"Fick Fufa" - disgruntled South Africans put the boot in (Feature)

By Clare Byrne Jun 21, 2010, 13:09 GMT

Johannesburg - South Africans chafing under the heavy hand of FIFA are starting to kick back against the hegemonic football body.

Disenchantment with the football giant has been simmering for months as FIFA's rules are promulgated into laws that protect its interests and those of its sponsors while curbing the initiative of locals.

A few years ago, FIFA was seen in a more benign light.

Many South Africans felt grateful towards FIFA president Joseph Blatter for entrusting Africa with hosting its showpiece tournament, believing the country would make a killing from the privilege.

Reality came crashing this year when FIFA's booking agency Match began dumping thousands of unsold hotel rooms back on the market two months before the World Cup and a number of local companies trying to cash in on the cup were slapped down by FIFA's strict trademark rules.

Discount airline Kulula thought it was acting with the norms of fair play when it ran a tongue-in-cheek ad with sketches of a soccer player and a stadium, punting itself as the Unofficial National Carrier of the You-Know-What.

The airline, which is known for its irreverent humour, was however forced to withdraw the ad after FIFA threatened it with a lawsuit.

Some got rapped for much less. Metcash cash-and-carry group was hauled before a court for selling lollipops branded '2010 Pops'.

FIFA explains that it has to protect the World Cup brand as its most precious asset.

The association has also made concessions to its hosts - setting aside around 800,000 cheaper match tickets for locals and digging out the World Cup local organizing committee to the tune of an extra 100 million dollars in May.

It's the association's heavy-handed approach that has got up the noses of many.

The Mail & Guardian newspaper reported at the weekend that a social activist in the city of Durban was thrown out of a Fan Fest for handing out pamphlets advertising a march against the World Cup.

Her eviction followed the high-profile 'Dutchy dress' debacle, in which 36 women were ejected from a Netherlands-Denmark game for wearing orange mini-dresses sponsored by Bavaria beer - a rival of FIFA sponsor Budweiser.

Two of women have since appeared in court in Johannesburg on charges relating to ambush marketing, sparking an outcry among fans of the 'dress guerrilla marketing babes.'

'FIFA has turned this country into its private little fiefdom and we've been quite happy to put aside the constitutional freedoms we are known for to satisfy those money-grubbing Europeans (which most of them are),' Brendan Seery, a columnist with Johannesburg's Saturday Star, wrote.

'Big Brother is here and FIFA is thy name,' a reader reacted on the website of South Africa's Times daily.

In Cape Town, a businessman has cottoned on to the anger and designed a t-shirt with the slogan 'Fick Fufa'. Satirical news site Hayibo.com is also taunting FIFA with a t-shirt marked 'Feefa 2.010 Whirld Cup Sowth Africa.'

And Kulula has jumped back into the fray, proudly announcing that it is taking Sepp Blatter for 'walkies.'

The airline had offered the FIFA president a free ticket as a gesture of reconciliation. When Blatter didn't pounce, a dog owner from Cape Town claimed the seat on behalf of his hastily-renamed boston terrier, Sepp Blatter.

'Whatever we're doing we will never be seen as a nice organization,' FIFA secretary-general Jerome Valcke admitted somewhat ruefully at a press briefing in May. 'For a few things, it will be seen as, yes, we are taking over.'

While FIFA cops flak, Blatter himself remains relatively popular - even if he is a figure of fun for some.

At the opening ceremony of the 2006 World Cup in Germany, the 74-year-old Swiss was booed. In Soccer City on June 11, the man who staked his reputation on bring the World Cup to Africa - a pet project of his - was loudly cheered.