Charlie Dempsey

Charles John Dempsey CBE (4 March 1921 – 24 June 2008) was a Scottish born New Zealand association football administrator, who in July 2000 abstained from FIFA's final round of voting for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, in a move which eventually saw the competition being awarded to Germany, rather than South Africa.[1][2] He was once described the "Oceania's Flying Scotsman", at the 50th FIFA Congress in Zurich, in August 1996.[3]

Charlie Dempsey
Born
Charles John Dempsey

(1921-03-04)4 March 1921
Maryhill, Glasgow, Scotland
Died24 June 2008(2008-06-24) (aged 87)
New Zealand
NationalityNew Zealand
Known forAssociation football administrator

Dempsey said that he did not vote because of the "intolerable pressure" from supporters of the German and South African bids, and of the attempts that had been made to bribe him.[4] FIFA rejected calls for a new vote, and opened an internal inquiry into the allegations of corruption.[5][6] He stood down from his role in September 2000, as he was unable to accept what had taken place over the days after the vote.[7]

Biography

Dempsey headed the Oceania Football Confederation from 1982 to 2000,[8][9] and eventually left his position at FIFA two years early.[10] He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1982 Queen's Birthday Honours, for services to association football,[11] and in 1990, he was awarded the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal.[12]

Dempsey served on the executive panel by FIFA from 1996 to 2000, and had been awarded the FIFA Order of Merit by May 2004.[13]

Dempsey died on 24 June 2008, aged 87, or 86 according to some sources.[8][9] He was a builder, and had emigrated with his wife to New Zealand in 1952. He was survived by his wife and two daughters.[14]

References
  1. "Dempsey quizzed over abstention". BBC News Online. 7 July 2000. Retrieved 25 June 2008.
  2. "Charlie Dempsey: A profile". BBC News Online. 7 July 2000. Retrieved 25 June 2008.
  3. ""Charlie" Dempsey - Oceania's Flying Scotsman". fifa.com. 10 August 1996. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  4. "Under-fire Fifa rep resigns". BBC News Online. 9 July 2000. Retrieved 9 June 2014.
  5. "Dempsey: I was threatened". news.bbc.co.uk. 10 July 2000. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  6. "Independent inquiry finds that Germany may have paid over £10 million in bribes to stage the 2006 World Cup". telegraph.co.uk. 4 March 2016. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  7. "Dempsey's abstention culminates in resignation". espn.com. 9 July 2000. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  8. "Dempsey dies, aged 86". Sydney Morning Herald. 25 June 2008. Retrieved 25 June 2008.
  9. "South Africa 2006 vote man dies". BBC News Online. 25 June 2008. Retrieved 25 June 2008.
  10. "Dempsey quits Fifa". BBC News Online. 13 July 2000. Retrieved 25 June 2008.
  11. "No. 49010". The London Gazette (3rd supplement). 12 June 1982. p. 40.
  12. Taylor, Alister; Coddington, Deborah (1994). Honoured by the Queen – New Zealand. Auckland: New Zealand Who's Who Aotearoa. p. 120. ISBN 0-908578-34-2.
  13. "Dempsey congratulates SA". news.bbc.co.uk. 17 May 2004. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
  14. Obituary: Popularising the Beautiful Game in Dominion Post, 3 July 2008 page B7
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