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'No-win situation' FIFA's Dempsey back in NZ, prepares for grilling
Posted: Saturday July 08, 2000 06:39 PM
AUCKLAND (Reuters) -- Oceania's embattled FIFA delegate Charles Dempsey arrived in New Zealand ready to face a grilling on Sunday after his failure to vote handed Germany the right to host the 2006 World Cup and caused international uproar. Scottish-born New Zealander Dempsey, 78, avoided reporters on his return to Auckland airport on Saturday, leaving by a back exit after arriving on an overnight flight from Singapore. "There was no way I was going to win," Dempsey told New Zealand Press Association after eluding media at Auckland International Airport. "I was in a no-win situation." At his home overlooking Auckland harbor, a tense Dempsey said he would make no further statements until he had met with the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) executive committee on Sunday. That meeting, scheduled for 10 a.m. Sunday (2200 GMT Saturday) will decide what action is to be taken after Dempsey failed to vote for the South African World Cup bid in line with the wishes of OFC member associations. Germany won the right to host the event by 12 votes to 11. If Dempsey had followed instructions and not abstained the result would have been tied, giving FIFA president Sepp Blatter, a supporter of South Africa, the deciding vote. Basil Scarsella, chairman of OFC member Soccer Australia and in Auckland for the OFC meeting, said Dempsey's abstention was unusual. "I think it's only fair to Charlie Dempsey, who has put a lifetime into the development of football, for him to be given the opportunity to explain," Scarsella told Reuters. Pressure has mounted on Dempsey, whose term as OFC chief expires in 2002, to resign. Scarsella said he would like the job. "If the position (of OFC president) was to become available I would be very interested in pursuing the position," he said. "I think Australia in Oceania should take a leadership role." Intolerable pressureDuring a stopover in Singapore on Friday Dempsey said he decided not to vote as he had been put under "intolerable pressure." "[It was] because of the intolerable pressure that was put on me, not by the actual bidding people, but by people on the fringe and incessant phone calls I was receiving in my room and also the attempts to bribe me," Dempsey said. The editor-in-chief of German satirical monthly Titanic told Reuters his staff faxed letters, purporting to be from the German bid team, to eight members of the FIFA executive committee offering "a small gift" if they would support the German bid. German Football Federation (DFB) general secretary Horst Schmidt was quoted by Bild newspaper as saying the hoax had damaged both his organization and the country. "The DFB is -- in consultation with FIFA -- considering legal steps against Titanic. The limits of satire have been far exceeded," Schmidt was reported as saying. 'Elements of dishonesty'South African President Thabo Mbeki told a business conference that the vote, which took place on Thursday, had "elements of dishonesty about it." FIFA has said it will launch an internal investigation into the sleaze allegations, while South Africa's bid committee said it would examine whether Dempsey's abstention was valid. The New Zealand government also supported South Africa in its bid to be the first African nation to host the world's largest and most prestigious international sporting event. New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark has written to Mbeki expressing her "extreme distress and disappointment" at Dempsey's conduct. South Africa's Press Association reported on Friday that Mbeki had written to Clark to reassure New Zealand that while he "deplored" Dempsey's actions, relations between the two countries, which have close sporting links, would not be harmed. Damage limitationBill MacGowan, Soccer New Zealand chief executive said his organisation was trying to distance itself from Dempsey's decision and that letters would be sent to all FIFA members. "That fact that we're still being tarred with this thing is rough. The reports I'm getting out of South Africa are 'New Zealand Soccer did this, New Zealand Soccer did that.' "We will be communicating in writing with all FIFA members over the next few days to ensure they know our position and to ensure that our reputation is maintained where it should be," MacGowan told Reuters. Soccer New Zealand is one of 11 national associations under the OFC, which also includes Australia and a number of South Pacific nations. New Zealand newspapers reported on Saturday that MacGowan said the future of the country's only club in Australia's national soccer league, the Football Kingz, could be in jeopardy. FIFA is scheduled to vote at an executive meeting in Zurich next month on whether to extend the Kingz's original two-year license to play in Australia, The Dominion newspaper said. MacGowan said a proposed tri-nations soccer tournament between New Zealand, South Africa and Australia was also threatened.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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