Effigy of ‘Bad Guy’ Blatter to go up in smoke

LONDON (Reuters) – A giant effigy of embattled FIFA president Sepp Blatter will be set alight as part of the Bonfire Night celebrations of a small English town.

The towering 11-metre sculpture built by artist Frank Shepherd has been erected at Edenbridge in Kent and portrays the 79-year-old Swiss holding the World Cup, a ball and box of bank notes.

The effigy of Blatter, who is currently suspended for 90 days by FIFA’s ethics committee and reeling from the most serious corruption scandal ever to engulf the world governing body, will be torched on Saturday.

Asked why Blatter had been chosen as the ‘Bad Guy’ for the town’s Bonfire Night celebrations, Shepherd said: “Well, it’s always difficult. We have to wait until the last minute really because it has to be somebody who’s in the news.

“This year there was very little choice, it had to be Sepp Blatter. I wanted to do (Russian President) Vladimir Putin with a big rocket under his arm but I was voted down.”

Britain traditionally celebrates the failed attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605 by letting off fireworks and lighting bonfires with an effigy of ‘Gunpowder Plot’ leader Guy Fawkes on top.

Past Bonfire Night effigies in Edenbridge have included former Prime Minister Tony Blair, former Iraq leader Saddam Hussein and disgraced American cyclist Lance Armstrong.

(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Alan Baldwin)