Charles John Dempsey (4 March 1921 – 24 June 2008) was a Scottish-born New Zealand

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

Dempsey was a builder and emigrated with his wife to New Zealand in 1952.

Career

Dempsey was 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 ...

(OFC) from 1982 to 2000 and continued as Honorary OFC President until the beginning of 2004. He served on the executive committee of FIFA from 1996 to 2000 but left his position two years early following the vote for the hosting of the 2006 World Cup. He was appointed to the

FIFA Order of Merit The FIFA Order of Merit is the highest honour awarded by FIFA. The award is presented at the annual FIFA congress. It is normally awarded to people who are considered to have made a significant contribution to :association football. At FIFA's ce ...

in 2004. Dempsey was appointed a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in the 1982 Queen's Birthday Honours for services to association football and in February 1990 he was awarded the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal. In July 2000, Dempsey abstained from

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 ...

's final round of voting for the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...

in a move that eventually saw the competition being awarded to Germany rather than South Africa. 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. FIFA rejected calls for a new vote and opened an internal inquiry into the allegations of corruption. Dempsey stood down from his role in September 2000 as he was unable to accept what had taken place over the days after the vote.

Death

Dempsey died on 24 June 2008 aged 87, although some sources reported it as 86. He was survived by his wife and two daughters,Obituary: "Popularising the Beautiful Game" in ''Dominion Post'', 3 July 2008 page B7 one of whom, Josephine, served as General-Secretary of the OFC.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dempsey, Charles 1921 births 2008 deaths Scottish emigrants to New Zealand Association football executives New Zealand referees and umpires New Zealand Commanders of the Order of the British Empire 2006 FIFA World Cup Sportspeople from Glasgow Presidents of the Oceania Football Confederation