South Africa has been shunned again.
Three years ago, freed from the shackles of apartheid, the nation made a bid to host the 2004 Olympics. Athens (which has since proven ill-equipped for the task) wound up the winner and Africa remains the only continent never to host the Games.
Then last week in Switzerland, it was deja vu as South Africa, despite being the odds-on favorite, lost the right to host soccer's 2006 World Cup to Germany by a 12-11 count on the final ballot.
The rich get richer and a country deserving a shot in the arm gets another kick in the pants.
This will be Germany's second time to host the World Cup and the 10th time for Europe, while Africa continues to be shut out from holding soccer's premier event.
It's not just that South Africa lost, but the way the vote went down that I find most disturbing.
It seems absurd that the president of soccer's world governing body would lobby for one of the candidates, but that's exactly what FIFA boss Sepp Blatter did for South Africa. In the end, his endorsement may well have been the kiss of death.
Not long after last Thursday's vote, Alec McGivan, the head of England's unsuccessful bid, claimed in The Times of London that Asia's four members on the FIFA executive voted for Germany as "revenge" against Blatter. The FIFA boss, as you may recall, sparked a bitter dispute last year when he refused to grant Asia an extra berth in the 2002 World Cup to be cohosted by Japan and South Korea.
Coming from Germany's European rival in the bidding, McGivan's view might sound like sour grapes. However, given the Asian Football Confederation's actions at a FIFA congress last summer, it's quite plausible.
At that meeting in Los Angeles last July, AFC delegates petulantly walked out when their demands weren't met, even threatening to boycott the 2002 World Cup.
By voting against South Africa, the AFC struck a blow against Blatter's authority, and there is now speculation that he could be overthrown as president.
If the Asians didn't do enough damage to the South African cause, Charles Dempsey provided the coup de grace. The 78-year-old president of the Oceania Football Confederation managed to shatter the nation's hopes by doing nothing at all.
After England's elimination in the second round of balloting, Dempsey had distinct orders from his region's soccer organization and from his own New Zealand government to vote for South Africa. Had he done so, the vote between Germany and South Africa would have been deadlocked 12-12 and Blatter would have cast the deciding vote for his clear preference. Instead, Dempsey abstained, thereby handing the 2006 World Cup to Germany. How ironic that a representative from rugby-mad New Zealand -- where soccer is sometimes referred to as "kiss 'n kick" -- became the biggest story of the vote.
Dempsey cited "intolerable pressure" in explaining his abstention. Poor Chuck. Along with the big expense account, the limousines and the first-class hotels, he actually had to deal with some pressure! This is the guy who once told the New Zealand soccer team as it flew economy class to the 1982 World Cup in Spain: "Fellas, my heart is with you, but my bum is in first-class."
After being forced to resign Sunday for his bizarre behavior, Dempsey's bum is finally on the way out the door after decades of living the high life -- but not before one more perk, as a FIFA official this September at the Sydney Olympics.
Dempsey never gave a satisfactory reason for disobeying orders, but a look into his past might shed a little light. According to a report in the Johannesburg-based Sunday Independent, Dempsey was sympathetic to the white apartheid-era Football Association of South Africa, and voted for it not to be expelled from FIFA in 1961.
Dempsey was clearly not willing to offer the same support for the country's current soccer leadership.
Besides politics coming into play at last week's circus in Switzerland, there were reports of intimidation and bribery. There was also the hoax concocted by a German magazine; letters claiming to be from the German bid team were slid under delegates' hotel-room doors (including Dempsey's) promising gifts of Black Forest ham and cuckoo clocks in exchange for votes for Germany.
In short, the whole process was a debacle.
FIFA needs to take a long, hard look at the World Cup bidding process. A good start would be to rotate the hosts geographically. After all, it's called the World Cup, so why shouldn't every region get a chance to host it?
Asia is finally getting its first World Cup in 2002. It's high time Africa, whose teams have fared much better on the pitch, got its moment in the sun.