Fifa gets 400 000 hate-mails
2002-06-22 07:51
Yokohama - Fifa has received about 400 000 hateful e-mails from Italy fans
irate over refereeing in the Italy-South Korea World Cup match.
"Some of them (were) virulent, some quite abusive, some of them
very threatening, some of them quite disturbing," Keith Cooper, a
Fifa spokesperson, said on Saturday.
The internet traffic was so great that it crashed Fifa's e-mail
system server, he said.
Many Italians blame the Italian team's 2-1 loss on Tuesday to South
Korea, which eliminated Italy from the World Cup, on poor
refereeing and claim that the Italians were victims of a string of
bad calls throughout the tournament.
During the World Cup, Italy had five goals disallowed, including
one in Tuesday's match, mainly for questionable offside calls.
Video replays have shown that some of them may have been valid
goals.
Fifa president Sepp Blatter has denied any conspiracy but
conceded several dubious decisions had damaged the Italians.
Cooper said he personally responded to several of the angry
e-mails, including one man "who suggested I perish as rapidly as
possible.
"I wrote back to him and explained a little bit of the way we
operate, and how the referees are only human," Cooper said,
summarising his response.
"If the game was organised in a machine-like way, it would no
longer so interesting, and would you continue to be in love with
the game if it was run like a machine? Would you continue to be
love with your wife or girlfriend if it was run like a machine?
"I thought was a line that might appeal to most Italians."
Cooper said the man wrote back to apologise.
"So I'd like to think that the vast majority of the 400 000 have
also come to think they overreacted a little bit," Cooper said. - Sapa-AP
- SAPA