Jump to content

Oh the defections....


Recommended Posts

Well FIFA has just facilitated switching countries yet further by their latest rule amendments. Don't blame the kids for making the choices they do, the FIFA rules encourage it. Maybe those who object so viscerally to choices made by peole like Sydney Leroux would prefer if FIFA rules simply said you can only play for the country of your birth and that's that!

I have no problem with being able to choose who you want to play for based on your family heritage... but to use up resources of one to achieve goals with another is not right, period.

FIFA should just stipulate that once you don the kit of one country then thats that. Isn't that how it used to be?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Anyone who say's Leroux "isn't that fast" is clearly blind as a bat and not watching the games. She's been in on net so many times it's criminal and always pulling away from her markers.

I have no problem with anyone who say's if I was a dual citizen I wouldn't play for the USA women's team. That's completely natural. But extending beyond that to say in her situation I would have done differently is really pointless. No one knows her situation or any of the factors, people or experiences.

Cheeta, if Jonathon de Guzman play's for Canada did he steal an investment from the Dutch? Or did it just not work out? Our youth teams meet a couple of times a year at most, and back then often never in off years. I don't know the ratio but it's certainly not 100% development and 0% competition, if anything I'd say exactly the opposite. It's more volunteering and donating your skills to the country and putting up with immense frustration for it than getting anything in return.

And even if you don't agree with that, Leroux was thin into things and jumped out early. She didn't participate in any of the U-19 build-up in Vancouver, Laval, Nebraska or the CONCACAF's in Ottawa and Montreal and in her only appearance played bare minutes in the World Cup.

She was the youngest player on the Canadian team and the youngest player in the tournament, but as it turned out, it was not a positive experience for young Leroux. While she respects head coach Ian Bridge, appreciates the opportunity he provided and says it was important for her soccer development, she just did not mesh well with the team. And as a 14-year-old, perhaps she was not ready for such an experience.

Had Leroux come home enfranchised and positive her life goes in a different direction. It's convenient to put the blame 100% on her but I think that's an oversimplification. If your 14yr old child runs away from home do you put the blame on them?

That statement spits in the face of the Charmaine Hoopers and Christine Sinclairs of the world, and even if they failed their "duties" when is it time to be a trailblazer for the sport instead of being just another follower.

Christine Sinclair was born in BC and had one choice. Charmaine Hooper was born in Guyana. And it's an interesting statistical and social sample that three of the four successful persona non grata players in our women's program are black Canadians. I'm not looking to bait or drive the thread there (and please don't), just making an observation.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Anyone who say's Leroux "isn't that fast" is clearly blind as a bat and not watching the games. She's been in on net so many times it's criminal and always pulling away from her markers.

I have no problem with anyone who say's if I was a dual citizen I wouldn't play for the USA women's team. That's completely natural. But extending beyond that to say in her situation I would have done differently is really pointless. No one knows her situation or any of the factors, people or experiences.

Cheeta, if Jonathon de Guzman play's for Canada did he steal an investment from the Dutch? Or did it just not work out? Our youth teams meet a couple of times a year at most, and back then often never in off years. I don't know the ratio but it's certainly not 100% development and 0% competition, if anything I'd say exactly the opposite. It's more volunteering and donating your skills to the country and putting up with immense frustration for it than getting anything in return.

And even if you don't agree with that, Leroux was thin into things and jumped out early. She didn't participate in any of the U-19 build-up in Vancouver, Laval, Nebraska or the CONCACAF's in Ottawa and Montreal and in her only appearance played bare minutes in the World Cup.

Had Leroux come home enfranchised and positive her life goes in a different direction. It's convenient to put the blame 100% on her but I think that's an oversimplification. If your 14yr old child runs away from home do you put the blame on them?

Christine Sinclair was born in BC and had one choice. Charmaine Hooper was born in Guyana. And it's an interesting statistical and social sample that three of the four successful persona non grata players in our women's program are black Canadians. I'm not looking to bait or drive the thread there (and please don't), just making an observation.

Regarding Jonathan, you are comparing apples and oranges. The KNVB had nothing to do with Jonathan's development, but rather the club Feyenoord. The CSA did with Leroux as already posted with her U20 appearances at age 14.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What is your point? She was capped at 14 at U20 level. You (and she OBVIOUSLY) expected her to start racking up SENIOR caps at 15/16??? FFS.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Who knows. She could just as easily have disappeared like Aysha Jamani who was capped young too. Perhaps she takes up baseball like her Dad. I have no idea. And I don't think anyone should get an underage cap on any team until they're good enough to make the starting 11. In many of the top programs there is a process and you wait your turn. Leroux nearly had two U20 golden boots and doesn't have a senior callup yet.

I'm just trying to understand why her situation in Canada is considered different from de Guzman's in the Netherlands. If the charge is taking a spot from another player - what does age have to do with that?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The point is that a Dutch pro club developed de Guzman and he NEVER had any affiliation with a Cdn youth team, unlike Leroux, who took a spot on our youth teams ahead of other girls who might have stayed with Canada. Age has nothing to do with it. The fact remains that she was given opportunites in our programs (at the U20 level)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ahhh I gotcha now. I was comparing what de Guzman "owed" the Dutch to what Leroux "owed" Canada, not what he owed Canada (which is of course little to none).

I don't know enough about her life to cast judgement so just wish her well and hope it works out. And if she's to be vilified for taking a Canadian spot in a tournament then hey, she's credited her account by giving one back to someone else for her entire life.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Plenty to fix for the females in Canada when they don't get the same $ for development as the males. Youth clubs and districts still don't give females their fair share based on membership. If they did leagues and clubs would be run by the same entities.

