Tuesday 24 March 2015

“Boycott never works” - Sepp Blatter

But is the distinguished Mr Sepp Blatter right?

If we compare it to what has been going on in South Africa in the eSports scene, we will see that he is mostly correct in his statement.

It all started back in 2005 when a member club hosted the MSSA's national championship in Olympic House. Unfortunately, it could have been done better by the member club. However, it was thus responsible for the MSSA to take direct control over its premier event, but it also created some unhappiness with some gamers.

Some of these gamers have thus remained away from MSSA events. As one such gamer put it,”I have attended one of your events if you remember and as a 16 year old i c ould have organised better”.

The really sad part is that for ten years this gamer has stayed away from MSSA events, preferring to listen to gossip, rumour and hearsay.

The gamer too advocates resistance to what the MSSA does, but he himself does nothing to help cross the 'great divide'.

And that is what a boycott does, it creates two camps that are opposed to each other.


The one camp (those on the outside) are antagonistic by nature and attack the other at every given turn normally by only a few vitriolic gamers who claim to represent the 'community'. However, which community they represent remains a mystery as they are never elected, and they are not accountable to anyone.

On the other side, you have the legally recognized organization that is firm and resolute. It holds annual general meetings, presents audited financial statements, goes about the business of promoting the sport and is accountable to its members, the bodies to which it affiliates and sometimes, even to government.

So while the boycott creates a divide that few are willing to cross – as that would mean that someone would have to eat 'humble pie' – it splits those who should all be sharing a common interest and common goals.

The body being boycotted often does not even notice that there is a boycott as those competitive gamers who wish to get ahead, remain firmly ensconced in the activities of the boycotted body. Those on the outside are normally just recreationalists, so no-one misses them anyway!

In fact the body being boycotted often becomes even stronger. Instead of having people within the organization trying to tear it down, it is left with a strong supporter base who are all committed to the same objectives.

As we can see from the above, Mr Sepp Blatter knows exactly what he is talking about.  

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