Blatter says Blair took note of what he said

London: British Prime Minister Tony Blair was given some welcome respite from weighty world issues on Monday when he met Sepp Blatter, the president of soccer’s world governing body Fifa.

Blair had spent the weekend embroiled in the latest twist in the Iraq war debate but Blatter preferred to concentrate on his own running sore — the ban handed out to Manchester United’s England defender Rio Ferdinand for missing a drugs test.

“I told him (Blair) we had a very good example of how not to deal with a matter of doping, which was the Rio Ferdinand case,” Blatter told a media briefing in London.

“It will go into our textbook,” he added of the defender’s belated eight-month ban for failing to take a random test. “The regulations of Fifa are very clear. If a player fails to attend a drugs test then he should be treated as having failed it and be immediately suspended until the case is dealt with by the relevant authority,” Blatter said.

“This was not done and we were not informed at the beginning. Then it was too late to intervene — that’s why we let it go. I felt I had to bring it to his (Blair’s) attention, and he took note.”

Blatter did not reveal where the premier stood on that issue but added that Blair was happy to receive thanks on behalf of Britain for inventing the game of football.

“I wanted to tell him how happy we were with the British and English for the organisation of the game, for the laws and for exporting the game,” Blatter said of the 25-minute meeting, which was related to Fifa’s centenary celebrations.

Blatter also told Blair he was pleased that the British government planned to sign Article 182 of the European Union treaty that specifies the characteristics of sport.

“The Prime Minister was very keen to receive some compliments because I don’t think he is getting so many at the moment,” said Blatter.

The Fifa president said the two men had also discussed the London bid for the 2012 Olympics and Blatter assured Blair his organisation would not stand in the way of Britain entering a team in the Olympic soccer tournament.

Fear of the four individual home unions — England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland — losing their autonomy has long stood in the way of a combined British Olympic soccer team.

“I told him that the ‘four in one’ or one team from four associations was not a problem,” said Blatter, who has said previously that he would prefer to see one of the four teams representing Britain.