Alberta Soccer Dispute Continues ON

[1867]

I would not be too worried about the delay in reform as in the long run reform is going to happen, for instance Mario is gone from the provincial level and will soon be replaced at the local level, Traficante will soon be gone at the National Level and will never again be welcome at the local level.

His self appointed Life Membership in Alberta will soon be revoked, don't let the door hit you on the way out - Bye-Bye

Yes and i think mt named the mens amsl chapionship after himself too, of course Fred Kern got the womens trophy named after him . That has to change. Job one.

[kj52]

Perhaps it's also time to move to a one member-one vote system. CMSA and EMSA should be big supporters of this as they would want to be onside with FIFA. I'm sure everyone remembers that FIFA told CSA a few years ago that the CSA should be doing the same thing and CSA made up some lame excuse that they didn't have time to address it now or something like that. Funny how CSA is very FIFA compliant when it comes to stomping all over members democratic rights but don't have the time to look at other FIFA directives. F*****g hypocrites!

[oc64]

What is going on with the ASA board and the AGM? By my math Chen and Calvin have only a very few days left before they must either resign from the ASA board or from there local board (EMSA for Chen).

By my reading of the now filed bylaws if they have not resigned either position within 30 days of the SGM they are automatically removed from the ASA board. Is that correct?

[kj52]

What is going on with the ASA board and the AGM? By my math Chen and Calvin have only a very few days left before they must either resign from the ASA board or from there local board (EMSA for Chen).

By my reading of the now filed bylaws if they have not resigned either position within 30 days of the SGM they are automatically removed from the ASA board. Is that correct?

I have a feeling that they aren't going to leave or resign their other positions until someone makes an issue of it. Calvin is still listed on the Big Country Soccer website as a vice-president and also holds a couple of positions on the Crossfield Soccer Assoc. Board as well according to their website.

Chen is still listed as a Director for EMSA as well. The question is - will it take another SGM to force them to comply with the new bylaw? They've been as obstinate as concrete posts so far so it might.

[shield69]

I have a feeling that they aren't going to leave or resign their other positions until someone makes an issue of it. Calvin is still listed on the Big Country Soccer website as a vice-president and also holds a couple of positions on the Crossfield Soccer Assoc. Board as well according to their website.

Chen is still listed as a Director for EMSA as well. The question is - will it take another SGM to force them to comply with the new bylaw? They've been as obstinate as concrete posts so far so it might.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but until the new bylaw is registered I don't think they are bound by it? Otherwise, why were the bylaws from, what was it, 1998 the ones on record for this mess? Given the performance in Ottawa it is obvious Chen will not step down simply because it is the will of membership. The EMSA AGM is in about a week. Maybe someone attending can raise the issue there. Perhaps put a motion forward? Of course, it would also be nice if the first motion of the ASA SGM was put forward, you know, the one about removing MC from the board.

[shield69]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but until the new bylaw is registered I don't think they are bound by it? Otherwise, why were the bylaws from, what was it, 1998 the ones on record for this mess? Given the performance in Ottawa it is obvious Chen will not step down simply because it is the will of membership. The EMSA AGM is in about a week. Maybe someone attending can raise the issue there. Perhaps put a motion forward? Of course, it would also be nice if the first motion of the ASA SGM was put forward, you know, the one about removing MC from the board.

My mistake... they are registered.

[oc64]

I have a feeling that they aren't going to leave or resign their other positions until someone makes an issue of it. Calvin is still listed on the Big Country Soccer website as a vice-president and also holds a couple of positions on the Crossfield Soccer Assoc. Board as well according to their website.

Chen is still listed as a Director for EMSA as well. The question is - will it take another SGM to force them to comply with the new bylaw? They've been as obstinate as concrete posts so far so it might.

My reading is that the removal from ASA is automatic. No resignation or meeting required.

