Brazil scores!

The debacle around the issue of a visa to the Dalai Lama is not the only reason for bad press about South Africa this week. The Brazilian president, Ms Dimla Rousseff, has also referred to South Africa in less than flattering terms. She is being taken to task by FIFA for failing to ignore the Brazilian constitution, and other existing legislation, so as to accede to FIFA’s requirements for the staging of the 2014 Soccer World Cup. According to a report in Monday’s Irish Times, available here http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2011/1003/1224305145366.html
she made it clear that ‘Brazil will not let Fifa impose its demands on Brazil in the same way it did with South Africa ahead of the 2010 tournament’.
In particular, she refused to accept state liability for any damages suffered by Fifa and its executive during the tournament, she has not guaranteed the sale of alcohol in stadiums during the tournament (this falls under state not national legislation), she has refused to raise the prison terms for counterfeit merchandise to the levels demanded by Fifa, and she has respected national legislation that grants reduced admission rates to pensioners and students.
Maybe women’s priorities are less focussed on TV sport?