When I first heard it suggested that England should withdraw from Fifa and form a rival international grouping, I thought it was nothing more than aggrieved individuals chucking their teddy out of the pram in the wake of the disastrous World Cup bid.

The suggestion had all the hallmarks of a kneejerk reaction to what was, admittedly, not Fifa’s finest decision-making hour. “If you won’t let me play I am going home and taking my ball with me”, sort of thing.

But, when this idea of resigning from Fifa and starting afresh was backed by sports lawyer Mel Goldberg, I started to wonder if there might actually be some substance to the idea.

Goldberg’s view is that being associated with Fifa is no longer desirable because of the highly questionable way the organisation is run. As an example he said he had been informed two months before the vote that the decision had already been taken to give the 2018 and 2022 tournaments to Russia and Qatar respectively.

Yet Fifa allowed the other countries to continue with their bids and chuck away millions in the process. And that showed pure contempt towards established footballing countries like England and Spain, who were left going through the motions and playing Fifa’s twisted little game to the bitter end.

The question is, do these countries really want to be ruled by an association with its own private agenda that clearly doesn’t involve them? Or at least, doesn’t involve their best interests.

Nobody has yet explained exactly how this breakaway grouping would or could work. And I would be very interested to see, at the very least, some plans outlining the logistics behind the idea. Would they have their own World Cup, for example?

What is for certain is that England would not be able to initiate any sort of split on their own. If a rebellion of this nature is to succeed it would need the support of at least four other countries: Italy, Spain, France and Germany.

One of the obvious consequences of setting up an alternative to Fifa would be the individual football associations being banned from existing tournaments like, for example, the Champions League. That may be run by Uefa, but what is that other than Fifa’s European wing?

But take away the top four teams from the big five European leagues and the Champions League is rendered all but meaningless anyway.

I think the simple truth is that whether Fifa president Sepp Blatter and his cronies like it or not, Europe is the heartland of modern, commercial, properly organised football. And it cannot be that Europeans continue to be treated as second-class citizens by an organisation that is supposed to be the promoter of fair play and equality.

Take away the teams from those big five nations and you take away the very heart and soul of Uefa and do serious damage to Fifa. Both organisations would lose scores of the best supported clubs in the world. And that, ladies and gentleman, is where the real power of modern football is – the European heartland. And Fifa’s priorities should reflect this.

So will this breakaway ever happen? It certainly won’t be easy. At the moment I imagine only Spain is as unhappy with Fifa, as England and two swallows don’t make a summer.

However, the very fact that there is talk about it, talk that is supported by the likes of the hugely influential Goldberg, is probably enough to make Fifa sit up and take notice.

In its current format and under its current leaders, Fifa has lost its direction. It seems to have forgotten it is supposed to be looking out for all its member associations and not just those who are awash with money or desperate to find out what shape a football is.

That is not what the masses want, and any organisation that loses touch with its core members is on a hiding to nothing.

Personally, I would like nothing more than to see these current rumblings of unrest develop and mature into a full-blown revolution.

I have disliked the way Fifa and Blatter have been running football for many, many years.

It is time for a change, and one way or another I think it will come about. However it’s up to Blatter whether that change is evolutionary or revolutionary.

Goodbye to flags

It’s a question I have asked before but I don’t recall every having received a sensible answer. So, in the interests of broadening my personal wisdom, I am going to ask it again: what the devil happened to the flags on the half-way line?

It was like one day they were there and the next they were gone. No big fanfare, no campaigns to see them reinstated, no minute’s silence for their untimely demise.

I appreciate that they didn’t really do a great deal. There wasn’t much purpose to their existence apart from helping linesmen know when they should stop running and go back the other way.

Yet when someone asked me the other day why they had vanished, I was completely stumped. So, if you’ve got the answer, drop me a line.

Talking of things that vanished without trace, whatever happened to that magic spray referees were using to show the 10 yards players needed to be away from a free kick? The last I heard it was being tried out in a league somewhere in South America, but it’s all gone very quiet.

I remember thinking at the time it was a great idea – a ref paces out the 10 yards and then sprays the paint on the grass to give the defensive wall a clear indicator of where they should be. Then, a couple of minutes later, it evaporates and disappears.

Has this idea been kicked into touch? Is it due for more trials in different leagues? It’s this sort of question that keeps me awake at night.

I need to get out more.

Ashes to ashes

If there are any Aussies reading this piece then please allow me to offer you my sincere condolences on your failure to regain the Ashes from England.

Hang on. Who am I kidding?

After so many years of watching Australia kick England’s bottoms at just about every sport imaginable, it is absolutely beautiful to see the cricket team bucking the trend. A perfect dose of festive cheer.

Andrew Strauss and his team fully deserve their unassailable 2-1 lead in the current contest being played out in Australia’s backyard, and I only hope England go on to win the final test and secure a truly memorable 3-1 victory.

With a bit of good fortune they will give Ricky Ponting’s lads another good hiding in that last match.

And, with another bit of good luck, they will then fly home and teach the English football team how to go about winning things.

sportscolumnist@timesofmalta.com