Duane Rollins1555362254 Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 This is going out this morning. quote:Canadians shouldn't be surprised that this country's bid to host the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup was rejected today. By selecting Germany, despite all-but promising the tournament to Canada four years ago, FIFA is sending the Canadian Soccer Association a clear message—get your house in order. Canadian Soccer Supporters United, the group that organized last month's successful Black Wednesday T-Shirt protest at the National Soccer Stadium, has learned that, following a thorough audit of the CSA constitution, FIFA advised the CSA that their constitution was outmoded and needed to significantly updated in order to fall into line with FIFA governance standards. Specifically, FIFA has taken issue with the CSA's failure to institute a one province, one vote policy. Currently, the CSA's voting structure gives greater voting power to the largest provinces, which FIFA objects to. "While disappointed that this tournament will be held in Germany rather than Canada, we can't imagine that FIFA would want to grant another major tournament to a country that is unwilling to adhere to FIFA's most basic governance rules," CSSU co-founder Dino Rossi said. "FIFA has asked the CSA to fix it, but the CSA has told us that the Board of Directors will not approve such an amendment to the constitution." Rossi and members of his group learned of FIFA's reform request during a meeting between representatives of the CSA and CSSU last week. He said that it is disappointing to learn that the CSA would not take a direct request from FIFA more seriously. "Canadian soccer, and Canada itself, has lost a tremendous opportunity here," Rossi said. "One can only imagine what impact the Women's World Cup would have had for Canadian soccer, especially to the women's program. "Hopefully, the leadership at the CSA can fix this problem and refocus its efforts at landing this tournament in 2015." Rossi reiterated the CSSU's call for an independent review of the CSA, with an eye for reforming the organization. He pointed to Australia's Crawford Report as a template that Canadian officials could follow in undertaking the review. For more information, or to set-up an interview with Rossi, please call the CSSU's communication's director Duane Rollins. He can be reached at . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gian-Luca Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 quote:Originally posted by MediaGuy "While disappointed that this tournament will be held in Germany rather than Canada, we would can't imagine that FIFA would want to grant another major tournament to a country that is unwilling to adhere to FIFA's most basic governance rules," CSSU co-founder Dino Rossi said. A heads up - unless Dino actually said "we would can't imagine", you should edit that before sending out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loyola Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 quote:Originally posted by Gian-Luca A heads up - unless Dino actually said "we would can't imagine", you should edit that before sending out. Also this: "fall into line with FIFA givernance standards." I think it should be governance? I'm french speaking so I might be wrong here... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martyr Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 quote:Originally posted by MediaGuy Canadian Soccer Supporters United, the group that organized last month's successful Black Wednesday T-Shirt protest at the National Soccer Stadium, has learned that, following a thorough audit of the CSA constitution, FIFA advised the CSA that their consitution was outmoded and needed to significantly updated in order to fall into line with FIFA givernance standards. also note that you need to add "be" before significantly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gian-Luca Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 quote:Originally posted by loyola Also this: "fall into line with FIFA givernance standards." I think it should be governance? I'm french speaking so I might be wrong here... No you are correct, well-spotted. Incidentally I'm not sure I agree with FIFA on that issue. Proporational representation kinda makes more sense to me (though I'm not sure that's what we have now, but I digress). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duane Rollins1555362254 Posted October 30, 2007 Author Share Posted October 30, 2007 Thanks guys...I've caught some of the errors and have reposted the updated. I'm going over it again...are there any other things in there that you are seeing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martyr Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 The point FIFA might be making is that we shouldn't have Provincial Associations of vastly different sizes having sole (any) voting priviledges at the CSA. I think it should be one club, one vote - at both the Provincial and National level. But then who and what constitutes a 'club' should generate a pretty good debate as well. It would be interesting to find out what exactly FIFA would prefer we do instead of the current system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duane Rollins1555362254 Posted October 30, 2007 Author Share Posted October 30, 2007 quote:Originally posted by Martyr It would be interesting to find out what exactly FIFA would prefer we do instead of the current system. I'm hoping some of the media big boys might be able to find out... