In the early hours of the morning on Friday, Canada Soccer CEO and General Director Kevin Blue held an availability to discuss the ongoing scandal surrounding the usage of drones to spy on opponents. This comes the day after the decision to suspend Canada Head Coach Bev Priestman from the remainder of the Olympic tournament.
Blue began his availability by apologizing firstly to the players of Team Canada. “I feel deeply for our players who are engaged in what is supposed to be a lifetime highlight of being an Olympian,” remarked Blue.
Blue revealed that he has been in ‘constant communication’ with the team and is on the ground in Paris to support them during this time. He also added that ‘the players themselves have not been involved in any unethical behaviour’, emphasizing that ‘the team had not seen any of the footage’. Given this, Blue hammered home the fact that he believes that the team should not be sanctioned with any points deduction or more serious consequences for this issue.
Blue next apologized to media, fans, and shareholders for the potential harm this drama has caused in the last few days, and promised to address what he called possible systemic ethical shortcomings, adding that he had received enough concrete information to make him ‘consider the possibility at least [that] this matter is much more extensive’. This is believed to be part of the reason why Priestman was sent home for the remainder of the tournament.
Photo Credit: Canada National Team
Blue then dropped another pipebomb as he admitted that there was at least one instance of drone usage involved in the Men’s Copa America tournament this past month.
“I’m aware of an instance of attempted drone usage during Copa America,” recalled Blue. “My current understanding is that the fact pattern of that instance is significantly different than what occurred here, especially as it relates to the potential impact on competitive integrity. But we’re doing a review to specifically obtain a full understanding of these situations and what others may exist.”
It is believed that Jesse Marsch did not approve of the usage and condemned it, and that ‘the competitive integrity of a match was not in that apparent in that incident’.
In the wake of TSN’s Rick Westhead article that outlines an alleged history of drone usage for both national teams dating back to 2019, this admission raises even more questions.
Blue is adamant that their external investigation will look across both teams in the present and in the past, including investigating former coaches like John Herdman. But the fact that it has been confirmed these two incidents are not the sole incidents of these kinds of practices will fuel suspicion around the allegations outlined in Westhead’s article.
Photo Credit: John Jacques
Both Blue and COC CEO David Shoemaker were adamant in their availabilities today that they do not plan on pulling the team from the Olympics at this time.
“I am comfortable with the team competing as it is,” proclaimed Shoemaker. Meanwhile, Blue has shut down any possibility on his end for withdrawing the team from the competition.
“I have not considered a withdrawal of the team, primarily because we feel like we have addressed the situation swiftly and significantly,” said Blue when asked about that possibility.
“It would be to the detriment of our players who have worked so hard and sacrificed quite a bit to Olympians. I will not consider withdrawing us on the basis of the fact that we support our players as Olympians and their right to be here and their right to compete.”
Blue confirmed that Andy Spence would continue as the acting Head Coach for Canada in the remainder of this competition, but said that that is all he knows. He added that he believes that Spence had no awareness of the issue.
Photo Credit: John Jacques
The fate of Bev Priestman is still very much in the air, especially after Shoemaker asserted that Priestman likely had at least some knowledge of this practice in his availability this morning.
“We’re gathered some additional information ourselves that made me conclude that she [Priestman] was highly likely to have been aware of the incidents here in Saint-Etienne.”
The potential impacts of this scandal are not yet fathomable for many people, although there have been whispers of to what extent they could be. After previously denying it, Shoemaker admitted to Ben Steiner that ‘there appears to be information that could tarnish that Olympic performance in Tokyo.’
Blue, for his part, has tried to make a case to FIFA to not produce further punishments that might affect the player’s participation in this current Olympic tournament, so that they might continue to fight for their medal defence with as little distraction as possible.
As more information is coming to light, it is difficult to see these revelations as nothing but distractions for the players, as they gear up to face the host nation of France in the game on July 28. The team will need to dig deep and trust in themselves once again if they stand any chance of overcoming these diversions and defending their title.
Source link : https://northerntribune.ca/canada-soccer-kevin-blue-drone-use/
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Publish date : 2024-07-26 10:27:06
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