The Meaning of Headlines: "body blow for an organization" - FIFA

International New York Times covered the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) corruption arrests on May 28, 2015 with one of many headlines, including: “Body blow for an organization, and for its longtime president.” What is a “body blow” for an organization?

The article explained that Sepp Blatter, the FIFA president who has lead the organization for 17 years, was seeking re-election on Friday May 29, 2015 for a fifth term. On Wednesday May 26 several FIFA officials were arrested in Zurich and accused of widespread corruption, dating to the 1990s.  

While the article does not mention “body blow” in the main text, it adds that Blatter has had serious charges against him in the past, but “such caustic words have always bounced off Mr. Blatter like a header off the crossbar.” This is a reference to a footballer hitting the ball with his or her head towards the goal, but it hits the bar across the two goal posts, thus deflecting the ball away from its intended target – the goal.

A “body blow” is a hit or punch to the body. The online MacMillan Dictionary defines body blow as “a serious problem or a great disappointment, especially one that is sudden and unexpected … a disppointment, shame, blow…”

The article is correct that both FIFA and its president, Blatter, are facing a serious problem or disappointment. The arrests did come unexpectedly, even though criticism has been long term.

There are other phrases too that describe Blatter and the organization: “Mr. Blatter created his own celluloid reality” [a reference to a hagiographic movie about himself] and “Mr. Blatter’s preferred method is to sweep scandal under a threadbare carpet” [a reference to hiding accusations under a thin carpet].

The article continued on another page, with a new header: “FIFA and its chief, again in cross hairs.” The phrase, “cross hairs” is another metaphor (a figure of speech that identifies something as the same as an unrelated thing for rhetorical effect, thus highlighting the similarities between them). This time cross hairs refers to ‘” one of the fine fibers … crossing in a focal plane of an optical instrument to center a target or object or to define a line of sight (Dictionary.com). In other words, if a person is “in cross hairs” it means that the person (and/or organization) is in the firing line, like being in the sights of a weapon. The implication is that someone or something is about to fire that weapon – right at FIFA and Mr. Blatter.

Therefore the article is saying, quite categorically, that FIFA and its president, has received a serious problem to deal with and it will be under extremely close scrutiny, poised to be “brought down” with one shot – by Friday’s internal presidential election and/or the outcome of the FIFA officials’ arrests.

Scorecard for the International New York Times headline: 98% for the correct usage of English metaphors, but mixing the methods of attack – person-to-person boxer-type punches with machine-to-person weaponry. However, both aim to afflict pain and anguish, and ultimately their downfall. There are several metaphors in the one (long) article, but they are well used. Interesting article.