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Massive Attack Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 Did I miss something here? Did FIFA implicitly state that Canada is not getting the WWC because of CSA incompetence? I haven't seen or read that anywhere. That's a bit of a stretch by the CSSU. I think there were other circumstances that led to this. I want change in the CSA, but this doesn't add up. I think you should pick your battles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpg75 Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 "FIFA advised the CSA that their constitution was outmoded and needed to (be) significantly updated" Missing a whateveryoucallit in the third paragraph. As Massive Attack stated, do you know for sure FIFA shot us down because of that? Also, has a summary/release been completed for your meeting with the CSA bigwigs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Massive Attack Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 Ya, the funny thing is, the change that FIFA has supposedly asked for is actually a step in the wrong direction as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JB_Tito Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 quote:Originally posted by Massive Attack Ya, the funny thing is, the change that FIFA has supposedly asked for is actually a step in the wrong direction as well. Why it is step in wrong direction,can it be any worst as it is? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Massive Attack Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 quote:Originally posted by JB_Tito Why it is step in wrong direction,can it be any worst as it is? Change for the sake of change isn't what we need. We could end up with a bigger mess than what we already have. FIFA is lobbying us to give more power to the smaller provinces. That's a step in the wrong direction, imo. What we need is a strong, more centralized national leadership, that doesn't have to be a puppet to the provinces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duane Rollins1555362254 Posted October 30, 2007 Author Share Posted October 30, 2007 quote:Originally posted by Massive Attack Did I miss something here? Did FIFA implicitly state that Canada is not getting the WWC because of CSA incompetence? I haven't seen or read that anywhere. That's a bit of a stretch by the CSSU. I think there were other circumstances that led to this. I want change in the CSA, but this doesn't add up. I think you should pick your battles. We are using this announcement as an opportunity to get the message out that the CSA is ignoring a directive from FIFA. If the CSA's internal problems were the reason why we didn't get the WWC, FIFA would not publicaly say so. What this release does is increase the chances that a journalist will ask the CSA about the ongoing issues and whether they played a role in FIFA's decision today. That keeps our issues in the agenda, which is the ghoal of communications. It also is an excuse for us to inform the media about the ignored FIFA mandate. Again, giving something for journalists to ask the CSA about. It's almost Nov. There aren't going to be many more battles to pick for a while. If we are to be a watchdog for the CSA, we need to respond to stories like this. Otherwise, we just become those guys that made the T-shirts. And, it isn't far fetched to think that the CSA's problems were a factor in FIFA's decision. They couldn't have helped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L.T. Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 I would argue that this idea would mean less power for the provinces. Right now I'm guessing all one of the bigger provinces would have to do to block a CSA initiative is to convince one of the other big provinces to vote with them. With equal say, you would need at least 6 self-interested presidents to block a decision that looks beyond provincial interests... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duane Rollins1555362254 Posted October 30, 2007 Author Share Posted October 30, 2007 quote: What we need is a strong, more centralized national leadership, that doesn't have to be a puppet to the provinces. I understand where you are coming from. However, the CSA must fall within the governance rules of FIFA. And, as it currently stands, we have a system that allows the larger provinces to control the agenda rather than the national body. The CSA is impotent, essentially. Having "strong, centralized leadership" has little to do with how many votes PEI gets, but rather how much influence the CSA has. As it stands now, Ontario can give a wink to BC and defeat anything that goes through. That creates the you scratch mine, I scratch yours political environment that makes change very difficult. Also, we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that FIFA has a lot of power. The CSA shouldn't really be ignoring its requests. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 FIFA has the power to suspend countries from all international competition and to influence governments and they don't hesitate to use that power. Raise the ire of FIFA at your peril. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gian-Luca Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 quote:Originally posted by MediaGuy If the CSA's internal problems were the reason why we didn't get the WWC, FIFA would not publicaly say so. What this release does is increase the chances that a journalist will ask the CSA about the ongoing issues and whether they played a role in FIFA's decision today. That keeps our issues in the agenda, which is the ghoal of communications. It also is an excuse for us to inform the media about the ignored FIFA mandate. Again, giving something for journalists to ask the CSA about. It's almost Nov. There aren't going to be many more battles to pick for a while. If we are to be a watchdog for the CSA, we need to respond to stories like this. Otherwise, we just become those guys that made the T-shirts. I can see where you are coming from, but I think what people are suggesting is that if you use this tactic too often there is also danger of being seen as "those guys who blame the CSA for everything" and you don't want to become that either. If you pick your spots a bit more, as Massive Attack suggests, then I think it lesses the danger of people tuning the CSSU out. In this particular example, it does seem a bit of a stretch that this provincial voting issue would have anything to do with FIFA's decision, so I think that's why a few eyebrows have been raised about a press release that implies that this was a major reason - it's bound to lead people to ask how it was that Canada got the U20 World Cup (and the U19 WWC) with the same voting structure in place (which I'm assuming, absent any other info, is the case). