fishman Posted July 6, 2010 Share Posted July 6, 2010 I don't know if either faction thought things through that carefully...what is becoming obvious, though, is that this Outdoor season is destined to be ruined. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oc64 Posted July 6, 2010 Author Share Posted July 6, 2010 I don't know if either faction thought things through that carefully...what is becoming obvious, though, is that this Outdoor season is destined to be ruined. This dispute started in February (I think). I'm sure both sides hoped it would be resolved long before now. Right now, however, Mario and his group (with CSA approval) are using whatever leverage they have to bully the districts into compliance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oc64 Posted July 6, 2010 Author Share Posted July 6, 2010 Can this impact the Alberta Summer Games at all? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kj52 Posted July 6, 2010 Share Posted July 6, 2010 Can this impact the Alberta Summer Games at all? The summer games teams are from summer games zones which are not the same as ASA Districts and although each sport has it's provincial body handle the overall co-ordination it's strictly an Alberta Recreation, Cuture etc, project so I can't see how this dispute enters into it at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kj52 Posted July 6, 2010 Share Posted July 6, 2010 This dispute started in February (I think). I'm sure both sides hoped it would be resolved long before now. Right now, however, Mario and his group (with CSA approval) are using whatever leverage they have to bully the districts into compliance. I wouldn't exactly call it a dispute, it was more of an attack by a small group of individuals on Alberta Soccer in general. It took a while for a group of very bewildered people to get together and decide how to fight back. Fortunately there were folks who had been through a very similar experience in 2007 and 2008 who helped galvanize resistance to Mario, Colin, etc. You can only push people so far before they decide to make a stand. If nothing had been done you can bet it would have been carnage by now for high level competitive soccer in Alberta (particularly in Edmonton). People may have hoped it would be resolved by now but those of us familiar with the tactics of the afore mentioned individuals knew it would be a long, hard battle with no guarantees of a favourable outcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oc64 Posted July 7, 2010 Author Share Posted July 7, 2010 It has certainly been a personal attack on Mr. Billings and an attack against the rural districts. I'm not really familiar with what happened in 07' and 08' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted July 7, 2010 Share Posted July 7, 2010 It is still a disgusting mess no matter where the fingers are pointed. No wonder soccer struggles in this country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oc64 Posted July 7, 2010 Author Share Posted July 7, 2010 It is still a disgusting mess no matter where the fingers are pointed. No wonder soccer struggles in this country. The sad part is that I think ASA has a very strong technical director. If the board would get out of the way and let the staff do their jobs I think technically Alberta Soccer could improve a lot. Unfortunately right now they are running with a skeleton crew and can't get anything done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kj52 Posted July 7, 2010 Share Posted July 7, 2010 As Jpg stated, the professionals have to be allowed to do their jobs and the amateur Boards have to get out of the way. It's like dislodging cockroaches though, they just keep coming back. What happened to Chris Billings in Alberta could theoretically happen anywhere in Canada. People who push for reform are targets to be shot down by those who are desperate to hold on to their power. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Spiers Posted July 7, 2010 Share Posted July 7, 2010 Bill, thanks for that information. It brings things into better focus. When is the next CSA general meeting where By-Laws can be changed? I believe they were looking at a Special General Meeting in the Fall (September?) to consider at least some of the required By-Law changes. I'm not sure if the unresolved situation in Alberta will affect that. The next AGM is not until May 2011. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishman Posted July 7, 2010 Share Posted July 7, 2010 A copy-and-paste of a letter sent to Alberta Major Soccer League teams on Monday, July 5; this was distributed along with a letter indicating the CSA's support for the Charpentier-led Board. Summary of the letter is that despite AMSL teams already paying their fees to their respective districts, they are expected to pay those fees again directly to the ASA. Many districts have deposited the fees typically earmarked for the ASA into the trust account set up by Billings. Failure to pay these fees AGAIN will result in the team(s) being suspended from soccer in the Province. Dear Members: RE: FAILURE TO PAY ASA FEES The ASA has not received payment of fees due and owing from your local district or association to the ASA, including fees required in order for you to participate in AMSL. The deadline for payment of these fees was July 2, 2010. The ASA Board has now declared your local district or association in bad standing. As AMSL is a recognized program of the ASA, the ASA Board has made a special dispensation for you to pay your outstanding ASA fees (being $2,775) directly to the ASA. SPECIAL DISPENSATION FOR AMSL TEAMS THAT COME FROM ASSOCIATIONS OR DISTRICTS THAT ARE IN BAD STANDINGS IS OPEN UNTIL JULY 15TH 2010 AT 4:30 PM. YOU MUST PAY YOUR FEES BY CERTIFIED CHEQUE OR MONEY ORDER DELIVERED TO THE ASA'S OFFICIAL (REGISTERED) OFFICE AT #203 - 4940 49 ST NW, EDMONTON, ALBERTA, T6B 2M9, BY THIS DATE IN ORDER FOR YOUR PAYMENT TO BE RECEIVED AND RECOGNIZED. If the ASA does not receive your fees by July 15th 2010, be advised that your team will be automatically declared in bad standing and will loose the privilege of being a member of the ASA, including but not limited to the following: ASA insurance policy coverage (which is automatically revoked by the insurer for any member, and its teams, players and other participants, declared in bad standing), access to referees, and the ability to play in sanctioned league play, provincials, nationals and international tournaments. We understand that your local association or district may have paid your fees to Chris Billings or his legal counsel Bennett Jones LLP. Payment to Mr. Billings or Bennett Jones LLP is NOT payment to the ASA as these fees are not in the possession of the ASA. In this respect, we note that the governing body of soccer in Canada, the Canadian Soccer Association (the “CSA”), only recognizes the authority of the ASA Board. Furthermore, Mr. Billings has been suspended by the ASA and the CSA recognizes the legitimacy of his suspension, and therefore Mr. Billings has no authority whatsoever to collect fees or otherwise act on behalf of the ASA. THE ASA TAKES NO RESPONSIBILITY WHATSOEVER FOR ANY MONIES HELD BY MR. BILLINGS OR BENNETT JONES LLP. MEMBERS WHO HAVE ELECTED TO FORWARD THEIR FEES TO MR. BILLINGS OR BENNETT JONES LLP DO SO AT THEIR OWN AND SOLE RISK. You should direct any questions or concerns you may have in this respect to your local district or association. We look forward to receipt of your fees by July 15, 2010. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kj52 Posted July 7, 2010 Share Posted July 7, 2010 It looks like their campaign to alienate everyone involved in soccer in Alberta continues at full pace. Their pathological dislike of the people who run elite programs in this province is well known, guys like you Fish, who know the game, have always made them extremely uncomfortable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmcmurph Posted July 7, 2010 Share Posted July 7, 2010 If the clubs have a valid receipt from the ASA, regardless of who was running it, then the threat to declare them "in bad standing" could get the current ASA in trouble. If the clubs were instructed by the ASA to send funds to xyz, did so and have a valid ASA receipt then the issue is between ASA-1 and ASA-2. This is retroactively penalizing clubs who followed valid ASA instructions. Good luck with that one. I lost a lot of faith in the ASA when they prevented Alberta clubs from competing in the Super Y league. If the players and parents are willing to do the travel, practices and make the commitment to that level of competition why not let them? Heaven forbid if our kids actually want to play at the highest level and can do it. When the Billings faction gets control I hope the reverse that one amongst lots of others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TFCRegina Posted July 7, 2010 Share Posted July 7, 2010 This is on CBC. The article is a complete hatefest for Billings. Show up and give him some support... http://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/story/2010/07/07/alberta-soccer-tournaments-dispute.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kj52 Posted July 8, 2010 Share Posted July 8, 2010 This is on CBC. The article is a complete hatefest for Billings. Show up and give him some support... http://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/story/2010/07/07/alberta-soccer-tournaments-dispute.html Colin Innes has a friend inside CBC in Calgary who writes favourable articles for him. I imagine he had something to do with this one, Innes always gets lots of time on CBC Calgary morning radio to spread his lies. You know I'm sure, tmcmurph, that it was Mario Charpentier and Fred Kern who were responsible for banning Super Y. It's absolutely sickening what they are willing to do to stifle any soccer initiatives in Alberta. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
closetboostie Posted July 8, 2010 Share Posted July 8, 2010 What I would like to know is why the usual sack the csa, change governance, etc brigade is not screaming blue bloody murder over this right now. Just reading this account over the last few weeks is enough to make me extremely upset. I'm not involved with minor soccer nor do I have any platform to speak from. It seems to me that this is a critical moment when change could continue to be put in motion or be set back. Isn't now the time to be vocal, or should we wait until the next Alberta prodigy plays for Denmark because there was no provincial championship when he was 13. