Sanctioned or Sacked?

By Inacio Teodoro da Silva Soccer Paper

Sanctioned or Sacked?: The CSA steps on the ball once again
After a mild summer of variable weather, the sun came to spend September 2008 in Vancouver, Canada. The sun started to shine in force in Vancouver just before the arrival of the Brazilian soccer team Atlético Clube Coríntians.

The Coríntians enjoyed 15 beautiful warm days in British Columbia, played 5 soccer games, met with youth clubs in Surrey and Pentiction and then returned to Brazil, unaware that the powerful Canadian Soccer Association (CSA) shamefully attempted to stop each one of the friendly games in Canada.

The reason?

I don’t know; the closest that I came to finding out the reasoning behind the CSA’s actions was in a phone conversation with John Billingsley, the Canadian Soccer Association’s COO.

AC Coríntians is a first division team in the state of Rio Grande do Norte (third division in the country). The team in based in Caicó, an agricultural community located 270 kilometres from the seaside state capital, Natal. The trip, which took six months to plan, coincided with AC Coríntians 40th anniversary. Returning to Brazil on September 22, players, coaches, team president and accompanying officials agreed that the visit to Canada had been the trip of a lifetime.

The Brazilian Atlético Clube Coríntians arrived at the Vancouver International Airport on September 10 after flying from Natal in northeast Brazil to São Paulo in southwest Brazil, touching down in Mexico City in Central America, on their way to west coast BC.

It is important to understand that on September 10, after a lot of phone and e-mail communication with Cathy Breda, who works under the title of Manager of Administration, the soccer event organizers finally received a Memorandum of Approval for Matches, sanctioning AC Coríntians to play at Swangard (Burnaby) on September 11 and to face Gorge FC in Victoria on September 13. The Memorandum of Approval for Matches, from Peter Montopoli, CSA General Secretary, was short and to the point, with no requests for money.

However, just hours before the first friendly game, under the threat of withholding CSA sanctioned referees, Ms. Breda sent a demanding note for ten thousand dollars. No reasonable reason was given, just send the ten grand, Ms. Breda said slowly, as if somehow I couldn’t understand English, when I phoned to inquire about the amount.

Ms. Breda kept on asking for the money all that day and the day after, and the day after that. By the time we were ready to go play in the wonderful city of Penticton, Ms. Breda had reduced her demand to $2,500, having brought down the figure to five thousand dollars the day before. It was ridiculous.

When I finally got fed up with her harrassment, I told her to use her power to stop the friendly games between the teams from BC and AC Coríntians from Brazil. She didn’t or she couldn’t, but her demeanor left me with the worst impression I have ever had about the Canadian Soccer Association. Ms. Breda didn’t seem to know what the policies were or why she was doing what she was doing. I concluded that the CSA is in the hands of inefficient individuals, sitting behind desks, playing power games.

As I stated at the beginning of this article, after the soccer games happened and AC Coríntians returned to Caicó in Brazil, John Billingsley, the Canadian Soccer Association’s COO gave me the answer as to the reason for the last minute demand for immediate payment of ten grand was made from his office.

“The reason is that we don’t know you,” John Billingsley finally admitted.

I was and am flabbergasted. I’m so sorry. Silly me. I do apologize for believing that the CSA rules are made to help out, that the CSA rules are not made on the fly and that the CSA rules apply to all the people, regardless of who you are.

But the logic of fair rules does not seem to apply to the Canadian Soccer Association. I am still waiting to hear from them, to find out where their rules are published (online or on paper). The BC Soccer Association was helpful but it too had not received clear direction from the CSA on how to relate to international event promoters.

By the CSA’s own account of its COO, and from my own observation, the CSA relates differently to different people. This all powerful national FIFA representative seems to pull imaginary rules from their sleeves.

The poor administration of the CSA does not make sense. CSA administration has harmed our national teams and also harms good initiatives, such as the visit of the AC Coríntians to Canada.

It is my belief that if the soccer grass roots were to hire professionals to form a new administrative body to function like FIFA reps in other soccer culture countries do, soccer would change for the better in Canada.

It is time for our athletes to be exposed to professionals from nations that consistently participate in the largest international sporting event­ The World Cup.

It is time for Canada to conquer a respectful space on that stage. An amateur administration, at the national level, is not up to the task, as has been proven time and time again.

The problem in Canada is not with the athletes. The problem is at the Canadian national level, with so called Canadian soccer administrators, whose influence manifested itself negatively, in this case on what was to be a small, fun, friendly event – the visit of a small professional team from Brazil to the teams of BC.

This trip was a lifetime experience for most of the professional soccer players from this small city team in the northeast of Brazil. Though 2001 state champions, most members of the team had never left the state, nor surely the country to travel by plane and by ferry.

For six months the trip had been properly organized. The CSA was properly briefed on the status of the team and with the proper approval of FIFA reps in Brazil and Canada, a visa was requested from the Canadian Consulate in São Paulo.

Only after the team arrived in Canada did the soccer event organizers learn from the CSA Manager of Administration, Cathy Breda, that if a $10,000 letter of credit did not arrive pronto in her office, the game was toast. Later she brought the demand down to $5,000 and then to $2,500.

The timing of this unexpected attack from the CSA, right on top of the event, was devastating to a group of event organizers with limited resources. Precious time was spent addressing Ms. Breda’s arrogance, instead of being used to inform soccer enthusiasts about the event. Time and resources that should have been put to use in a final blitz of media promotion and ticket sales, instead went to ensuring that the CSA threats did not interfere with the soccer games themselves. No other soccer event in Canada should ever be the target of such an irresponsible and ignorant attack.