The explosive WikiLeaks revelations which have sent countless governments into a defensive tailspin have also fingered some murky movements in the sports world. Most sensational of the bunch is the claim that the military junta in control of Myanmar (commonly known as Burma) was encouraged to buy English Premier giants, Manchester United. Myanmar military leader Than Shwe considered making a $1 billion offer to United’s owners – the Glazer family – at the same time the Asian nation’s citizens were struggling desperately to recover from the devastating effects of Cyclone Nargis, which killed more than 138,000 people. While the United Nations attempted to put pressure on Myanmar in the early part of 2009 over its slow response to the previous year’s cyclone, Shwe’s grandson was actively encouraging him to invest in Man United in an attempt, it is believed, to deflect attention from the country’s ongoing social and humanitarian issues. A cable sent from the U.S. embassy in Rangoon revealed that the $1 billion figure exactly matched the aid bill Myanmar was facing to cover emergency food, housing and business aid for the cyclone sufferers. Even then, it appears that Shwe, whose government is accused of exploiting its oil reserves and suppressing political opposition (rival party leader Aung San Suu Kyi remained under house arrest for more than 15 years until recently), did not see any problem with raising the cash needed to buy a controlling stake in United. Eventually, Shwe scrapped the idea of buying the team due to fears it might “look bad” and attract further attention from international opposition. The beautiful game’s immense appeal is its greatest strength. It truly is the world’s game, universally loved. Even in the United States, where soccer faces such great competition from traditional American sports, it is growing – evidenced by last summer’s World Cup, which proved that the sport is capable of briefly captivating the nation. Yet that huge popularity around the globe is also soccer’s weak spot against corruption and dirty influence. The game is cared about by so many that it can be used to influence a population, either by masking governmental deficiencies or human rights violations, or even shaping pro-authority spirit. Find a shady government, and chances are that soccer will be thrown into the mix somewhere. Further WikiLeaks revelations concerning Iran stated that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad recently grew wary of the impact his national team’s performances could have on feeling towards the country and namely the government. Therefore, he stepped in to personally fire head coach Ali Daei, then loaned his team a private plane for a trip to North Korea. In neighboring Iraq, tyrant Saddam Hussein’s son Uday was accused of systematic torture of players who failed to meet his standards. After not qualifying for the 1994 World Cup, players reportedly were forced to kick a concrete ball and others were allegedly dragged over a gravel pit to open cuts on their body and pushed into a sewer to cause infection. In 2000, three years before his death, Uday is said to have ordered the public flogging of three players who had underperformed during a defeat to Japan in the Asian Cup. Thankfully, nothing like that has emerged in recent years. But the modern links between soccer and politics are just as worrying, if less directly barbaric. Even the decision not to go forward with the Manchester United offer, which surely would have been rebuffed by the Glazers on humanitarian grounds and blocked by the British government, did not dissuade the Myanmar leadership from putting its population above sport. Instead of buying United, it started a domestic soccer league, ordering leading businesses to buy teams, build stadiums and pay heavy salaries to players imported from Africa and South America. Sadly, this column doesn’t offer a solution on how to avoid the mixing of soccer and state. Hoping that those in power will forgo a chance to use the sport’s popularity for their own interest is a futile exercise. But when soccer is played by talents like Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta (all finalists for the Ballon d’Or award that goes to the world’s top player), it is very much the beautiful game. The problem is when soccer is trapped in the hands of bureaucrats, dictators and crooks. Source: Yahoosports