Sydney Leroux signs with Vancouver Whitecaps

[Richard]

We're dealing with youngsters here, which is precisely why FIFA relaxed the rules regarding switching. Anybody who has brought up children through the tumultuous teenage years should understand.

[Richard]

I wonder if anyone has publicly challenged the Caps on this. Of course they would take the PC route if they even bothered to respond but I wonder if they have even got the message that this has rankled some fans. I doubt it.

There are those here who say that it's a club thing and the Caps are trying to put the best team forward and I understand that, but they also have to understand that this has offended the sensibility of some fans much the same way as if the Caps signed a wife beater or steroid abuser. They have knowingly made a decision to offend their fan base which in this day of competition for the sports dollar is not a wise thing to do no matter how much or little it actually means.

Wife beater - get real! If the Whitecaps signing of Sydney LeRoux offends you so much then don't buy tickets to any of their games. Frankly I doubt there are enough people who share your views to make any impact on their gate at all. Indeed I suspect Sydney's signing will more likely have a positive effect.

[Joe MacCarthy]

So business is business right Richard? National teams are to be exploited for personal gain as are professional club teams. So if somebody codes a DOS attack on your website and puts you out of commission for their gain it's only business, is that your attitude?

[Joe MacCarthy]

If the Whitecaps signing of Sydney LeRoux offends you so much then don't buy tickets to any of their games. Frankly I doubt there are enough people who share your views to make any impact on their gate at all.

Have you been reading this thread at all?

[AlanDouglas]

Yes, Sydney received NTC training as a teenager, and then didn't go on to play for the Canadian national team. The same could be said of 99%+ of those who receive NTC training.

Every year dozens of talented young players across this country drop out, switch sports, decide to focus on their academics, or choose a different path in life. Many use NTC training to help them get scholarships so they can get an education and a good job, because they know the chances of making it as a pro player are poor. This is especially true for women.

Granted most of them probably weren't good enough to make the national team, but some could have been. Are they whores and traitors for choosing not to devote their lives to Canadian soccer?

[Admin]

Yes, Sydney received NTC training as a teenager, and then didn't go on to play for the Canadian national team. The same could be said of 99%+ of those who receive NTC training.

Every year dozens of talented young players across this country drop out, switch sports, decide to focus on their academics, or choose a different path in life. Many use NTC training to help them get scholarships so they can get an education and a good job, because they know the chances of making it as a pro player are poor. This is especially true for women.

Granted most of them probably weren't good enough to make the national team, but some could have been. Are they whores and traitors for choosing not to devote their lives to Canadian soccer?

The real problem is that they are allowed to see their parents and have contact with the outside world at all.

If we had a real program they wouldn't even KNOW who their parents were!

Mwhahaahha I volunteer to run the soccer prison camp!

[Guest Ed]

She did much more than receive NTC training, she was treated very well, groomed as the next big thing, given playing time way above her age level for our U20's (at the expense of other Cdn girls of course, but they don't seem to matter to the WhiteCaps apologists).

The fact that she was so ungracious as to ***** about her treatment, saying she deserved even more, shows a lot about her character.

So she sulked off, and now she's playing with the enemy.

Just because you UNDERSTAND her position, do you have to cheer her on?? NO. Emphatically NO. She is much more of a traitor than OH. She plays for the enemy. I would encourage left coast-based national team supporters who spend their money on Whitecaps tickets to do whatever is good for the soul.

[mtlfan]

Would Whitecaps men's team sign any traitors?

[Joe MacCarthy]

She did much more than receive NTC training, she was treated very well, groomed as the next big thing, given playing time way above her age level for our U20's (at the expense of other Cdn girls of course, but they don't seem to matter to the WhiteCaps apologists).

The fact that she was so ungracious as to ***** about her treatment, saying she deserved even more, shows a lot about her character. So she sulked off, and now she's playing with the enemy.

Just because you UNDERSTAND her position, do you have to cheer her on?? NO. Emphatically NO. She is much more of a traitor than OH. She plays for the enemy. I would encourage left coast-based national team supporters who spend their money on Whitecaps tickets to do whatever is good for the soul.

Amen. It would be unfair to the rest of the women on the team for any kind of boycott protest, no matter how small, but it would be entirely appropriate to show Whitecap management via letters, email, game day placards and verbiage what you think of their lack of showing support for Canadian soccer and this poop decision.

Even though the Caps have shown great support for Canadian soccer in the past, they should be reminded that a slight of this type won't be tolerated at any time.

[The Ref]

How much fault should be attributed to Bridge and Pellerud who gave her playing time in the U20 and decided she was not good enough. Was she really bad at the time or did the coaches have poor vision of her potential.

[Blue and White Army]

We're dealing with youngsters here, which is precisely why FIFA relaxed the rules regarding switching. Anybody who has brought up children through the tumultuous teenage years should understand.

In my opinion, people don't mentally mature until the age of 25-35. Perhaps we should allow people to switch countries until the age of 35? That would make Paul Stalteri free to play for Italy or Guyana, although Pat "Granddad" Onstad would be cap-tied to Canada.

[jpg75]

Sorry, while I remain eternally grateful to those who give their lives in combat on my behalf and against the forces of evil (I am a military veteran myself), I do not acknowledge any material connection between the sacrifices of Canadians 60+ years ago during WWII, fighting the spread of Hitler nazism, and Sydney LeRoux choosing to exercise her American citizenship rights rather than her Canadian citizenship rights as those rights pertain to her soccer career, both of which rights she is perfectly entitled to by reason of the good fortune of her birth.

If ever I saw desperate, misguided reaching in any discussion, this effort of yours to draw a parallell with WWII takes the cake.

