VPjr Posted September 6, 2007 Share Posted September 6, 2007 Hi All I received the following email from Nigel Reid from Toronto's FAN590 Sports Radio station. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi Good to hear from you - thanks for the email. Glad to hear there is a coming together of likeminded soccer fans who are demanding more from the national association. Strongly suggest you listen to the Soccer Show tonight (7.00pm ET) when a panel of experts will be exploring the problems and suggesting ways forward for the game in this country. Would be interested to hear your thoughts on their ideas for the future well being of the sport in Canada. Regards Nigel ---------------------------------------------------------------------- I know many people already listen to this show but this week seems like it will be of extra interest to the average Voyaguer. I suggest posting any feedback/comments on this thread after you listen to it. If you are outside the FAN590's local listening area, go to their website (www.fan590.com) and click on Listen Live. If you can't listed today, they usually post a commercial free version of the show on their website the next day. It's a great way to listen to the show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ag futbol Posted September 6, 2007 Share Posted September 6, 2007 Good comment by bob lenarduzzi regarding holding people accountable for decisions. The board in effect makes decisions (taking power away from the president) but nobody is acountable in the end because they are behind closed doors and can't be publicly attached to their choices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trillium Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 quote:Originally posted by VPjr Hi All I received the following email from Nigel Reid from Toronto's FAN590 Sports Radio station. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi Good to hear from you - thanks for the email. Glad to hear there is a coming together of likeminded soccer fans who are demanding more from the national association. Strongly suggest you listen to the Soccer Show tonight (7.00pm ET) when a panel of experts will be exploring the problems and suggesting ways forward for the game in this country. Would be interested to hear your thoughts on their ideas for the future well being of the sport in Canada. Regards Nigel ---------------------------------------------------------------------- I know many people already listen to this show but this week seems like it will be of extra interest to the average Voyaguer. I suggest posting any feedback/comments on this thread after you listen to it. If you are outside the FAN590's local listening area, go to their website (www.fan590.com) and click on Listen Live. If you can't listed today, they usually post a commercial free version of the show on their website the next day. It's a great way to listen to the show. Laughs...experts ? on game governance and strutcture give me a break... Bobby is not an expert..nor are the others they dont understand the real issues and so they will flop around..and be out manouvered by the CSA politicians... I had hoped for me ..it was not there..hopefully Nigel will realize that and start trying to find guests who get it ...and talk about the real structural issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VPjr Posted September 7, 2007 Author Share Posted September 7, 2007 there were a lot of good comments...I am pleased that Forrest was willing to speak his mind a bit more than usual. I've always felt he was a bit of a CSA apologist but he was quite frank. However, I felt that they really only glossed over the problems and did not hash out the real grievances the fans have. Maybe they just did not have enough time or maybe, as Trillium states, the people on show just dont know Whats needed now is for people like Duz and Iarusci and many other "plugged in" types to start discussing ideas about how we might be able to fix the problems rather than simply identifying them. I know Iarusci has some ideas about requiring all youth clubs to field U-20 teams so that kids dont feel that the game ends at 16 yrs old. i, for one, would love top see him add more flesh to the bones of that idea because those are the types of relatively simple proposals that could have an impact on player development in the medium and long term without having to blow up the CSA and start over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Beaver Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 Hey, was this already posted earlier. A good bit from John Molinaro at the CBC website: Soccer: John F. Molinaro CSA continues to hijack Canadian soccer Last Updated Friday, August 31, 2007 by John F. Molinaro This is supposed to be the golden age of soccer in Canada. Toronto FC, despite its recent scoring woes, is the toast of Major League Soccer, and has league commissioner Don Garber talking about putting expansion franchises in Vancouver and Montreal. This summer's FIFA U-20 World Cup in Canada drew more than 1.1 million fans, the most spectators of any single-sport event in Canadian history. Next month, Christine Sinclair and her teammates head to China where they have a legitimate chance of winning the Women's World Cup. It would seem the "beautiful game" is on firm ground in this country, but dig a little deeper and you'll notice major cracks in the foundation, a fact underscored by Colin Linford's sudden resignation as president of the Canadian Soccer Association this week. Linford's departure, a mere 15 months into his four-year term as president, is a damaging indictment of the CSA, an irrelevant and farcical organization if there ever was one. When Linford was elected president in May 2006, he promised to wipe out the culture of amateurism