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All hail the CSA Whitecaps


fishman

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quote:Originally posted by Richard

Me on the Whitecaps payroll, I wish!

I get my information about what goes on with the Whitecaps and the WNT program and form my own opinions by interacting with the people concerned directly like any other specialised journalist. How do you get the facts upon which you base your ever so rigid opinions?

Isn't there some sort of code that journalists don't reveal their sources?

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Ref,

Journalists don't reveal *confidential* sources.

Vic,

Nice singing, but if you are going to do karaoke couldn't you at least have picked a Canadian song. Maybe "Taking Care of Business", or oooh I know! "If I had Million Dollars"

Which raises an interesting question. If you had a million dollars to give to the WNT, what would you want to see it spent on? You clearly don't think a residency program is a good idea, so what then? Would you want the money to go to the players like it is now, but just release them back to their clubs and university teams, and ask that they self-train in their spare time? Or would you want it spent on something else, and let the players go back to having part-time jobs and eating Kraft Dinner?

Just curious.

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  • 3 weeks later...
quote:Originally posted by AlanDouglas

Ref,

Journalists don't reveal *confidential* sources.

Vic,

Nice singing, but if you are going to do karaoke couldn't you at least have picked a Canadian song. Maybe "Taking Care of Business", or oooh I know! "If I had Million Dollars"

Which raises an interesting question. If you had a million dollars to give to the WNT, what would you want to see it spent on? You clearly don't think a residency program is a good idea, so what then? Would you want the money to go to the players like it is now, but just release them back to their clubs and university teams, and ask that they self-train in their spare time? Or would you want it spent on something else, and let the players go back to having part-time jobs and eating Kraft Dinner?

Just curious.

AlanDouglas .... an interesting question are we talking million for a four year cycle or million a year for four years ?

But a good question what could / should be done with set resource over specified time given.

Care to make your question more specific ?

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The original question was a how to spend a million dollars, not four million over four years. The sentiment from some here is that giving the money to the players through a residency program is a waste. I'm curious what people consider to be a better alternative.

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Without a Canadian elite/development league we're sunk four ways to Sunday. That was visible years ago and is more painfully obvious with every passing season and global development. Relying on foreign leagues and the NCAA to develop Canadian girls is a pathetic and defeatist way to take the game forward in this country. And anyone who say's it can't be done needs to move to the back of the bus. Get the Canadian teams out of the W, go with East and West divisions, have an import cap, and pay whatever it takes to hire someone with vision like Antonucci to grease the wheels, target sponsorship and lobby for federal funding and exemptions, etc.

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^as much as I agree w/ ya Vic, the big issue is always getting everyone on the same page & vision across the country. After that it's money to get the fans in their seats to pay for the league & etc.

Will be interesting to see how the new WPSL goes & how many of the Canadian players finished w/ the NCAA will get offers. Might be hard to compete w/ the WPSL once they become the NHL of Women's Soccer in NA.

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quote:Originally posted by AlanDouglas

The original question was a how to spend a million dollars, not four million over four years. The sentiment from some here is that giving the money to the players through a residency program is a waste. I'm curious what people consider to be a better alternative.

What was done was the best solution for the players & growing the game in Canada. Results are easy to see at the Brazil game & newspapers refering to the WP as one of the best in the world w/ teams going to U20 WC & Olympics.

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  • 2 weeks later...

A friend of mine asked a question that i didn't know the answer to but I'm sure you fine folks would be able to help.

what is the total annual budget for the WNT, excluding the residency program costs? Does anyone know what the CSA was spending annually on the program before Kerfoot stepped in to run the residency program?

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I believe like the U20 the budgets are non-linear. For example, in the past 11 months the WNT had a World Cup and Olympics, and then nothing major for the next 3 years. Maybe Rich has exact comparative year over year figures.

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^ The budgets for all their programs are non-linear or program/session based unless there is enough non CSA $ available.

CSA will not produce their WP budget breakdowns as they are for internal use only. Even when asked to disclose them directly or indirectly like through the CSA Female Committee. As my question at the AGM proved there is no Female Committee which is a part of the CSA Constitution & they will not even provide you the names of the committee members.

Not even Sports Canada or COC gets copies of the CSA budgets as it's not part of the reporting requirements. The WP Director & team officials have made a point each year to sit down w/ these 2 entities to lobby for more $ based upon results & program budget shortfall. They have been successful each year. The WP Director & team officials have also secured several sponsors as well.

For numbers, the CSA doesn't provide breakdowns in their Annual Report. The only $ numbers out in the public last year were in the WNT interviews were the player reps talked about their program only getting $150K. At the time of the interviews CSA said $630K, not. Last year end, the WNT alone needed $1M + which the majority came outside of the CSA. I imagine this year was even more due to prep for Pam Am & Olympics. Thankfully over the years Sports Canada & the COC have been major supporters of the WP as they have the results in the dollar matrix & the best chance to succeed.

The above is just the Seniors but the same problem exists for the U20's & U17. As you can see at the u17soccer.com site the program got $400K & still needs other $400K. This is why the WP & the soccer community got the donation program pushed through w/ the CSA.

The CSA can't budget or generate enough $ for all their programs so like last year a ton of money went to the MP U20's & the WP had to look outside of the CSA. Big drain on the WP Director & team officials having to fight w/ the CSA for funds when the WP is so successful. After this phase for the WP it might be a big lull if the outside $ are not there. Maybe hard to restart the programs as the players don't want to go back to the old way of the CSA after the success they have had w/ ok funding.

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quote:Originally posted by CoachRich

CSA will not produce their WP budget breakdowns as they are for internal use only.

Unfortunately, the CSA is right. However the actual expenditure/income is not! (it is public). A competent firm of Auditors during their audit will require from the CSA board for explanations on any material variances from their budget and make comparisons for consistency with prior years. These explanations can be quite interesting, but again they are not for public consumption.

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Any entity that receives government $$$ should be mandated to reveal

a full accounting of $$$ spent. Until that is done, no more $$$.

The only reason the CSA is getting away with no info, is because they can. The only reason they won't provide info is because they have big, fat, salaries and non soccer expenses to hide (not to mention huge legal bills to pay for bad decisions they are getting huge $$$ to make!) Seems that the whole organization benefits except the players. I would love to see the tab and details of the CSA pork-barrel tour to China. No wonder there won't be any $$$ for WNP for 3 years, it is being used up this month.

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^ There is a world of difference betwen 'should be mandated' and actually being mandated to reveal financial details.

Until there are major structural and constitutional changes at the CSA we will continue to be dependent upon the effectiveness, goodwill and integrity of the board members and senior staff to run the operation properly and report to members. Regrettably it is human nature to reveal only that which the law requires one to reveal.

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Thank you for that astute observation "Captain Obvious"

Regrettably, as you put, Canadian soccer players and fans have, unfortunately, had to rely on the CSA to "do the right thing".

They interpret this to mean for themselves, not the players.

As my learned collegues have pointed out, if things don't drastically

change, we're gonna get more of what we already got.

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