Female clubs exist because they got burnt by the traditional focus on males. Even the WNT goes through that when the MNT get appearance fees and the women do not. Thankfully Charmaine Hooper took a stance one year but the CSA forgot the next. In the WNT Olympic year they existed on their Sports Canada and Kerfoot dollars as the CSA only gave them about $150K. The IOC funded the team to the Olympics. Where was the CSA for the Olympics?

Is Sydney Leroux case for someone who has dual citizenship she made the right choice if we just look at the dollars in a Olympic year -

1. CWNT - Sports Canada $24K per player.

2. USWNT - $75K per player and they have a CBA

Sure there are issues with Canada's style of play top to bottom but until the admin side of the game creates a better structure, organizes top to bottom and gets more sponsors, we will suffer and see players go outside of the country to better themselves.

Nigeria and Colombia just made it the semi finals of the U20 WWC and NIgeria just beat the US. Can someone please tell what comparative advantages those countries have over Canada? Do they have a womens professional league? Do you honnestly belive that they have funding comparable to the men? Do you honnestly think that there corporate sponsorship opportunities equal to Canada? Much less in Womens soccer? Do you think that those societies are more progressive than Canada when it comes to opportunities (including funding of sports) for women?

The answer is, Much like slow digression of womens soccer in the USA, is self inflicted. As I said many times. Specifically, its culturally related and its roots go right down to very young youth levels of the game. IT HAs absolutely nothing to do with the national adminstration levels.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well for starters it's youth soccer so a senior women's league is moot. And even if it did yes there is a national Nigerian women's A League and Colombia had their women's league 15 years ago. Other comparative advantages - Nigeria is five times the size of Canada, Colombia is 50% bigger, they both have a 12-month playing climate and soccer is the#1 sport in both countries meaning a lot more culture, resources and infrastructure to leverage.

But part of the answer is a lot simpler. Why are the Nigerians there? Does anyone think they have many players under 20? Certainly not anyone I've come across.

Colombia? Who knows. Maybe, God forbid, they actually have a good program and coaching and can actually play.

But that's one country, at a youth tournament. The last U20 men's final four included Hungary, Costa Rica and Ghana. And the Swiss won the last U17. Youth soccer in both genders is wonky. I'm not holding my breath any of their senior teams reproduce their results.

You've circled around it a few times and I get the feeling you don't agree with the idea of women funding themselves and that they should be financing our men's program. Haven't women done enough of that for the past 100 years?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nigeria and Colombia just made it the semi finals of the U20 WWC and NIgeria just beat the US. Can someone please tell what comparative advantages those countries have over Canada? Do they have a womens professional league? Do you honnestly belive that they have funding comparable to the men? Do you honnestly think that there corporate sponsorship opportunities equal to Canada? Much less in Womens soccer? Do you think that those societies are more progressive than Canada when it comes to opportunities (including funding of sports) for women?

The answer is, Much like slow digression of womens soccer in the USA, is self inflicted. As I said many times. Specifically, its culturally related and its roots go right down to very young youth levels of the game. IT HAs absolutely nothing to do with the national adminstration levels.

Vic has pointed out to you how many of these countries have domestic women's leagues which translates into a huge dfferences. Take sometime to Google or Wiki the subject as it's an eye opener.

English Women's Premier

http://www.thefa.com/Leagues/WomensPremierLeague

German Women's Bundesliga

http://www.dfb.de/index.php?id=3141

Wiki list of women's clubs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_women%27s_association_football_clubs

women's football clubs in Japan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_women's_football_clubs_in_Japan

Yes, there are cultural differences but culture is taught and learnt hence the example of the USA prorgram success on all levels and genders. It's also the reasons blame goes to the CSA as they are at the top and have a duty to set the goals and teach the culture.

The CSA doesn't filter down to the the youth level and that's the biggest problem. One only has to take a quick look at The FA to see the differences. One only has to look at the admin of the youth clubs in Canada to see why we have our woes in development. It all starts at the top when it comes to amateur sports. Again look at the USSF successes as they are culturally the closest to Canada. Their success started at the top after they hosted the WC where they changed how soccer is devleoped and funded in the US.

As far as Canadian females funding the males, it's a poor attitude that is holding back the sport. The imbalancing of the dollar at the youth level still goes on as parents don't know as youth clubs like the CSA is not transparent. This speaks to the poor job the CSA and PSO's are doing....heck look at the ASA being put under a Interim Court Order as they can't run the PSO properly http://www.albertasoccer.com

The only way the females have gotten around fund imbalancing is to form huge female clubs like North Shore where they have almost 4000 females in a cradle to grave development program. The North Shore boy clubs last season finally had to band together all their clubs as they were struggling . In the case of our WNT it was the Kerfoot program and going to the press on the lack of funding which help them getting funding from other sources like the COC. Hopefully Morace is doing better in funding than Pellerud but my guess is that the WNT is getting money due to the CSA SOP which is shifitng money around and charging youth more fees.

Where the CSA and the PSO need to go is structure the youth into large am-pro both genders and cradle to grave clubs with boards and staff that know something about sports admin. Some clubs like Coquitlam MFSC www.cmfsc.ca are showing it's the way by placing more teams in the BC Provinical than some Youth Districts.

The CSA's lack of downward direction in admin and development structure is a huge drawback to no only development but the sports culture too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...