A director of the association is not permitted to be a director or officer of any

active member or associate member of the ASA. Within 30 days of a person

being elected or appointed to the ASA board, that person must resign from

any director or officer position of any active or associate member. Failing

which the director will be terminated from the ASA board.

[yeg51]

Oh I'm sure they will argue (if they really want to stick around) that they were appointed before the bylaw amendment and registration, therefore they are grandfathered under the old rules and maybe even aren't up for replacement at the Agm.

[1867]

Oh I'm sure they will argue (if they really want to stick around) that they were appointed before the bylaw amendment and registration, therefore they are grandfathered under the old rules and maybe even aren't up for replacement at the Agm.

Regardless of anything they are up for replacement as they were appointed to replace other directors. Appointed directors only serve until the next agm.

[socceralberta]

Since EMSA's AGM is tonight, has there been any word if anyone has put their name forward to run against Mario?

This thread has really slowed down and I was just wondering if anyone in the 'know' has anything to say about the AGM tonight, or if anyone was planning on attending?

Thanks

SoccerAlberta

[1867]

No idea on EMSA but we can keep our fingers crossed.

Another issue is that CSA is still proceeding with their persecution of the 5 districts and individuals who went to court-successfully-agaisnt Mario and the disgraced cronies. Does anyone know where that is going? Are these districts going to get suspended before the AGM? why would CSA think it should expel whole district the size of all the martitimes when clearly the huge majority of the membership of ASa thinks they were justified in taking the action they did?

[tmcmurph]

No idea on EMSA but we can keep our fingers crossed.

Another issue is that CSA is still proceeding with their persecution of the 5 districts and individuals who went to court-successfully-agaisnt Mario and the disgraced cronies. Does anyone know where that is going? Are these districts going to get suspended before the AGM? why would CSA think it should expel whole district the size of all the martitimes when clearly the huge majority of the membership of ASa thinks they were justified in taking the action they did?

If the rest of the CSA doesn't stand up to the scumbag exectutives doing this then they are in for a rude awakening. I can easily see Alberta giving an ultimatum (rightly so) to the CSA. Accept who we elect and quit messing with us or we don't send you a million dollars. Choose.

For the life of me I don't know why the rest of the CSA board doesn't publicly call out their idiot exectutives and demand accountability for this and other actions. The scum have succeeded in getting a 4 year delay in reforms and they will continue to engage in these schemes until forced to stop. If they are not stopped they will scuttle reforms in 4 years.

[The Kid]

No idea on EMSA but we can keep our fingers crossed.

Another issue is that CSA is still proceeding with their persecution of the 5 districts and individuals who went to court-successfully-agaisnt Mario and the disgraced cronies. Does anyone know where that is going? Are these districts going to get suspended before the AGM? why would CSA think it should expel whole district the size of all the martitimes when clearly the huge majority of the membership of ASa thinks they were justified in taking the action they did?

Maybe Colin gave foreshadowing of this when he smugly said "I will see you at the next AGM"... Would be interesting to see Justice Tillman vs. CSA this time

[oc64]

No idea on EMSA but we can keep our fingers crossed.

Another issue is that CSA is still proceeding with their persecution of the 5 districts and individuals who went to court-successfully-agaisnt Mario and the disgraced cronies. Does anyone know where that is going? Are these districts going to get suspended before the AGM? why would CSA think it should expel whole district the size of all the martitimes when clearly the huge majority of the membership of ASa thinks they were justified in taking the action they did?

That is likely the reason for the delay in calling the AGM. Chen and Calvin have probably been told to put it off until they can swing the votes in their favour. Although from my reading of the bylaws Chen and Calvin should no longer be on the ASA board. They shoot have been automatically removed from the board as they did not (to my knowledge) resign their other positions within 30 days of the the bylaw being approved.

