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Germany won by threatening 'Omnipotent 24' |
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July 11, 2000
AUCKLAND (AP) - Oceania soccer boss Charles Dempsey says he was threatened by "influential European interests" not to vote in favor of South Africa hosting the 2006 World Cup. The Oceania Football Confederation president controversially abstained from a critical final ballot last week between Germany and South Africa in Zurich, which Germany won by 12 votes to 11. "The night before the FIFA meeting I received a number of calls which disturbed me, one of them was a threatening call," he told a packed 45-minute press conference Monday in Auckland. "It had been made clear to me by influential European interests that if I cast my vote in favor of South Africa there would be adverse effects for OFC in FIFA," he said. Dempsey did not reveal the European interests but added: "If I didn't vote for Germany, I could be in trouble." The 78-year-old Dempsey, who announced he'd retire in September after almost two decades at the helm of the OFC, said he had never been lobbied so heavily. He said he got no sleep on the eve of the vote due to persistent phone calls from bid supporters. He described the bidding as a "frenzy of bartering to get votes." Dempsey reportedly defied instructions from his Confederation to vote for South Africa if England was eliminated from contention. England and Morocco dropped out after the second round of voting. He said he wanted only to act in the best interests of soccer in the region and regardless of who he voted for, "it was going to create Oceania a lot of problems". Dempsey said he told FIFA executives of his decision to abstain from voting after receiving legal advice just 10 minutes before the meeting. If he had voted as instructed in the ballot, the result would have been locked 12-12 and gone to the casting vote of FIFA president Sepp Blatter, an avowed supporter of the South African bid. Dempsey announced his pending retirement after a 4 1/2-hour meeting of the OFC executive on Sunday in Auckland rejected his explanation for abstaining from the vote. Although, the Scottish-born Dempsey said he had contacted the confederation seeking the clarification on his voting status before he abstained and was under the impression he was free to act according to his judgment. His daughter Josephine King, the OFC general secretary, had discussed the situation with executives and six members had given Dempsey consent to act as he saw fit. King declined to name the six members Monday. Dempsey said there was no "mandate" for him to vote for South Africa and, as a FIFA delegate, he was just as free to exercise his judgment as the other 23 delegates involved in the ballot. He said the world was focusing on his decision to abstain and not considering the reasoning of the 12 delegates who voted for Germany. Asked if he'd been deserted by the FIFA hierarchy during prolonged and severe international condemnation of his decision, Dempsey said: "I don't know if (Blatter) has ever been my friend." Soccer Australia president Basil Scarsella, a possible successor to Dempsey, rejected reports that the Oceania executive planned to ask FIFA for a World Cup revote. "At no stage during that meeting was a revote discussed," he said Monday. "That is not an option." Meanwhile, New Zealand Soccer chief executive Bill MacGowan said he would apologize to every soccer-playing nation for Dempsey's action. South Africa would receive a "special" letter of apology, he said. "We will write to all countries associated with FIFA, explaining New Zealand Soccer's position because I think New Zealand Soccer's taken too much of the brunt of this decision, only because Charlie resides here. It's clearly not a New Zealand Soccer decision." MacGowan said an apology was necessary because "the ramifications of this decision have obviously rocked the whole world of football." |