FIFA issues statement on Algerian player who slapped reporter

We all remember Rafiki Saifi, the Algerian striker who slapped a female reporter following his team’s loss to the U.S. (Urban Meyer: You can do that?). Here we see him nursing a fat lip, given to him when said reporter, Asma Halimi of the Algerian newspaper Competition, hit him back. FIFA officials are still waiting for an official report, andc so wouldn’t comment on the incident itself. But spokesman Nicolas Maingot did say: “It’s clear the values of fair play apply not only on the pitch, but off the pitch as well.”
That’ll teach him. Um … wait. What does that even mean?

So here’s the background on the incident, as far as we know. Saifi is still miffed because of an incident that occurred last year, when Halimi wrote an account of the player’s marriage to a French woman in an Algerian newspaper. That’s info that Saifi wanted on the down-low in his home country, due to Algeria’s frosty relationship with its former French overlords. Saifi, however, had just transcribed info that was already in another newspaper; it’s not like she broke the story.
Who’s the big loser so far? Amazingly, it’s FIFA; due to it’s limp-noodle response to the incident. I understand that it has to wait for the “official” report before doling out any punishment, but there’s no doubt that Saifi hauled off and smacked a woman reporter in front of dozens of witnesses. If you don’t step up and condemn that the minute it happens, you just look ineffectual and pathetic. You look like an organization that condones hauling South African citizens off to relocation camps, or one that blocks handouts of condoms and safe-sex pamphlets at stadiums, or fails to take decisive action against incompetent officiating.
Running the world’s biggest sporting event “is hard,” as GW Bush would say. But come on, show a little backbone, even if your president is from Switzerland.
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Algerian Even More Dickish Than Previously Thought [Unprofessional Foul]
Algerian player slaps female reporter following loss to U.S. [Out of Bounds]