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ed Posted July 8, 2010 Share Posted July 8, 2010 This is on CBC. The article is a complete hatefest for Billings. Show up and give him some support... http://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/story/2010/07/07/alberta-soccer-tournaments-dispute.html Hopefully, people who are interested will follow your link to these and other discussions instead of assuming Billings is in the wrong here. Good job on that. The misappropriation of funds line is pretty weak if you follow what has been posted here in the last month or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TFCRegina Posted July 8, 2010 Share Posted July 8, 2010 Hopefully, people who are interested will follow your link to these and other discussions instead of assuming Billings is in the wrong here. Good job on that. The misappropriation of funds line is pretty weak if you follow what has been posted here in the last month or so. My thought was, "If the funds were misappropriated, why hasn't he been charged in criminal court? Also, why hasn't there been an audit by an organization like KPMG?" The answer is painfully obvious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YYC Posted July 8, 2010 Share Posted July 8, 2010 Great point TFCRegina! There was nothing to be audited! Apart for feeble attempts to assassinate Mr. Billings’ character and bogus allegations, Mario and the cronies could not produce anything of substance. If there were any so called issues with Mr. Billings, or any financial mismanagement, they should have called the RCMP and have the charges laid against him. Also, if they truly had a case or something to say, there was an opportunity to present the ASA membership with any issues at the January 24th AGM. But, as we know, there wasn't even a mention of it! And yet, everything somehow surfaces in less than four weeks time following the AGM. Makes you really wonder, eh? This, I will submit to you, was a carefully cooked up scheme that surpasses the Alberta borders. It is shameful half baked attempt to discredit an honest soccer volunteer. What Mario, Colin and their pitiful group did not expect was a swift backlash from such a large majority of Alberta Districts. Now, with the help of CSA, they are attempting to intimidate the rest of us into submission. It did not work before; it’s not going to work now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kj52 Posted July 8, 2010 Share Posted July 8, 2010 This is from a longtime volunteer and part-time soccer employee from a small Rural District in Alberta whom I have known for quite some time. "I want to send this email out to everyone’s email that pops up!! I have not done so yet. But something has to happen and SOON I think one answer has to be that we do the following contact all Provincial Soccer Associations and ask them if they realize that the Canadian Soccer Association (at least two individuals anyway) have decided that Alberta Soccer Membership has no say in who runs their association, it has become a Dictatorship, they will be next if they do not tow the line. Canadian Soccer Money comes from these very individuals and every year they ask for more and more. This is children and their hard working parents who we are talking about! The staff whose wages they pay are being harassed and fired without just cause because they will not tow the line. I have dedicated years of my life to soccer in Alberta for the sake of our children and their parents. Our District does everything possible to let our children play at their highest level possible, we encourage them to play at a higher level, we offer them FREE extra training. We support our referees and coaches by supplementing expenses so they can do their job. Yet we put money into the EMSA League, our District alone has given $50,000 to this organization since October of 2008. Why do we support an organization whose president is behind the problems at our Provincial Organization. Our children are being hurt in this. The soccer motto is “FAIR PLAY”, where’s the fair play here?????????? How can we teach our children “FAIR PLAY” when the Adults don’t seem to know what the words mean. How come Tier IV City Provincials have not been cancelled only RURAL!! What does that tell you, we do not matter!! We need to take drastic action here if we do not want soccer to become a thing of the past in our province. This will injure the entire future of soccer and we need to step up in a more forceful way and FIX THIS NOW. There is lots of talk back and forth but it seems to go nowhere. Congratulations to the Rural Districts who will not step back and let these MORONS walk all over them. Our kids will play the game they love this weekend with the support of their parents and local organizations and they will have fun despite the fact that some want to destroy their love of the game. FOR WHAT, some perceived notion of POWER? This is a non-profit sports organization, there is no money to be made here so where is the power. Do they actually think that one day they will be a part of FIFA and then have POWER over the entire soccer world?? Oh my God, how stupid can they really be, well I guess we have seen that since February of this year when they broke every rule possible, OH yeah I forgot the rules don’t apply to them. DO YOU REALLY WANT TO SIT BACK AND LET THIS WORK ITSELF OUT! I sure don’t because it is only getting worse. Let everyone know across this wonderful country of ours what is really going on here. Here are the emails I have acquired: Ontario: TheOSA@soccer.on.ca New Brunswick: exex@soccernb.org Newfoundland/Labrador: nlsa@sportnl.ca Saskatchewan: saskpresident@soccer.com Manitoba: mbsoccer@manitobasoccer.ca BC: bcsoccer@gmail.com Nova Scotia: soccerns@ns.sympatico.ca " I hope whoever is monitoring this for CSA is paying attention, hopefully this feeling will spread across the country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oc64 Posted July 8, 2010 Author Share Posted July 8, 2010 This is from a longtime volunteer and part-time soccer employee from a small Rural District