[kj52]

That is likely the reason for the delay in calling the AGM. Chen and Calvin have probably been told to put it off until they can swing the votes in their favour. Although from my reading of the bylaws Chen and Calvin should no longer be on the ASA board. They shoot have been automatically removed from the board as they did not (to my knowledge) resign their other positions within 30 days of the the bylaw being approved.

Both are still listed as being directors on their previous Board's websites (EMSA and Big Country).

[1867]

Both are still listed as being directors on their previous Board's websites (EMSA and Big Country).

A letter went out from them-which may well be on the reformalberta website-wherein they say they are resigning from their local boards and they wont appoint any new executives and they will try to get the audit done and call the agm when they can. Of course they will drag it out on their masters orders in order for the CSA to act.

DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW THE EMSA AGM WENT? Hey there is even reform blossoming in Libya-a person can hope...

[Guest Hari Seldon]

mario not up for election this year and no one ran against ivan so status quo. It seems emsa is less clued in than Libya.

[oc64]

A letter went out from them-which may well be on the reformalberta website-wherein they say they are resigning from their local boards and they wont appoint any new executives and they will try to get the audit done and call the agm when they can. Of course they will drag it out on their masters orders in order for the CSA to act.

DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW THE EMSA AGM WENT? Hey there is even reform blossoming in Libya-a person can hope...

As of early this week the auditors had not even started.

[oc64]

A letter went out from them-which may well be on the reformalberta website-wherein they say they are resigning from their local boards and they wont appoint any new executives and they will try to get the audit done and call the agm when they can. Of course they will drag it out on their masters orders in order for the CSA to act.

What is the end game though? I can't imagine that Mario or Colin would resign their positions on local boards in order to run for an ASA position. I suspect it is more likely that they will try and elect individuals like Chen or maybe Robert Hayne to lead the ASA. That way maybe they can still control both the local and provincial bodies.

[1867]

What is the end game though? I can't imagine that Mario or Colin would resign their positions on local boards in order to run for an ASA position. I suspect it is more likely that they will try and elect individuals like Chen or maybe Robert Hayne to lead the ASA. That way maybe they can still control both the local and provincial bodies.

Well-someone has to run the asa until the agm-one would hope that these guys move on the audit and just get things going-whether they decide to run or not is immatrerial. We may want to get confirmation that they resigned-anyone see chen resign at the emsa agm? anyone from bigcoungry confirm colvin resigned?

A realist would conclude that these guys are going to drag their feet on the audit and then go to the judge-along with the emsa crew and claim asa is ungovernable and should be wound up and not have the agm.

[oc64]

I notice the SGM minutes from January have now been filed on the ASA website with the other meeting minutes from 2009. Is anyone pressuring the ASA office to put the 2010 board meeting minutes on the website. That may make for some very interesting reading and the membership is entitled to see them.

[Norma Rae]

Here is a copy of the letter that was recently sent out by the 2 calling themselves the Board of the ASA--ASA BOD Letter to the Membership (February 19 2011).pdf they seem to forget that Adams is part of the Board and so too are suspended Directors, Billings and Bowie. Bowie's suspension is being accepted without challenge by anyone but I am not sure why folks are rolling over on this. He was told a while ago by the ASA ED that the Board resolution in November to suspend him was not effective until he received written confirmation of it. At least up until the time of the January SGM, he had not received such a letter.

The letter from Chen and Calvin raise a number of concerns and foreshadow events to come. I agree with the comments that the audited financial statements might not be prepared in time for the AGM and may be used to try to wind up the ASA however, I think such an action would back fire badly. Any winding up application provides a large variety of powerful alternative remedies for a judge to apply including amending bylaws, removing directors, etc. I don't think that such an application would be considered to be in the best interests of the ASA or necessary when the so called "dysfunction" of the ASA is caused by 2 appointed directors whose conflict of loyalty is plainly evident and there are so many more willing to continue to do the work of the ASA.

