Mexico City (Abro). Scottish sports journalist Andrew Jennings, who exposed corruption in FIFA and the International Olympic Committee, died on Saturday, January 8, due to a sudden illness, according to his relatives.
Jennings, 78, is best known for his investigations, the first of which was when he investigated Spain’s Juan Antonio Samaranch and exposed his corrupt practices as president of the International Olympic Committee in “The Lords of the Rings,” 1992.
Press investigations with Jennings, who also worked for the BBC, exposed a three-decade culture of corruption in global sport. Most recently, the so-called FIFA Gate, which ousted Joseph Blatter as the leader of international football and put a handful of Latin American football chiefs in prison.
“If you were to name one revolution in the international sports debate over the past 30 years, if you could pick just one person to exemplify the growing public awareness of the economic and political exploitation of sport, athletes, and fans, that name and that person would be Andrew Jennings,” wrote Jens Seeger Andersen, Director International Play the Game.
Play the Game is an international organization sponsored by the Danish Institute for Sports Studies (Idan) that works to advance the ethics of sport through democracy, transparency and freedom of expression.
Jennings was one of the collaborators with this organization, which published on its website a text in which Andersen explained the importance of the work of the Scottish journalist, who defined him as “a relentless and relentless investigative reporter, always seeking documents and facts that can reveal the dark side of the sports business.” Always zealously seeking cooperation with like-minded spirits, always in a fighting position when faced with doctors, lawyers, media experts, and sports leaders who have tried to justify the unwarranted.”
After publishing “The Lords of the Rings,” which he co-authored with Viv Simpson, Andrew Jennings was banned from attending IOC events for years. He worked alone in his next book, “The New Lords of the Rings” (1996), where he exposed corrupt practices in international sports federations and the International Olympic Committee.
The IOC came under critical scrutiny in Jennings’ next book, “The Great Olympic Swindle” (2000 jointly with Clare Sambrook) in which he denounced acts of corruption and bribery in the selection of the venue for the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.
After investigating the International Olympic Committee, Andrew Jennings turned his attention to FIFA. In 2001, a journalist appeared at a FIFA press conference and asked Joseph Blatter: “Have you ever received a bribe?”
Six weeks later, an anonymous FIFA official organized a secret meeting in the middle of the night in Zurich, the headquarters of FIFA, and provided Jennings with the first batch of documents and contacts to take the next steps in his investigation.
“Based on FIFA documents and an investigation by Swiss authorities into the defunct marketing company ISL, Jennings disclosed FIFA’s gang-style business in the book “Missing!” The Secret World of FIFA: Bribery, vote tampering, and ticket scandals, published in 2006, earned him a ban from participating in FIFA events and multiple legal threats. FIFA has never sued him.”
Later, according to Jens Sejer Andersen, a series of documentaries on BBC Panorama about FIFA, researched and presented by Jennings, contributed to the international impact of his work. His book and publications have drawn the attention of investigators – and football fans – who work for the IRS (International Tax Service) and the FBI.
Officials contacted Jennings in 2009 and were asked to assist in their secret criminal investigation with FIFA.
When the DOJ took action in May 2015 and Blatter was forced to withdraw, Andrew Jennings began filming his fifth and final BBC Panorama programme, which summarizes 15 years of investigation into “FIFA, me and Sepp Blatter”.
While filming some recent series in New York, Andrew Jennings suffered a stroke that limited his ability to work in his later years.
With Play the Game, Andrew Jennings since its inception in 1997 has collaborated in practicing what has always been advocated as one of the primary avenues for journalistic success: networking.
His reliance on his like-minded colleagues was matched by an outright disregard for those who practice ‘bad quasi-criminal information standards’; Laziness, unwillingness to ask questions, dependence on press releases. He has attacked journalists queuing up for photos with “sport tycoons” and accepting too much “hospitality from the people they’re supposed to write about”.
“I have often heard him teach younger journalists to never base their stories on hints and anonymous sources. Their motto was short and candid: ‘Get the documents!’ History has proven Andrew Jennings to be right. He was not exaggerating on the contrary. In his case, as is the case In most cases of investigative journalism in sports, more serious crimes are discovered when police and prosecutors decide to act on the basis of journalistic disclosure.”
Finally, Play The Game highlighted that during the first half of his career, which Jennings spent investigating corruption at Scotland Yard and other sectors of society, he learned a lesson that led to the sport: “When a group of reporters goes in one direction, go in the opposite direction. Avoid Hustle, step away from the fast-paced crowd of news reporters, walk away and search until you think you’re up to some facts. Some independent facts are better than none.”
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