Wow

[1996]

I don't know where to put this but I thought it needed to be seen, I know this was talked about a few years ago when it came out but still it's so sad for a former Canadian National team member.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Coach of the Year Award recipient Peyvand Mossavat of the University of Ontario Institute of Technology devoted a few minutes to soccer talk in his acceptance speech, then urged the student-athletes in attendance to pay close attention.

“Today I have to take the opportunity at this platform to talk about something bigger and more important,” saidMossavat, addressing a crowd predominantly populated with players from the eight CIS women’s teams in the country that advanced to the championship tournament Acadia agreed to host from Nov. 10-13.

“My talk today is about mental health and drug addiction.”

Citing information gleaned from the Canadian Mental Health Association, Mossavat said one in five people are likely to experience challenges relating to mental illness or substance use in their lifetime.

Some of those people, he said, will live in fear of judgment, discrimination, alienation, unemployment and even homelessness.

“Would you shy away from them or not support them?,” Mossavat asked.

Mossavat posed this question with former World Cup soccer captain and award-winning national coach Paul James in mind.

Few people knew that James, a Canadian soccer sensation, was secretly battling a crack cocaine addiction. And things took a drastic turn when the famed fullback turned high-level coach went public with his story.

In spite of leading teams to four CIS national championships, five division titles and three Ontario University Athletics (OUA) championships in a six-year period, Mossavat said James is now frequently dismissed as unemployable.

“Paul is currently fighting a human rights case in the Supreme Court of Canada and every step of the way he is faced with nothing but discrimination, [and] unimaginable corruption at the highest level. How can this be?”

After being forced to resign from a job as a master coach, Mossavat said James suffered from anxiety, stress and depression. 

“I went to see him a few weeks ago and found him weak and frail.”

James has liquidated his assets, lost his savings, experienced homelessness and worked odd jobs to get by, Mossavat said.

“Paul was my coach, a good friend and a mentor in soccer and in life. I’m gutted for him and I’m sick to my stomach that he goes through this every day, but I’m proud of him because he finds the strength every day to get up and fight discrimination, stigma and the corruption at the highest level,” said Mossavat, who would shortly earn a standing ovation after dedicating his award to James.

“He deserves justice and he needs help.”

James challenged all in attendance at the CIS gala, and particularly the next generation of leaders, to be that shoulder to lean on when someone suffering from mental illness or addiction needs support.

“You will have the opportunity to change things… if you are aware of what it means to battle drug addiction, what it means to suffer from mental health,” he said.

[Complete Homer]

Inexcusable to punish someone who came forward to help. This is exactly why so many avoid treatment until their life has truly fallen apart. 

[aloyol]

Thanks for sharing. Very good read and very classy from Mossavat to dedicate his award to PJ and take the time to address the situation.

 

PS: I think the title should be edited to give a better idea of the subject and IMO this thread belongs here in the MNT forum.

[BearcatSA]

A very classy move by Mossavat.  Sadly, when James first admitted his problem, too many people chose to use it for a tasteless punchline.  Like most things in life, it only resonates when it affects you directly or someone your closest to.   

[Grizzly]

Obviously we need to have sympathy and understanding for someone who is battling mental health and drug addiction. At the same time we can't ignore some of the things that James has done regardless of the reasons for them. He was involved in the Canadian national team match fixing scandal years ago. Then when he was a tv soccer commentator at first he provided some very good and insightful commentary but more and more it devolved into making bizarre and nasty and often unfounded accusations against other people. He also had a little war with the Voyageurs going, I can't remember if he was posting here or was just responding in his articles but again some of his claims were bizarre and vicious. I suspect that his inability to find a job has more to do with this than discrimination against him as someone with a drug problem and mental issues. His drug problem and mental issues probably contribute towards this type of behaviour but at the same time you can not put someone behaving like that in charge of a university soccer program.

[youllneverwalkalone]

To be fair, James came forward to report the match fixing. David Norman has gone completely unpunished and continued to work in the media with VWFC or an affiliated media outlet. Norman doesn't need a college coaching gig because he took that $100k bribe and bought a house in Coquitlam in 80s that's probably worth at least $1.5m today. I'm sure he gets loaded on Glenfiddich and babbles incoherently as well, but it's all worked out fine for him. I wish somebody would do a speech where selling out your country for a buck is condemned. In that light, James is something of a hero to me.

[Grizzly]

The other 4 received significant suspensions that greatly harmed their careers especially as teams did not want to hire them even after the suspensions were over. James did not receive a suspension and was rewarded by the CSA later with the U20 coaching job. He did not really come forward either, he just mentioned it to an uninvolved teammate Randy Regan who asked recently retired Bruce Wilson what to do and it was Wilson who told Waiters and the CSA. And this all occurred after the match fixing game was played. Also some of the others involved dispute James' recollection of events and his claim of altruistic motives for turning the others in. Also the $100 000 was split between 5 players. I don't know if they were allowed to keep the cash but even if they did Norman did not have $100 000 to himself to buy a house. I think those players who were not involved in the scandal at all are the ones who are more heroic.

Those who are newer here probably don't remember the James incident and when his book came out. His book was supposed to be about his drug addiction and problems but he basically viciously slandered almost everyone involved in Canadian soccer. Some of the Voyageurs including myself took issue with some of his claims so then he had a war against the Voyageurs and wrote and said vicious stuff about us in newspaper articles and on his tv program. Former player Tam Nsaliwa also wrote a blog stating when you find out all the jokes that your coach is so crazy he must be on crack is true which detailed the poor and irrational way he treated the U20 team and how it finally made sense to learn he really was on crack. Nsaliwa also was very angry with the accusations James was making about people. 

Again it is possible that this behaviour is entirely due to the drugs and mental health issues but at the same time he is still behaving this way and there is no way someone like this can be hired especially for teams with young players on them. He also lost his lawsuit against York University for discriminating against him because of his drug addiction.

Here is a review by our own Lord Bob of his book:

http://www.eightysixforever.com/2012/2/17/2794842/book-review-cracked-open-by-paul-james

The story about the York case:

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/former-olympian-who-resigned-over-crack-use-fails-in-bid-to-prove-he-was-discriminated-against-due-to-addiction 

[youllneverwalkalone]

I think telling the team captain is coming forward. Put yourself in his shoes, and I would say he went through the correct channels.

[BearcatSA]

On ‎11‎/‎14‎/‎2016 at 10:05 PM, Grizzly said:

 I think those players who were not involved in the scandal at all are the ones who are more heroic.

I think that depends on whether or not they knew something was going down.

On ‎11‎/‎14‎/‎2016 at 1:39 PM, Grizzly said:

Obviously we need to have sympathy and understanding for someone who is battling mental health and drug addiction. At the same time we can't ignore some of the things that James has done regardless of the reasons for them. He was involved in the Canadian national team match fixing scandal years ago. Then when he was a tv soccer commentator at first he provided some very good and insightful commentary but more and more it devolved into making bizarre and nasty and often unfounded accusations against other people.

You've described the devolution involved with substance addiction.  From my perspective, regardless of the man's past personality, I think it's important to acknowledge his situation and recognize how easy it is for anybody's life to spin out of control in such a way if you make the wrong choices.