Dirt flies, soccer suffers

Centres vote for special meeting amid allegations

The dirt is flying in North Winnipeg soccer, and it’s not just on the pitch.

The North Winnipeg Youth Soccer Association board of directors and a group of local community centre presidents have been hurling accusations back and forth in what both sides describe as the other side trying to control soccer programming in north Winnipeg.

The spat erupted at the Lord Selkirk West Kildonan Community Centre board, which represents the area’s 14 community centres.

Maples Community Centre president Dan Ricard shocked the board with a presentation alleging NWYSA staff have spent at least $10,000 on a lawsuit over what Ricard calls a “personal vendetta,” withheld team roster documents from the community centres and manipulated team rosters.

Ricard also complained that the NWYSA board raised user fees despite a $40,000 surplus and tried to suspend two volunteers without the authority to do so.

“I have lost confidence in (the NWYSA) board,” said Ricard at the meeting. “I believe they have acted deceitfully, reprehensibly. I am disgusted with the things I’ve heard and the things I’ve seen...they are out of order.”

On Nov. 15, five community centre presidents from Vince Leah, Sinclair Park, Luxton and Garden City community centres voted in favour of holding a special meeting with the NWYSA board to air their concerns, although Garden City president Martino Vergata said he was voting only to allow the meeting to take place, not necessarily that he shared the same concerns.

NWYSA president Bob Cowie denied the accusations and fought back, accusing two of Vince Leah Community Centre’s convenors of trying to usurp the NWYSA board’s power, being rude to parents, also manipulating team rosters and of being disruptive at meetings.

Cowie said the accusations at the meeting hurt and many of them were unexpected.

“Some of those accusations have nothing do to with us whatsoever,” he said, noting the accusation of withholding documents was an internal personnel matter, and the decision to raise user fees came from the board’s umbrella organization, the Winnipeg Youth Soccer Association, not from NWYSA.

“When you look at our surplus...with 1,592 kids in the soccer program, that works out to $25 per kid. In the scheme of things, that’s not a big surplus,” said Cowie.

Cowie says he inherited the lawsuit the association is currently dealing with when he became president last year

He said in the past three years the board has actually spent $14,000 dealing with the lawsuit.

Cowie says the issue has yet to reach a courtroom and is optimistic it will be resolved soon without going down that path.

He said “bad blood” between two individuals involved in the suit dragged the organization into it.

“When you have a problem with a person on the board of a non-profit organization, you can’t sue the person, you sue the whole organization.”

Cowie acknowledged the NWYSA board has tried to suspend two of Vince Leah’s convenors, but has since discovered it doesn’t have the authority to do that.

In an email to the Vince Leah president, Cowie says NWYSA originally tried to remove certain convenors after allegations arose that ineligible players were being registered, players were prevented from transferring teams, and coaches were attending team selection meetings in order to stack their own teams.

Cowie said the accusations of team roster manipulation against the NWYSA staff are unfounded.

Rocky Moudgill, spokesperson for the Winnipeg Youth Soccer Association, said the association fully supports the special meeting, but also said they fully support Cowie and the NWYSA staff. A date and time for the meeting had yet to be set by press deadline.

Ricard said he wants the NWYSA board replaced with an interim board until everything can be straightened out and a new board elected.