzela victim Ms Meyer has been advised not to eat or speak for two days, she is on the mend and managed to gasp: “I’ve been told it will heal by itself. I was starving by the time I could eat some soup and yoghurt.”

Vuvuzelas aside, this World Cup has seen 98 percent of tickets sold with a million spectators attending the first 20 games. Matches so far have attracted a global television audience of over 500million. Eleven of the matches baosted attendances of over 97 percent though some ticket holders failed to attend.

Ticket sales are expected to surpass Germany 2006 as the final group games approach. With France sending their top striker Nicolas Anelka home yesterday for calling coach Raymond Domenech “the son of a whore” according to L’Equipe (the Chelsea striker denies it and refused to apologise), opposition leader Helen Zille told the his country: “Now we need to focus on the 90 minutes against France in Bloemfontein. If you do that, and if the whole country is behind Bafana Bafana, we can do it. But whatever happens on Tuesday, we can be proud of the role the team has play in united our nation.”

The Rainbow Nation is already out of the red. A win against the 1998 World Cup winners might just send the whole country into the pink.

Neal Collins is in South Africa to complain about England's form and promote his first noval A GAME APART. See www.nealcollins.co.uk. To see Neal at the National Arts Festival on July 4, go tohttp://www.computicket.com/web/event/neal_collins_a_game_apart/148367625.