Dear _____,
I have been following with interest a developing scandal in the local youth soccer world, as chronicled on the NorCal Youth Soccer Community Forum. The
discussion thread has been very active, and has spread onto
other age groups (and even down to
SoCal)
[see also].
For your convenience, I have compiled this short summary, with links to a handful of key posts to date. As noted in one
recent post on the forum:
Seems like we have the makings of another good media story here...
I actually contacted Ann Killion from the San Jose Mercury News a couple of days ago. I contacted her because I know her [daughter] plays class 1 soccer and she's always seemed to be a friend of soccer in her writing.
* * * *
Her comment was, and I want to quote here "Thanks for the email. Interesting strings - oh, the drama of kids' soccer. There is probably a column on cheating in there somewhere."
I had suggested to her a broader article may be able to grow from this on cheating in sports, perhaps a tie in to the whole steroids debate [cf. Dana Stubblefield story, mentioned on the thread here].
Anyway, contact more people in your local media market. See if you can get them to take notice. Give them the links to this thread.
There may not be a story here for some of them, but one might pick it up, and use the investigative power of the fourth estate to look into it...
I have decided to follow this advice. I do not personally know any of the facts; I am merely reporting what I have read on this public forum.
The controversy involves the Under-12 Girls age division of
CYSA-North, specifically the PAC United club (PAC =
Portuguese Athletic Club), which is affiliated with the
Mt. Hamilton Youth Soccer League.
According to numerous accounts in the message thread [
example], PAC's coach is reported to have played an ineligible player in their first game of the CYSA-North state cup
tournament bracket play on January 19, 2008, 9:00
am, in
Morgan Hill, CA.
It appears to be beyond doubt that the player in question had been sent off (
red-carded) during the championship match of the CYSA District II
Cup. Under
applicable rules, a red card triggers a mandatory suspension of at least one game. The suspension must be served in the next CYSA-North sanctioned match. The PAC United team, it has been
asserted and not contradicted, did not play any CYSA-North sanctioned matches between the District II Cup championship match and the first round of CYSA-North state cup tournament.
So, it is alleged, the player in question should have served her suspension during PAC's opening match in bracket E of the U12G state cup tournament preliminaries on January 19
th. Indeed, the club should not even have been in possession of the player's pass, which is necessary to check her into the tournament. Under the
rules, the pass should have been kept in the custody of league officials until after the suspension was served.
Somehow the coach came into possession of the player pass and was able to check the player into the state cup tournament
. It is unclear how this happened, but this is raising
a host of
serious questions especially in light of one or more
previous incidents in which this same coach apparently fielded ineligible players.
A group of parents & coaches is
pursuing formal grievances, and reportedly getting the
runaround /
brush-off by the authorities. I don't have any independent information by which to evaluate the various speculations and allegations of
corruption,
mutual back-scratching, etc. But numerous community members, myself included, are very interested to know whether the authorities can explain the apparent facts; or whether they can offer an alternative factual explanation according to which there is nothing rotten going on. There are enough consistent, mutually corroborating (and so-far uncontradicted)
accounts to raise at least a strong appearance of impropriety, in my opinion.
An official representing the Portuguese Athletic Club has apparently confirmed that the player in question was in fact shown the red card during the District II Cup championship match, and did in fact play in the team's first-round state cup matches. However, according to the PAC official's account (which is reprinted on the message forum [
pt. 1 &
pt. 2]):
After the [D2 Cup] game was over, the Coach, Referee, and Tournament Director met. The referee had thought about his decision and the situation in general, and thought that he may have made an error in carding this player. He decided that he would return the player pass to the coach and DID NOT submit a Send Off report. This action was the correct call and was approved by the Tournament Director.
The controversy continues, however, because those facts are
directly disputed by others claiming knowledge. Moreover, even crediting the factual account as given by the PAC official, proper protocol appears not to have been followed. So, the account of the PAC official is not sufficient to lay to rest the appearance of impropriety. As noted in a
subsequent post:
...FIFA & USSF regulations do not allow a referee to rescind the card after the fact. Once play has restarted the decision is final.
See USSF, Advice To Referees [ATR] on The Laws of The Game [§ 5.13]: "A displayed red or yellow card can be canceled by the referee only if play has not restarted". (emphasis added).
Further, also ATR [§ 5.13]: "The failure of the referee to include in the match report accurately and fully all cards displayed during play is a serious breach of the referee's responsibilities. In addition, the referee may not record cards as shown which have not been shown, although facts of a player's behavior may be recorded in the match report." (emphasis included in original text - something that in the ATR means that this is REALLY, REALLY serious stuff).
Also, having shown the 2nd yellow and red, D2 rules make a 1 game suspension automatic. The tournament director cannot rescind it - only an action by the D2 PAD committee can do so (though the Tournament Director can recommend a longer suspension and enforce it without action by the PAD if the entire term of the longer suspension occurs during his tournament). And a meeting of the PAD requires notice to all affected parties. There is no evidence that such a meeting ever took place.
[The PAC official's] comments, while heartfelt, are not in alignment with CYSA-N rules. Her comments that a referee is free to rescind a send-off issued are just plain wrong.
Finally, an appeal properly filed by another team requires a hearing [see CYSA-N Protest, Appeal & Disciplinary Hearing (PAD) Manual]. Was such a hearing held? There is no evidence that any hearing took place.
Once again, the main discussion thread may be found
here.Sincerely,
