The Soccer of My Youth, Yoga, and the FIFA Scandal

Youth soccer was just getting going in the early to mid-1970’s in New Rochelle, N.Y. As I recall, in 3rd grade there were only 4 teams, with names as simple as blue, red, green and yellow. Or something like that. But it did not remain that way for long.

Within a year, businesses began sponsoring the New Rochelle Youth Soccer League – teams were called “George’s Hair Fort”, “Suburban Carting”, “Maufacturers Hanover Trust” and the like. And the degree of participation grew dramatically. Everybody played. And the level of competition quickly heightened. Travel teams sprouted up for all ages, and by the early 80’s some of those travel teams had met great success on even the international level. The game was generally heralded as “The sport of the future” – and the New York Cosmos had Pele. The winds were in our favor.

As a kid growing up in this era, on Saturday mornings soccer was everything. I would often ride my bike to one of the local fields early in the morning and remain there till noon – watching all the games, kicking a ball on the sideline, paling around with friends, and, yes, enthusiastically playing in the game when it was time for my team to take the field. It was quite exciting and a lot of fun.

Parents were also involved. Other than cutting oranges for halftime and cheering from the sidelines, even though they did not quite know all the rules, my own parents were not very involved, though certainly supportive. Other parents coached teams, organized the league, and took on greater roles. As a kid, you heard about those names and they stuck in the mind and took on epic, even mythical, proportions. After all, those names were governing your world. Because Saturday morning soccer and getting on the travel team was everything. One such name was Chuck Blazer.

Fast forward 35+ years…

When I heard about the US DOJ’s raid on FIFA officials at the Zurich hotel on May 27, 2015, I was not surprised. I knew FIFA was the governing body of international soccer, but unlike the NFL, NHL, NBA, or MLB, I could not tell you exactly what the FIFA initials stood for. And I still can’t. Though over the years, in my mind, I had casually clumped and lumped FIFA in the same pile as the world cycling federation. This much I knew. They were both international sports governing bodies that were forever riddled by shady dealings – always whirling in the midst of swirling allegations.

Besides, in my adult life, starting at the age of 23 or so, I had become very involved in yoga and meditation. Gone were the years of intensely following and watching professional sports. Time was spent in ashrams in India, and meditation halls in the US – not in Joe’s sports bar. So when the news broke of the FIFA raid in Zurich, I took it as another global happening and kinda watched from afar. On one NPR radio discussion, I believe I did get wind of the storyline: How was it that the US DOJ led this raid, when the US itself is not a big football nation. Heck, we do not even call it football – for us it is soccer. In those initial days when the news broke, I had passively come to understand that this was one of the intrigues.

 (Image Courtesy of Swissinfo.ch)

Fast forward one week.

I completed teaching my weekly Wednesday evening yoga classes at Galseville Hall on June 3rd and returned home by 9p. I tended to my normal duties and by 11p or so was just casually browsing the news headlines when I saw something that caught my eye – the headline and subtitle read something like this: New York soccer Dad Chuck Blazer. Immediately, a whirlwind of memories stirred in my mind. I could not forget that name – he was like the unofficial president of my childhood.

Within a matter of seconds, I had confirmed that, yes, the Chuck Blazer that had just emerged at the center of the FIFA – still don’t know what it stands for – scandal was none other than the Chuck Blazer of  the New Rochelle Youth Soccer League of the 1970s. Apparently he had done quite well for himself. While most of us players from those days had long left the soccer world and were involved in other life pursuits, for him “soccer” had remained a mainstay. I read how by the 1990s he was in charge of the soccer association of the entire Americas – from Argentina to Alaska. I read how he had been taking bribes – millions of dollars. I read how he had become close with FIFA. I read how he lived the highlife and had two condos in the Trump Tower, one of which was for his cats. I read how he got busted in 2013 for tax evasion. And I read that thereafter, he had made a deal with US authorities to sit in and record 2+ years worth of FIFA meetings. And I read that Chuck Blazer was THE LINK for how the US DOJ had taken on and taken down FIFA. A feat that none of the other countries could accomplish and was widely hailed in and around western Europe.

The next morning, Thursday June 4, 2015, I got in my car for the 18 minute drive to teach my 9am yoga class in Chesapeake Beach. I turned on NPR and there was the name: Chuck Blazer. Amazing. In my mind, in a span of 10 hours, Chuck had gone from being a near mythical childhood icon – could not remember the face, just the name – to becoming the face of a global storyline for all that had gone wrong with FIFA. And yes, now I know the face.

(Image Courtesy of The Guardian)

In the few days since, I have orally recounted this tale with my yoga students, and invariably they have seen him on TV, and watched interviews of him. Amidst other observations they were genuinely stunned by his appearance. He is morbidly obese and suffers from rectal cancer. Nowadays, he does not look like much of a soccer player, but then again as a kid I do not recall him ever kicking a ball per se. Just I knew the name. So how did all this become? How does a regular soccer Dad (who comparatively speaking probably did not know much about the sport) become one of the “heads of state” of professional football on the international level wherein he has private sit-down meetings with Putin and rides in private jets with Nelson Mandela – all the while leading a life of sheer gluttony and disease.

(Image Courtesy of UK Daily Mail)

According to the yogis, vistara is the first stage of human dharma, and an inherent characteristic of the human mind. It means expansion. As human beings, we have the incessant desire to expand – to get more. For the true yogi, that expansion is pursued on the psycho-spiritual plane – goading the mind’s limitless desire towards the infinite. That is the recipe for satiating the infinite yearnings of the mind. Success is measured in terms of selflessness in the social sphere and bliss in one’s meditation. In stark contrast, when one leads a life based on material consumption, then one randomly plugs mundane pegs into that infinite hole of human desire in hopes of achieving happiness. And when that approach is combined with immorality, it is a recipe for absolute disaster. It is akin to driving an automobile at 120+ mph without paying heed to the rules of the road. There is bound to be a crash. Sadly, this is what happens with the Chuck Blazers of the world. Lacking spiritual direction, and devoid of a moral compass, even your basic New Rochelle soccer Dad can make global headlines and become the centerpiece of a scandal that rocks one of the most corrupt governing bodies of sports – FIFA.

Oh, and by the way, now I know what FIFA stands for: Fédération Internationale de Football Association – and their slogan is, “For the Good of the Game.”