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CSA President issues Notice of Disciplinary Hearing to Shauna Aab, Danny Bowie, Les Hodges and Mike Troke

posted Oct 27, 2010 1:37 AM by Tyler Durden
The CSA President has sent a Notice of Disciplinary Hearing to Shauna Aab, Danny Bowie, Les Hodges and Mike Troke.

You are hereby charged under The Canadian Soccer Association (CSA) Rules, Regulations and Administrative Guide (2008) Section 1, Regulation 11c)i)a) and Regulation 11c)i)d), whereby it is alleged that:
- You (along with others) initiated litigation (personally as well as purportedly on behalf of the ASA) with respect to the governance of the ASA by serving a statement of claim on ASA Directors and, as such, violated the ASA and CSA By-Laws;
- Your failure to respect the CSA and ASA by-laws, and your ongoing conduct in initiating and continuing litigation with respect to the governance of the ASA, bring the game into disrepute.

Presumably, in reference to the first bullet point, the CSA is referring to:

Section  15.1 f) of the CSA Bylaws

to adopt a statutory clause specifying that any dispute requiring arbitration involving
itself or one of its members and relating to the By-laws, regulations, directives and
decisions of FIFA, CONCACAF, The CSA or the Leagues shall come solely under the
jurisdiction of the appropriate Arbitration Tribunal of FIFA, CONCACAF, The CSA, or
Association Members and that any recourse to Ordinary Courts is prohibited;
*bolding added

and
Article 32 of the ASA Bylaws
A member’s affiliates, registrants, leagues, clubs, players, referees or officials shall not refer
disputes with the Association or any other soccer association to a court of law but shall be required to
submit any disagreements to the jurisdiction of the Association.

Some observations:
The CSA rule refers to "..dispute requiring arbitration..' What is a dispute requiring arbitration? No Arbitration tribunal/committee is described in the CSA bylaws.  Most people assume that the Arbitration Tribunal for the CSA is the Sports Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada. However, in a recent decision of Patrice M Brunet (Jurisdictional Arbritrator) of the SDRCC (see SDRCC 10-0124) it is stated that:
WHEREAS Section 3.1.1. of the financing agreement Appendix binding the Government of Canada and the CSA clearly limits the competence of the SDRCC to national‐level athletes
With no insult intended, I assume that Shauna Aab, Danny Bowie, Les Hodges and Mike Troke are not, or at least are no longer, national-level athletes on the radar of the Mens or Womens programs.

Secondly, the Notice of Disciplinary Hearing is signed by the CSA President. However, the CSA Bylaws do not give the President the power to ensure that bylaws are applied; rather as per Section 38.1 l) that power is invested in the CSA Board of Directors. Section 28 describes the powers of the President as follows (bolding is mine):

28. PRESIDENT
28.1 The President represents The CSA legally.
28.2 The President is primarily responsible for:
a) Ensuring the implementation of decisions by the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee through the General Secretary;
b) Relations between The CSA and Associations, Members, political bodies,Confederations and FIFA;
c) The President shall be an ex-officio member of all Committees.
28.3 The President shall preside over the Board, the Executive Committee and the other Committees of which the President has been appointed Chair.
28.4 If the President is absent or unavailable, one of the Vice Presidents will be nominated by the Board to serve in the President’s place.
28.5 In the event that the President becomes indefinitely incapacitated and is unable to chair meetings of The CSA, then the Board of Directors, shall by secret ballot select one of theVice Presidents as the Chair and to act in the capacity as Chair until the next Annual General Meeting. 

Have the Disciplinary Hearings been called by the CSA Board of Directors or the President?

Added - 2010.10.20 - Email to Districts from ASA Caretakers
Added - 2010.10.20 - CSA Notice of Disciplinary Hearing to Shauna Aab, Danny Bowie, Les Hodges and Mike Troke.