[Norma Rae]

The attachment link to the Feb 19 letter does not seem to work so here is the text of the letter:

Alberta Soccer Association

February 19, 2011

Dear Members of the Alberta Soccer Association:

Over the past month we have received a few suggestions with respect to the direction of the

Association. We have considered these suggestions and wish to address them at this time. We

also wish to provide an update on our anticipated activities over the next couple of months.

1. Appointments to the Board

We wish to thank the members who have made suggestions for appointments to the

Board. In particular, we thank those individuals who have volunteered to serve.

However, given that the Association’s annual general meeting is coming up shortly, we do

not believe that it makes sense to appoint anyone to fill a vacancy for only a couple of

months. We hope that those who have volunteered to serve consider being nominated for

election at the AGM.

2. Timing of the 2011 AGM

As you may know, the court issued an order that the Association’s audited financial

statements be presented at the AGM and that the AGM be held no later than April 2011.

We are seeking a commitment from the Association’s auditors to complete their audit in

time to meet these requirements. Once we have that commitment we will set the AGM

date. We will do everything that we can to ensure that the Association is not in breach of

the court order.

3. Amendment to Bylaws

We recently received confirmation that the bylaw amendment passed at the special general

meeting on January 21, 2011 was registered with Alberta Corporate Registries. Although

the bylaw amendment is not in effect retroactively, to recognize the spirit of the

amendment we will be submitting our resignations from the board of our local

associations. In doing so, we hope that the members of our local associations understand.

We both feel that it is more important at this time to ensure that the Association is able to

call and hold its AGM, which requires both of us to remain on the board.

4. New CSA Governance Model

Alberta Soccer Association

“Governing Body of Soccer in the Province of Alberta”

2

We have previously sent a note to you about the reasons why we supported the 2012

compromise governance model. We considered the requests of the members of the

Association but also considered the issues raised by the CSA executive and members.

Taking into account all the information we had, we decided that 2012 compromise model

(with an amendment proposed at the meeting) was in the best interests of the CSA, and

that model was ultimately unanimously passed by the CSA members.

It has been brought to our attention that a member of the Association alleges in its

newsletter that we said during the meeting that “we would not be bullied by our

Members”. That is completely false. As most of the discussion about the model was

exchanged between members by e-mail the week before the CSA meeting, this is selfevident.

What does appear to be true is that this member, together with others, are intent

on continuing the factious and hostile atmosphere that has dominated the Association this

past year. Inappropriate and hateful e-mails continue to be sent. Regrettably, it appears

that many of the Association’s members condone this behaviour.

5. Review of Bylaws

We believe that the dispute this past year can be attributed, in part, to actual or perceived

ambiguity in the bylaws of the Association. At the January 21, 2011 special general

meeting we also heard concerns about disproportionate representation on the board. We

are looking at potential amendments to the bylaws to address some of these issues.

6. Casino

The ASA staff has now sent 2 urgent letters to the Association’s members asking for

volunteers for the ASA’s casino on March 8 and 9 in Edmonton. With the exception of

one member, the response has been, frankly, pathetic. Unless other members respond, the

Association will forfeit the casino and lose a much needed funding source for at least 5

years. Please volunteer.

We are committed to moving the Association forward to the 2011 AGM in a manner that

decreases the likelihood of ongoing disputes and hostility. However, much of this, together with

the future of the Association, rests with you, the members.

With regard,

Ray Calvin

Scott Chen

[oc64]

The attachment link to the Feb 19 letter does not seem to work so here is the text of the letter:

Alberta Soccer Association

February 19, 2011

Dear Members of the Alberta Soccer Association:

Over the past month we have received a few suggestions with respect to the direction of the

Association. We have considered these suggestions and wish to address them at this time. We

also wish to provide an update on our anticipated activities over the next couple of months.

1. Appointments to the Board

We wish to thank the members who have made suggestions for appointments to the

Board. In particular, we thank those individuals who have volunteered to serve.