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Hombre Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 quote:Originally posted by Gian-Luca I can see where you are coming from, but I think what people are suggesting is that if you use this tactic too often there is also danger of being seen as "those guys who blame the CSA for everything" and you don't want to become that either. If you pick your spots a bit more, as Massive Attack suggests, then I think it lesses the danger of people tuning the CSSU out. While you are right that repeated exposure could lead to the CSSU being tuned out, I don't think the CSA do enough protest worthy things for that to become an issue. If the CSSU was sending out a press release every week picking on minor issues (ie. website not being updated enough or our kits are ugly, both of which seem to have been favourite criticisms in the past), then you'd have a point. However, I think losing the WWC is a big enough issue to send a PR out for. This has made the front page for Sportsnet.ca and TSN.ca, so now would be an opportune time to shed light on why we might've</u> lost it. One thing I would suggest would be to make sure that FIFA's demands are in correlation to the fact that we lost it and not explicitly say that it is the causation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 We lost the WWC because Germany could offer far more, not because of CSA incompetence. The CSA can only work with what the country has to offer and we simply cannot compete with Germany when it comes to soccer facilities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duane Rollins1555362254 Posted October 30, 2007 Author Share Posted October 30, 2007 quote:Originally posted by Gian-Luca To me, the biggest issue here is the CSA's refusal to deal with FIFA's "request." Combine that with the ongoing issues that the CSA is dealing with and it isn't unreasonable to think that this may have played a role in the decision. As El Hombre said, we aren't talking about something minor here. This is a World Cup hosting announcement. We timed the release of our information to correspond with the announcement to maximize the possibility of being heard. To be clear, this is only our third mass release. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duane Rollins1555362254 Posted October 30, 2007 Author Share Posted October 30, 2007 quote:Originally posted by Richard We lost the WWC because Germany could offer far more, not because of CSA incompetence. The CSA can only work with what the country has to offer and we simply cannot compete with Germany when it comes to soccer facilities. With all due respect to everyone, we are offering up one possible reason why we may have lost the bid, not the only reason. I don't think our press release says that Canada lost the WWC only because of CSA problems. However, it's important to keep people aware of the issues with the CSA when they are reporting on this today. Keep in mind that a press release should be designed to benefit the media, not the public. It's understood that the author of the release is attempting to "spin" their position. CSSU won't lose credibility with the media with this release. I appreciate that this isn't a rally the troops kind of announcement, but we are attempting to fulfill the role of a watchdog. We needed to comment. I posted the PR here in an effort to be transparent to those that make-up our grassroots of support. Lastly, I don't think it's unreasonable to think that the CSA's problems, which have only recently come to the attention of FIFA, didn't play a role here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ed Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 Well I am all for putting the boots to the CSA whenever and whereever you can. Thanks again for your efforts on behalf of the long suffering Cdn natioan team(s) supporters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free kick Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 quote:Originally posted by Massive Attack Change for the sake of change isn't what we need. We could end up with a bigger mess than what we already have. FIFA is lobbying us to give more power to the smaller provinces. That's a step in the wrong direction, imo. What we need is a strong, more centralized national leadership, that doesn't have to be a puppet to the provinces. Agreed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free kick Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 quote:Originally posted by MediaGuy With all due respect to everyone, we are offering up one possible reason why we may have lost the bid, not the only reason. I don't think our press release says that Canada lost the WWC only because of CSA problems. However, it's important to keep people aware of the issues with the CSA when they are reporting on this today. Keep in mind that a press release should be designed to benefit the media, not the public. It's understood that the author of the release is attempting to "spin" their position. CSSU won't lose credibility with the media with this release. I appreciate that this isn't a rally the troops kind of announcement, but we are attempting to fulfill the role of a watchdog. We needed to comment. I posted the PR here in an effort to be transparent to those that make-up our grassroots of support. Lastly, I don't think it's unreasonable to think that the CSA's problems, which have only recently come to the attention of FIFA, didn't play a role here. It makes it sound that we are siding with FIFA on this decision. The same people who thought that female players should wear hot pants. Or, that we are using the outcome of the awarding the WWC to Germany to our benefit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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