in Alberta whom I have known for quite some time. "I want to send this email out to everyone’s email that pops up!! I have not done so yet. But something has to happen and SOON I think one answer has to be that we do the following contact all Provincial Soccer Associations and ask them if they realize that the Canadian Soccer Association (at least two individuals anyway) have decided that Alberta Soccer Membership has no say in who runs their association, it has become a Dictatorship, they will be next if they do not tow the line. Canadian Soccer Money comes from these very individuals and every year they ask for more and more. This is children and their hard working parents who we are talking about! The staff whose wages they pay are being harassed and fired without just cause because they will not tow the line. I have dedicated years of my life to soccer in Alberta for the sake of our children and their parents. Our District does everything possible to let our children play at their highest level possible, we encourage them to play at a higher level, we offer them FREE extra training. We support our referees and coaches by supplementing expenses so they can do their job. Yet we put money into the EMSA League, our District alone has given $50,000 to this organization since October of 2008. Why do we support an organization whose president is behind the problems at our Provincial Organization. Our children are being hurt in this. The soccer motto is “FAIR PLAY”, where’s the fair play here?????????? How can we teach our children “FAIR PLAY” when the Adults don’t seem to know what the words mean. How come Tier IV City Provincials have not been cancelled only RURAL!! What does that tell you, we do not matter!! We need to take drastic action here if we do not want soccer to become a thing of the past in our province. This will injure the entire future of soccer and we need to step up in a more forceful way and FIX THIS NOW. There is lots of talk back and forth but it seems to go nowhere. Congratulations to the Rural Districts who will not step back and let these MORONS walk all over them. Our kids will play the game they love this weekend with the support of their parents and local organizations and they will have fun despite the fact that some want to destroy their love of the game. FOR WHAT, some perceived notion of POWER? This is a non-profit sports organization, there is no money to be made here so where is the power. Do they actually think that one day they will be a part of FIFA and then have POWER over the entire soccer world?? Oh my God, how stupid can they really be, well I guess we have seen that since February of this year when they broke every rule possible, OH yeah I forgot the rules don’t apply to them. DO YOU REALLY WANT TO SIT BACK AND LET THIS WORK ITSELF OUT! I sure don’t because it is only getting worse. Let everyone know across this wonderful country of ours what is really going on here. Here are the emails I have acquired: Ontario: TheOSA@soccer.on.ca New Brunswick: exex@soccernb.org Newfoundland/Labrador: nlsa@sportnl.ca Saskatchewan: saskpresident@soccer.com Manitoba: mbsoccer@manitobasoccer.ca BC: bcsoccer@gmail.com Nova Scotia: soccerns@ns.sympatico.ca " I hope whoever is monitoring this for CSA is paying attention, hopefully this feeling will spread across the country. That is a very well written communication. I hope people take it to heart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oc64 Posted July 8, 2010 Author Share Posted July 8, 2010 I just emailed the Alberta Minister responsible for sports and recreation requesting her assistance in ensuring that all provincial tournaments proceed this weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TFCRegina Posted July 8, 2010 Share Posted July 8, 2010 http://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/story/2010/07/07/alberta-soccer-tournaments-dispute.html The Real ASA is apparently pushing forward with Provincials! Good for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kj52 Posted July 8, 2010 Share Posted July 8, 2010 http://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/story/2010/07/07/alberta-soccer-tournaments-dispute.html The Real ASA is apparently pushing forward with Provincials! Good for them. In fact the statement at the end of the article that there is no insurance and no referees is a flat out, easily disproved lie. There most definitely will be referees and the REAL Board has issued a statement from the insurance company confirming that insurance has not and cannot be cancelled. Too bad CBC didn't bother to check their facts first but that's our national broadcaster up to their usual high journalistic standards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TFCRegina Posted July 8, 2010 Share Posted July 8, 2010 In fact the statement at the end of the article that there is no insurance and no referees is a flat out, easily disproved lie. There most definitely will be referees and the REAL Board has issued a statement from the insurance company confirming that insurance has not and cannot be cancelled. Too bad CBC didn't bother to check their facts first but that's our national broadcaster up to their usual high journalistic standards. I reported the inaccuracy. If you post the actual email/letter/press release on here and the CBC comments section (or alternatively also complain about the inaccuracy) it'd help out alot. Use the report typo option on the article. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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