Beleaguered New Zealand football official, Charlie Dempsey, claimed on Monday that he had been given a free vote in the FIFA ballot, which awarded the 2006 World Cup to Germany, rejecting allegations he was under orders to back South Africa.
The long-serving Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) president, said he abstained from the crucial ballot to avoid offending powerful, mostly European, FIFA representatives.
Dempsey, forced on Sunday to stand down after 18 years as OFC chief, told a news conference in Auckland the majority of OFC members agreed he was free to act as he thought best, and he was not under orders to vote for South Africa.
OFC delegates have said Dempsey was told to abide by the decision taken at a meeting in Samoa in May to support South Africa once England was eliminated from the bidding.
By disregarding the OFC directive, Glasgow-born Dempsey effectively handed Germany the 2006 World Cup with the final vote at FIFA headquarters in Zurich last week 12-11 in favor of the European nation.
At the news conference chaired by a lawyer friend Peter Clapshaw and attended by his daughter Josephine King, the OFC general secretary, Dempsey read out a prepared statement saying he informed FIFA, football's governing body, he would abstain once England was eliminated.
"No objection was taken to this at any time by any of the FIFA executive," he said.
Dempsey said he was concerned at the pressure being applied "by various interested parties" and as a result, his daughter had asked the OFC executive whether he was free to exercise his judgment when it came time to vote.
He said he was told that after telephone calls to executive members, the majority agreed he was "free to act" in the best interests of the Confederation.
"The night before the FIFA meeting, I received a number of anonymous calls which disturbed me, one of them was a threatening call," Dempsey said.
As a result of the calls, Dempsey said felt under intolerable pressure and had sought legal advice. One of the options he was given was to abstain, he said.
NEW ZEALAND APOLOGIES TO ALL FIFA COUNTRIES OVER DEMPSEY INACTION
New Zealand Soccer (NZS) said Monday it will apologize to every soccer-playing nation for Charlie Dempsey's failure to vote in the deciding ballot for the 2006 World Cup, with a "special" apology for South Africa.
Dempsey ignored OFC instructions and failed to support South Africa's bid, effectively gifting it to Germany at last week's vote at the FIFA headquarters in Zurich.
After a meeting of OFC delegates in Auckland on Sunday, Dempsey announced that he would retire at the end of September, two years earlier than planned.
However, he stood by his abstention in the Zurich vote and has refused to apologize. New Zealand Soccer chief executive Bill MacGowan said it was necessary to apologize for Dempsey.
"We will be (apologizing). We certainly will be," MacGowan said Monday.
"We will write, today, 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 it was appropriate to write to all nations.
"The ramifications of this decision have obviously rocked the whole world of football and, sure, there'll be a special letter going to South Africa, just explaining our position again,” – (AFP)
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