By Paul Nicholson
August 1 – One of the most politically driven and controversial decisions of FIFA’s ethics body has been revisited by the FIFA Appeal Committee. Gordon Derrick, the former general Secretary of the Antigua & Barbuda Football Association and President of the Caribbean Football Union, has had his ban reduced from six to four years.
Derrick was the thorn in the side of the North American desire to take absolute control of the Caribbean and breakdown its dominance of the Concacaf confederation where its block voting power dictated the politics and football administration of the region. Derrick was first banned from running in the election for the Concacaf presidency in 2016 that saw Canadian Victor Montagliani take the job, before FIFA finally got their man with a six-year ban and CHF30,000 fine.
Derrick lost his football position, his livelihood and his reputation – a complete job and character assassination of an individual via a case where the evidence (Insideworldfootball has seen the evidence and the written judgement) is thin and the conclusions drawn fanciful (at best). It is another shaming example of FIFA’s ethics body being used to enforce a wider political objective.
The ban was originally handed down to Derrick in September 2017. The Appeals Committee decision took over 10 months to be heard.
“The FIFA Appeal Committee has partially confirmed the decision taken by the adjudicatory chamber of the independent Ethics Committee, which was notified to Mr Derrick on 19 September 2017, reducing the ban from all football-related activities (administrative, sports or any other) at national and international level imposed on Mr Derrick from six to four years, and the fine from CHF 30,000 to CHF 15,000,” said a FIFA statement.
The FIFA Appeal Committee agreed with decision against Derrick on his “infringing articles 20 (Offering and accepting gifts and other benefits), 19 (Conflicts of interest), 15 (Loyalty) and 13 par. 4 (General rules of conduct) of the FIFA Code of Ethics (FCE)…
“However, the Appeal Committee did not concur with the adjudicatory chamber’s findings of Mr Derrick being guilty of additional violations of articles 41 (Obligation of the parties to collaborate) and 18 (Duty of disclosure, cooperation and reporting) of the FCE during the course of the proceedings.”
The Appeal Committee reduced the sanction “following its finding that fewer articles had been infringed, and taking into account all mitigating circumstances of the case.” Derrick still has three years and six weeks left on his ban, and a CHF15,000 fine to pay. Quite how he will pay that remains to be seen as FIFA took his main job income way from him.
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