Blatter comments kill off the 'respect' campaign for good
By Jim van Wijk, Press Association Sport--------

"I see no ships", the FIFA president will no doubt have declared from his ivory tower in Zurich when surveying the fallout from the latest public relations disaster. Yet the reality for Sepp Blatter could not be more stark.
Put simply, racism, of any form, has no place in society, sport or anywhere else for that matter.
Blatter can dress his ''misunderstood'' comments up as much as he likes, but that is what he should have said when asked about the subject, twice, during different television interviews.
Yet what the Swiss supremo - who will once again ride out the latest calls for his long-overdue departure despite another public clamour for his resignation - fails to grasp, is there is a consequence to every action.
Not that he would know, or indeed probably care, what goes on during a grass-roots football match on Sunday mornings up and down the country, and indeed on parks or make-do pitches across the globe, as impressionable children and often slightly overweight, balding men who really should know better get set for their very own taste of the beautiful game.
This is where the reality of Blatter's blunder will bite.
Because this is where some no-mark this weekend will probably think they can get away with saying something which has no place on a football pitch, playground or subject for discussion after dinner.
''If a player abuses a referee, does a shake of the hand after the game wipe the slate clean?'' former England captain Rio Ferdinand put out there in the start of a Twitter spat between the Manchester United defender and the man at the very top of the world game.
We all know the answer to that simple, yet fundamental question.
'Respect' has become a buzzword in the modern game, lauded by the Football Association in an attempt to improve attitudes towards officials on the pitch and from the sidelines right through the game.
Blatter's latest comments may just have killed that drive for good.
How are we expected to show respect for the whistle, if it is okay to hurl abuse at the opposition left winger, so long as you pat him on the back at full-time and say ''no hard feelings old chum?''
It just doesn't wash.

Don't worry, though, because 75-year-old Sepp understands.
His FIFA ''has a long-standing and proud record in the area of anti-discrimination which will continue'' - so long as women start to wear skimpier kit and any gay fans who want to take in the 2022 World Cup ''refrain from sexual activity'' while in Qatar.
Oh, and don't forget sleeping with your team-mate's former partner would be ''applauded'' if you lived in a Latin country, his response to John Terry being stripped of the England captaincy over allegations about his private life.
If anyone deserves the red card, it is Blatter. Whether those on FIFA's executive committee will have the guts to show it, is a whole different ball game.