FIFA Corruption and the Carolina RailHawks

It was just about a year ago that I left for a month long vacation to Brazil for the World Cup so my long term readers know that I’m a big fan. I’m also cynical enough that I was not surprised when the U.S. Department of Justice recently indicted several FIFA officials for corruption. I was surprised, however, that among them was Aaron Davidson, President of Traffic Sports USA which is the majority-share owner of my local club, the Carolina RailHawks.

While I will be grateful to Traffic for saving the RailHawks from the abyss a few years ago, I have long been uncomfortable with their absentee ownership and, along with my fellow Triangle Soccer Fanatics, would prefer someone local. Unfortunately, until I become a rich and famous poet, I can only contribute to the RailHawks as a season ticket holder and advocate for local ownership of my local club.

To that end, I am sharing TSF’s open letter to our league’s commissioner, petitioning him “… to revoke Traffic’s franchise rights immediately and for the League to assume full control of the Carolina RailHawks on an interim basis until new, permanent, preferably local ownership is found.”

If you’re a fellow fan of the beautiful game and wish to see it freed of corruption at all levels, then I ask that you add your name to the open letter.

About Bartholomew Barker

Bartholomew Barker is an organizer of Living Poetry, a collection of poets in the Triangle region of North Carolina where he has hosted a monthly feedback workshop for more than decade. His first poetry collection, Wednesday Night Regular, written in and about strip clubs, was published in 2013. His second, Milkshakes and Chilidogs, a chapbook of food inspired poetry was served in 2017. He was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2021. Born and raised in Ohio, studied in Chicago, he worked in Connecticut for nearly twenty years before moving to Hillsborough where he lives and writes poetry.

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