These are very hard times for sport in general, worldwide. The entire world has been riddled with one scandal or the other, over the years. And it seems to be getting worse.
Lately we have been faced with allegations of doping in athletics, match fixing in cricket. And we have had a good slice of it in my sport, football, and it breeds concern amongst those of us whose livelihood it is, and who rely on the leadership to present a transparent playing field so we can be proud of whatever we gain from the sport.
For yours truly, it doesn't matter what led up to this, but 2 December 2010 was the turning point, a day that marked the beginning of a long drawn out saga of change in the face of running football worldwide.
Being deeply involved in the bidding for World Cup hosting of 2018 and 2022 on behalf of England, and having traversed the world meeting with, and trying to convince the powers that be in football, especially in Africa, to give England a chance, one could not but be exposed to the seeming two-faced treachery of some of the people we called leaders in our game.
The pain was not in the announcement of the result of the vote which saw us fail miserably in getting more than one extra vote to add to the vote of our own on the FIFA Exco, but the manner in which the whole thing unfolded.
The less we say about it at this point, the better. But mark it, it was the turning point that has now brought what we are seeing in FIFA till this day. And it was the day that the whole existence and meaning of football changed - for the better or worse, time will tell.
Then on the eve of the FIFA congress and election of 2015, where people had challenged the 79 year old incumbent Sepp Blatter who was gunning for a fifth term in office, hell seemed to break loose. Security operatives came down on the prestigious hotel in Zurich - Baur Au Lac (that place brings me so much bad memories that I have refused to visit it since that night of 1 December 2010 when we were lied to by many big men in football as to how England was the 'best place to have a World Cup and you have my vote'! tut tut) and made multiple arrests of top guys in the game. It looked like a scene from the movies, but it was actually happening. Guys we all looked up to, to sanctify the game and set in place true reform processes were being picked up with damning evidence as to their own complicity in the story of corruption in FIFA.
The elections held, Sepp Blatter won (and I was genuinely pleased at that, I must say) but we knew we hadn't heard the last of the scandal.
And as thought, there was a casualty, but no one expected it to be as big a casualty as the one we had. Sepp himself announced that he was taking a walk, a long walk away from all this, and will put measures in place for true reform.
It seemed that the man had made a sacrifice for the game, to allow someone new to come in and sanitise this rotting menace that is called football administration.
But with it came the floodgates of ambitious people, people coming forward to say "I want to be President of FIFA". And I mean, just anyone.
In a sport that had no clear guidelines on who can run for the office of President, individuals just kept sounding out the media and declaring their intention.
We have heard of UEFA President Michel Platini saying he wants the top job he didn't want few months before. Then there is the ex Vice President of FIFA, Dr Choong from Korea who also declared. Two days ago, Prince Ali of Jordan, who pushed Sepp to a second round of votes, decided to contest again.
It all looks interesting especially as we await the October 26 deadline set for all candidates to have garnered the five nominations needed to be regarded as credible candidates for the February 2016 poll.
Many are apprehensive of what will come of this. It is serious times for football. In a world where transfer records are being broken, silly money being thrown around by clubs buying mediocre players, it's all surreal. Yet we are hoping to see that madness stay away from the electioneering and see how we can get transparently honest people to come in and run our sport, and bring needed change, but fairness and uniformity to the sport we love.
From the African perspective, we watch. We watch for what will become of football in Africa. As has been mentioned in the past, will Africa ever have it as good as it did in the FIFA under Blatter? If not, how many football federations in Africa are prepared for this change and what will be a significant drop in revenue and assistance from the big house in Zurich?
We all read the above and say "that's not funny". These are serious issues that could make us wear a gloomy face when we look at the state of football in our continent, despite enjoying FIFA support. Leagues are not being played in some countries. Many national coaches are owed salaries. Governments are fighting federations and starving them of funds. We have all the stories.
So it is not funny at all.
But the fun comes when we see how Africans have responded to the impending vacancy in the office of FIFA President.
And this is what I will tackle in my next intervention. Maybe we will see the funny side there, when we dissect the candidacies of my very good friend Musa Bility, my 'egbon' Segun Odegbami, and former governor in Nigeria Orji Kalu.
These are the African entrants, so far, in the race for the prestigious office.
Any more names?
I'll be back with the funny side..........soon.