that has bedevilled the CSA for so long and turn it into a professionally-run organization. Little has changed, according to Linford, who said his attempts to make wholesale changes were thwarted by the constant meddling and back-room manoeuvring of the CSA's board of directors, an old boy's network made up of provincial soccer association heads who only have their own self-interests at heart. Linford isn't the first to make this accusation, as virtually every former national team coach over the past two decades has complained about the incessant interference of the board. What Linford and those coaches will also tell you is that instead of directing money to Canada's national teams or into the development of elite player programs, board members are more concerned with the funding of participatory and recreational soccer in their respective provinces. As a result, the infighting, regional rivalries and political games of the board have not only stunted the growth of the game in this country, but are also among the major reasons why the men's team hasn't qualified for the World Cup since 1986. And looking ahead to 2010 in South Africa, are chances don't look good, especially if the CSA board of directors continues to meddle. Back in May in this space, I described how Linford attempted to hire Brazilian Rene Simoes, who helped Jamaica qualify for the 1998 World Cup, as the new coach of the Canadian men's team. Linford presented Simoes' name for approval, only to be shot down by the board, which balked at the Brazilian's salary demands, reported to be in the range of $500,000. Instead, they went with the safe choice (read: the cheaper choice) and named former under-20 coach Dale Mitchell as the new man in charge. Linford also hired Fred Nykamp, who worked as executive director of Canada Basketball, as the CSA's new chief executive officer, but his contract has yet to be approved by the board, even though he was scheduled to start his new job on Aug. 1. Linford planned on giving Nykamp a great deal of authority to implement many of the organizational changes he wanted made, thus minimizing the influence of the board of directors. But with Linford now out of the picture, you can expect the board to continue to stonewall Nykamp and prevent him from moving boxes into his empty office at the CSA's Ottawa headquarters. It is truly outrageous that this group of volunteers - and that's exactly what the heads of provincial soccer associations who comprise the CSA board are - is allowed to hold the growth of Canadian soccer hostage. The problem is that the CSA, the custodians of the game in this country, have never been held accountable by Sports Canada and the federal government. How else can you explain that despite more than two decades of World Cup futility, the CSA continues to receive federal funding? Can you just imagine the uproar in this country if Canada's men's hockey team didn't qualify for a major tournament last year, let alone the past 21 years? There would be nationally televised parliamentary hearings. A royal commission would be convened. An independent auditor would be assigned to study the inner workings of Hockey Canada and the federal government would withhold all funding until implementing the auditor's recommendations. That's what is needed in the case of the Canadian Soccer Association. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Oranje Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 There appears to be a need for some clarifications. First, the media and others continue to present that Linford made the proposals to hire Simoes and Nykamp to the Board. My understanding is that there was a hiring committee and that would have included other Board members. These hiring proposals would have passed through the Executive Committee (Chaired by Linford). In other words, Linford may have had the task of submitting the proposal to the Board, but it would have been or should have been approved by the Committees involved. Second, Sport Canada does not have the authority to control the CSA. It only can audit the use of its funding to the CSA to ensure that it was used in the manner that was intended. However, there is nothing stopping Sport Canada from funding an independent study on the performance issues in Canadian Soccer. Since this might be more interesting to politicians, a parliamentary study on the structure of soccer in Canada might be the way to go. All the more reason for fans to turn up the heat because then it becomes more attractive to politicians to propose such a study. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trillium Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 quote: How else can you explain that despite more than two decades of World Cup futility, the CSA continues to receive federal funding? Here is a question why did the CSA drop Beach Soccer where a very unhearled group of players went to Rio ..and beat the likes of France...rumor is they had no funding i.e. too much money was spent elsewhere by and incompetent set of administrators... or were they sacrificed to petty politics... between provinces...BC being in a snit that Edmonton dominated the selections to play beach soccer and then went out and had a very successfull tournament in Rio ? But its all mute.. we need to dump the provincial level it does nothing ...all clubs need to affliated directly with a single new National Football Federation ..who makes one set of rules for the game nationally in all its approved FIFA forms. Thats it simple... easily done, now all the CSA needs to do is admit they are a failed organisation and ask for a new body to be created, hold a national convention and get it done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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