World Cup mistake was playing it 'clean': consultantPaul Tatnell
December 6, 2010 A key consultant on Australia's 2022 World Cup bid claims he was lied to by members of the FIFA executive committee before last week's crucial vote.
Peter Hargitay - who was rumoured to have been paid between $361,000 and $1.6 million for his services - told SBS in an interview to be screened tonight that Australia was originally promised six votes but ended up with just one.
"Before we went into the voting, we had six votes that we were assured of," Mr Hargitay said.
"We needed at least five to survive the first round. We always knew that the first round was going to be the crucial round. Of the six votes, we had one left and that one vote was claimed by two people, so you tell me what is honesty."
Mr Hargitay told News Ltd over the weekend that Football Federation Australia chairman Frank Lowy had "more access to the FIFA president [Sepp Blatter] than anybody I know because I arranged it".
He also claimed Mr Blatter "was devastated" after Australia lost.
When asked why FIFA would back Qatar despite its crippling heat and lack of infrastructure, Mr Hargitay indicated Australia could not compete with the money being offered by the resource rich nation.
"You go figure it out. What do you think? What do you think motivates people, 14 of them, to vote for a country the population of Zurich, to vote for a country that is the size of Fiji, to vote for a country where the infrastructure to play host to millions of fans still has to be created … You go figure, how can 14 men make that decision?" he told SBS.
"The most fundamental mistake we [Australia] made, and there can be no other way, is that we played it clean."
The full interview will air tonight on The World Game, 9.30pm on SBS TWO.
http://www.smh.com.au/sport/football/world-cup-mistake-was-playing-it-clean-consultant-20101206-18m75.html