However, given that the Association’s annual general meeting is coming up shortly, we do

not believe that it makes sense to appoint anyone to fill a vacancy for only a couple of

months. We hope that those who have volunteered to serve consider being nominated for

election at the AGM.

2. Timing of the 2011 AGM

As you may know, the court issued an order that the Association’s audited financial

statements be presented at the AGM and that the AGM be held no later than April 2011.

We are seeking a commitment from the Association’s auditors to complete their audit in

time to meet these requirements. Once we have that commitment we will set the AGM

date. We will do everything that we can to ensure that the Association is not in breach of

the court order.

3. Amendment to Bylaws

We recently received confirmation that the bylaw amendment passed at the special general

meeting on January 21, 2011 was registered with Alberta Corporate Registries. Although

the bylaw amendment is not in effect retroactively, to recognize the spirit of the

amendment we will be submitting our resignations from the board of our local

associations. In doing so, we hope that the members of our local associations understand.

We both feel that it is more important at this time to ensure that the Association is able to

call and hold its AGM, which requires both of us to remain on the board.

4. New CSA Governance Model

Alberta Soccer Association

“Governing Body of Soccer in the Province of Alberta”

2

We have previously sent a note to you about the reasons why we supported the 2012

compromise governance model. We considered the requests of the members of the

Association but also considered the issues raised by the CSA executive and members.

Taking into account all the information we had, we decided that 2012 compromise model

(with an amendment proposed at the meeting) was in the best interests of the CSA, and

that model was ultimately unanimously passed by the CSA members.

It has been brought to our attention that a member of the Association alleges in its

newsletter that we said during the meeting that “we would not be bullied by our

Members”. That is completely false. As most of the discussion about the model was

exchanged between members by e-mail the week before the CSA meeting, this is selfevident.

What does appear to be true is that this member, together with others, are intent

on continuing the factious and hostile atmosphere that has dominated the Association this

past year. Inappropriate and hateful e-mails continue to be sent. Regrettably, it appears

that many of the Association’s members condone this behaviour.

5. Review of Bylaws

We believe that the dispute this past year can be attributed, in part, to actual or perceived

ambiguity in the bylaws of the Association. At the January 21, 2011 special general

meeting we also heard concerns about disproportionate representation on the board. We

are looking at potential amendments to the bylaws to address some of these issues.

6. Casino

The ASA staff has now sent 2 urgent letters to the Association’s members asking for

volunteers for the ASA’s casino on March 8 and 9 in Edmonton. With the exception of

one member, the response has been, frankly, pathetic. Unless other members respond, the

Association will forfeit the casino and lose a much needed funding source for at least 5

years. Please volunteer.

We are committed to moving the Association forward to the 2011 AGM in a manner that

decreases the likelihood of ongoing disputes and hostility. However, much of this, together with

the future of the Association, rests with you, the members.

With regard,

Ray Calvin

Scott Chen

I'll volunteer for the Casino. Something needs to be done to pay for the Legal Bills.

Not very diplomatic to call EDSA out publicly in their letter (although not naming them) or to call the memberships response to the casino pathetic. They don't seem to want to take any responsibility for the memberships current lack of trust in the ASA. What may actually help rebuild the association is some acknowledgement that the board made some mistakes along the way. They are still holding onto the mentality that they (the board) know better than the membership.

Are they even able to hold meetings and make decisions? Who chairs the board meetings?

[1867]

Well, maybe if they appointed the board members who were recommended rather then assume-wrongly-that they can handle things on their own-despite having been appointed in the middle of the night by a disgraced and removed board-they would be able to do the casino. These guys really do have a false sense of themselves. One of them made a total fool of himself at the SGM and the other was thge subject of unbelievably bad pr for ASA by trying to stop games, bully coordinators and taking medals from kids at provincials in big country. then they both toddled off to the CSA SGM and ignored their constituency and thwarted speedy reform singlehandedly. They have no moral high ground. If they only knew how ridiculous they are.