Sir Arthur Thomas George AO, born Athanasios Theodore Tzortzatos (17 January 1915 – 4 September 2013), was an Australian lawyer and

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

administrator.

Early life

George was born in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

to parents of Greek ancestry and was schooled at Kensington Public School. He later attended

Sydney Boys High School Sydney Boys High School ('SBHS'), otherwise known as Sydney High School ('SHS') or simply High, is an Australian government-funded single-sex academically selective secondary day school for boys, located at Moore Park, New South Wales, a s ...

from 1928 to 1937 before taking the Solicitors Admission Board test and being admitted as a solicitor in 1938.

Soccer

George was President of the Australian Soccer Federation between 1969 and 1988, and President of the

Oceania Football Confederation The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) is one of the six continental confederations of international association football. The OFC has 13 members, 11 of which are full members and two which are associate members not affiliated with FIFA. It ...

from 1978 to 1982. He was part of the

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

Executive Committee between 1980 and 1994.

Honours

George was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

in the

1972 Birthday Honours The 1972 Queen's Birthday Honours were appointments to orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms to reward and highlight citizens' good works, on the occasion of the official birthday of Queen Elizabeth II. They were announced in suppleme ...

for services to the Australian-Greek community, universities and sport. He was appointed an

Officer of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

in the

1987 Birthday Honours Queen's Birthday Honours are announced on or around the date of the Queen's Official Birthday in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The dates vary, both from year to year and from country to country. All are published in sup ...

in recognition of service to the community and to education. In 1994,

awarded him the gold

Order of Merit The Order of Merit () is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by Edward VII, admission into the order r ...

—the organisation's highest honour.Key Australian soccer administrator Arthur George dies, aged 98
''ABC News'', 4 September 2013. He was awarded the

Centenary Medal The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia and to recognise "people who made a contribution to Australian society or g ...

in 2001 for service to Australian society through law, education and sport.

Allegations of criminality

Arthur George featured in a long-suppressed report titled "Allegation No. 27", which was tendered to a 1986 federal parliamentary commission of inquiry into allegations regarding the suspected corrupt awarding of the lease on the Sydney

Luna Park Luna Park is a name shared by dozens of currently operating and defunct amusement parks. They are named after, and partly based on, the first Luna Park (Coney Island, 1903), Luna Park, which opened in 1903 during the heyday of large Coney Islan ...

site by the then NSW government to a company known to have been controlled by notorious Sydney underworld figure

Abe Saffron Abraham Gilbert Saffron (6 October 1919 – 15 September 2006) was an Australian hotelier, nightclub owner, and property developer who was one of the major figures in organised crime in Australia in the latter half of the 20th century. For sev ...

. The report identified George as a friend and business associate of Saffron and named George as one of the witnesses who would need to be interviewed for further investigation of the allegation.› C40 - ...PDF. Allegation No. 27 - Parliament of Australia
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References

1915 births 2013 deaths Australian soccer chairmen and investors Association football executives Australian solicitors Australian Knights Bachelor Lawyers awarded knighthoods Officers of the Order of Australia Australian people of Greek descent Presidents of the Oceania Football Confederation Association football people awarded knighthoods People educated at Sydney Boys High School {{Australia-footy-bio-stub