The Canadian Soccer Federation: A New Way Forward
Publié : 11 février 2008 22:44
The Canadian Soccer Federation: A New Way Forward
CSF - The single greatest strength of Canadian soccer is the impressive and ever-growing number of registered players participating recreationally and competitively from coast to coast to coast. More Canadians are registered to play “The Beautiful Game” than any other organized sport, including hockey.
Canada’s community soccer clubs constitute the foundation upon which the strength of this grassroots participation is built and the backbone of any Canadian soccer club is its volunteers. Soccer is extremely fortunate to have tens of thousands of hard-working, capable and dedicated volunteer administrators at all levels of the game, working to make the game as enjoyable and accessible as possible.
However, all is not well in the Canadian soccer community. Despite the incredible growth of the game at the grassroots level over the past 20 years, Canadian soccer has stagnated. The Canadian Soccer League folded in 1992, no truly professional soccer league has emerged to replace the CSL and we have only three top level professional clubs in the entire country. Canada’s Men’s senior national team has not qualified for a World Cup since 1986 while our Women’s senior national team has failed to keep pace with their competition on the pitch in recent years and must rely on a wealthy benefactor to fund their program.
At the grassroots level, the volunteers, who are so critical to the success of any club, have continued to perform their duties but with little or no appreciation or support from Canada’s national and provincial governing bodies. Not surprisingly, it is becoming increasingly more difficult for clubs to identify and recruit these desperately needed volunteers. Furthermore, community clubs are faced with ever-increasing pressures, coping with the challenges created by the growth in registration numbers and the increasingly onerous regulatory demands imposed upon them, while their financial resources, in the majority of cases, are becoming proportionally smaller year after year.
Canadian soccer’s numerous governing bodies have become unresponsive to the needs of players, coaches and administrators. They have consistently failed to add sufficient value to their membership in order to justify the significant (and growing) registration “taxes” that they extract. They have not provided the leadership that is expected of them, nor have they made the commitment to transparency, accountability and strategic planning that the membership demands.
The time has come for a new National Governing Body for soccer in Canada, possessing a vision, a mission and a mandate to restructure the way the sport is governed and administered in order to meet the challenges of the 21st century and to move soccer forward with a greater sense of optimism and vibrancy.
The Canadian Soccer Federation (CSF) has been established by members of the Canadian soccer community who are deeply concerned by the current state of the game and who wish to present a vision for a better future. We are keenly aware of the significant structural problems plaguing Canadian soccer, a sport which we care deeply about. For that reason, we have come together over the past several months to assemble and ultimately present our best ideas, which we hope will assist in putting Canadian soccer on a better course. We are optimistic that a bright future is possible. Many of the main ingredients are in place. What is needed is a major reform of how soccer is governed and administered, based on best practices that have proven successful around the world which will then be adapted to the Canadian reality.
We urge the grassroots community to be an active participant in the process. The founding members of the CSF do not possess a monopoly on good ideas. Working together, Canadian soccer can look forward to a bright, prosperous future.
http://onsoccer.ca/?id=4844
CSF - The single greatest strength of Canadian soccer is the impressive and ever-growing number of registered players participating recreationally and competitively from coast to coast to coast. More Canadians are registered to play “The Beautiful Game” than any other organized sport, including hockey.
Canada’s community soccer clubs constitute the foundation upon which the strength of this grassroots participation is built and the backbone of any Canadian soccer club is its volunteers. Soccer is extremely fortunate to have tens of thousands of hard-working, capable and dedicated volunteer administrators at all levels of the game, working to make the game as enjoyable and accessible as possible.
However, all is not well in the Canadian soccer community. Despite the incredible growth of the game at the grassroots level over the past 20 years, Canadian soccer has stagnated. The Canadian Soccer League folded in 1992, no truly professional soccer league has emerged to replace the CSL and we have only three top level professional clubs in the entire country. Canada’s Men’s senior national team has not qualified for a World Cup since 1986 while our Women’s senior national team has failed to keep pace with their competition on the pitch in recent years and must rely on a wealthy benefactor to fund their program.
At the grassroots level, the volunteers, who are so critical to the success of any club, have continued to perform their duties but with little or no appreciation or support from Canada’s national and provincial governing bodies. Not surprisingly, it is becoming increasingly more difficult for clubs to identify and recruit these desperately needed volunteers. Furthermore, community clubs are faced with ever-increasing pressures, coping with the challenges created by the growth in registration numbers and the increasingly onerous regulatory demands imposed upon them, while their financial resources, in the majority of cases, are becoming proportionally smaller year after year.
Canadian soccer’s numerous governing bodies have become unresponsive to the needs of players, coaches and administrators. They have consistently failed to add sufficient value to their membership in order to justify the significant (and growing) registration “taxes” that they extract. They have not provided the leadership that is expected of them, nor have they made the commitment to transparency, accountability and strategic planning that the membership demands.
The time has come for a new National Governing Body for soccer in Canada, possessing a vision, a mission and a mandate to restructure the way the sport is governed and administered in order to meet the challenges of the 21st century and to move soccer forward with a greater sense of optimism and vibrancy.
The Canadian Soccer Federation (CSF) has been established by members of the Canadian soccer community who are deeply concerned by the current state of the game and who wish to present a vision for a better future. We are keenly aware of the significant structural problems plaguing Canadian soccer, a sport which we care deeply about. For that reason, we have come together over the past several months to assemble and ultimately present our best ideas, which we hope will assist in putting Canadian soccer on a better course. We are optimistic that a bright future is possible. Many of the main ingredients are in place. What is needed is a major reform of how soccer is governed and administered, based on best practices that have proven successful around the world which will then be adapted to the Canadian reality.
We urge the grassroots community to be an active participant in the process. The founding members of the CSF do not possess a monopoly on good ideas. Working together, Canadian soccer can look forward to a bright, prosperous future.
http://onsoccer.ca/?id=4844