You still don't get it. No one is denying she has the right to do what she did, she has that right as a dual citizen to do what she did and no one can take it from her. Just as we have the right to not to like it and be pissed. Why? Because we're fans and in this case 'Caps fans wil have the right to protest her signing, and boo her or not show up at all and punish the club. That's activism Richard and no one can shut people up and take away their right to free speech.

For me this comes down to the old legal/moral/ethical argument. It may be in the rules that you can turn your back on the country of your birth, the one that gave you elite training from a young age and nurtured your development, but does it make it right? Is this something any of us would be proud to do or have our kids do?

[Richard]

^ Nobody can stop you from crude, boorish behaviour if that's your choice, more's the pity.

[Joe MacCarthy]

As no one can stop you from your self appointed elitist, politically correct viewpoint that most in this thread disagree with. As you seem to have no regard for ethical behaviour and are sympathetic with the greasy, greedy side, let's hope no one is motivated to provide your website with a little non ethical competition.

Interesting to note that some of Ms Leroux's supporters seem to run websites while her detractors consist of the great unwashed NT fanbase. Conflict of interest perhaps.

[jpg75]

^ Nobody can stop you from crude, boorish behaviour if that's your choice, more's the pity.

I agree, nobody can stop you from crude, boorish behaviour if that is your choice...so what does that have to do with this thread?

[Richard]

You're the one advocating crude, boorish booing of players.

[Richard]

As no one can stop you from your self appointed elitist, politically correct viewpoint that most in this thread disagree with. As you seem to have no regard for ethical behaviour and are sympathetic with the greasy, greedy side, let's hope no one is motivated to provide your website with a little non ethical competition.

Interesting to note that some of Ms Leroux's supporters seem to run websites while her detractors consist of the great unwashed NT fanbase. Conflict of interest perhaps.

So now I am an elitist sympathetic with the greasy, greedy side? Just how do you figure that apart from the fact that it comes across as an oxymoron? I have done no more than defend the right of a young woman to choose the course of her own career. That's elitist and shows no regard for ethical behaviour etc. etc.? Go figure.

[Vic]

I've been preoccupied with other things but lurking and enjoying the read. Lots of points of view, and unsurprisingly most of the favourable ones coming from close to the Whitecaps. If the OH threads weren't obvious enough, using phrases like "dreams, desires, values, and completely understandable" is just trolling and fanning the flames. In this context phrases like Canadian and dual-citizen are just flags of convenience. A Canadian is many things ranging from paperwork, where you lived your life, and most importantly, what's in your heart.

Will Sydney Leroux rip up the W League? Definitely. She'll bore holes in teams like Santa Clarita, Victoria and the multiple teams in Denver. But that's a long way from taking a job from people like Rodriguez, Morgan, Press, Cheney and O'Hara. When your game is pace playing kids and people with full-time jobs is one thing. Playing full-time professional athletes is another. Just ask Alexandre Daigle, or even the Nigerians or Stanford for that matter.

Stanford played UCLA twice this year and Leroux had a goose egg off one shot the first game and two the next. And they didn't adjust their play or pay any attention to her. Her counterpart from Stanford, Christen Press had goals in both games, including two in the playoff game they eliminated UCLA 3-0 in (she also had 7 shots in the playoff game alone).

Twenty years ago the women's game was raw and Sydney Leroux's speed and physicality would have transitioned to senior with full force. In 2011 the senior women's game at the highest end is much more mature and refined. The Americans gave her the standard 4 minutes in January to cap-tie her. She achieved the goal she set out for as a teenager. And that might be where the fairy tale ends, and reality comes calling.

Alan, just curious, have they shot the male bodypaint (whatever the equivalent of T&A is) ads for the women's team yet? Surely Whitecaps fans sitting in their living rooms with the wife and boys enjoy looking at man-ass. I mean really, if you're going to sign Leroux at least give the Whitecaps women something to feel good about.

[Richard]

Oh come come, not that again? Get over it Vic. I sense a whole lot of Whitecaps envy in this thread.

Edit: How many of you who are still whining about the painted model ever saw the actual image? The model wasn't even naked or exposing any body parts not plainly visible on any public beach where women are wearing bikinis.

[jpg75]

You're the one advocating crude, boorish booing of players.

So booing someone is crude and boorish behaviour? And what may i ask do you do at a sporting event? Give the opponents a disapproving glance and slight shake of the head? It's not like I'm advocating taking a dump in a brown paper bag and lighting it on fire on her parents porch is it?

[Joe MacCarthy]

I sense a whole lot of Whitecaps envy in this thread.

Get over it. Don't like people biting the hand that feeds you? Man, you are a one person NDP convention.

[jpg75]

Oh come come, not that again? Get over it Vic. I sense a whole lot of Whitecaps envy in this thread.

Come on Richard, you can't be condoning crude, boorish behaviour from the 'Caps FO can you?

[Richard]

I have a question for you lot. If Sydney LeRoux graduated from say, the University of Toronto (a Canadian taxpayer subsidised institution like all Canadian universities), having taken student loans and college scholarship money to pay for her schooling to which she is entitled as a Canadian citizen, then taken a job in the USA which she can do without requiring a green card as she is also a US citizen, would you feel as bitter and resentful about her choices as you do with regard to her soccer choices?

[Richard]

So booing someone is crude and boorish behaviour? And what may i ask do you do at a sporting event? Give the opponents a disapproving glance and slight shake of the head? It's not like I'm advocating taking a dump in a brown paper bag and lighting it on fire on her parents porch is it?

Talk about boorish behaviour! And you object to the Whitecaps painted model promo - double standards if ever I saw any.

[jpg75]

Talk about boorish behaviour! And you object to the Whitecaps painted model promo - double standards if ever I saw any.

Nice try Dickie, try reading what i wrote you pervert.