What is happening at the Alberta Soccer Association and how is it impacting SASA?

A Summary Prepared for All Members of St. Albert Soccer Association

  
As you know, SASA is dedicated to the players, coaches, referees, volunteers and administrators involved in soccer in our district.  Our district is part of a larger provincial organization called the Alberta Soccer Association.  The ASA provides many services including certifying districts and referees, coordinating provincial level championships and providing technical training and mentorship to district coaches.  They also control all soccer in Alberta that is officially recognized at the national and international level.

 
The ASA is one of 77 provincial sports associations recognized by the Alberta Sport, Recreation, Parks and Wildlife Foundation to champion sport in the province. The ASA is the public face of soccer in our province. 

 
Unfortunately, this face and the reputation of soccer has been damaged by a crippling internal dispute at the director – member level of the Association that has occurred over the past year.

 
It is a long and sordid story, but in short, as a result of the board’s handling of matters a majority of members of the ASA, including SASA became gravely concerned about the ability of the board of the ASA to represent them. 

 
For this reason, these members want to have a fresh start at the Board level starting in 2011. To achieve this members have called for a Special General Meeting to remove all existing directors so that a full slate of new directors can be voted upon at the January 2011 Annual General Meeting. The date, time and location for the Special General Meeting must be arranged by the Board of the Association. It will likely occur sometime in early January.

 
The members of the Association believe that the membership will be able to resolve the issues at the ASA and move forward if all members attend the SGM and AGM with an open mind, a willingness to address the issues, and a commitment to vote for what is in the best interests of the Association. SASA plans to be there to listen and to vote.

Why is the Alberta Soccer Association in turmoil?

 A fairly complete summary and document chronicling of this dispute may be found in “Timeline 2010” within the www.reformalbertasoccer.com  website.  A brief background follows:

In February 2010, the President of the Alberta Soccer Association was suspended by many of his fellow board members without hearing, notice or adequate opportunity to respond first to the allegations.  The board members believe that they had good reason to suspend the President and that should be respected by the members.  However, a large number of members of the Alberta Soccer Associations were concerned not only for the lack of due process accorded the President but also because:

 a)     Our reading of the bylaws of the Association say that they do not permit the directors to suspend any other director without first holding a hearing,

b)    we considered that the allegations, once revealed, were not of the nature to warrant suspension, even if proven.

c)     all of the allegations involved incidents which took place the year prior to the Annual General Meeting which was held in January 2010 however none of the board made mention of the concerns to the membership at that time

 
After several unsuccessful attempts to get a satisfactory explanation from the board to the concerns raised by the members, a majority of members called a Special General Meeting in the spring of this year to remove several directors from the board for the manner in which they suspended the President of the Association. But, the removed board members refused to stand down as they did not believe the SGM was valid and because they had received the support of the national association.

 
This ultimately led to 2 boards claiming the right to govern the ASA.  Unfortunately, rather than resolve this at the board level,  many district associations were threatened with suspensions and many provincial championship’s were threatened with being shut down by the board members who were removed by the membership.   In order to ensure that players would not be harmed in this dispute, a number of members sought a resolution in court– a move which we fully supported. 

 
The court action was successful in getting players back onto the playing fields but the resolutions made by the members at the Spring SGM were quashed because of a number of procedural errors the judge found with the SGM, including lack of quorum.  None of the members of the ASA represented by the directors who were removed attended the members SGM.  Consequently, the once removed directors were reinstated as the board of the ASA by the court in mid November. The judge alluded to the fact that he knew there would be an election at the upcoming AGM in January 2011 to settle outstanding issues. Unfortunately, the court decision did nothing to resolve the issues the members had with the beleaguered board nor did it address the fact that some of the beleaguered board members positions would not be up for election until 2012.

What is SASA going to do? 

 
As your board, we want to get back to an environment where there is a positive support collaborative leadership, understanding of fairplay and common sense. Soccer players, now and into the future, deserve to be served by a well run, professional organization, supported by a fairly elected board of directors.   To do this we are taking the following steps at the provincial level:

 
1. Clean Slate - Fresh Start.  The first step to addressing the past dysfunction is to fix the provincial governance model.  The current model allows for half of the board to retain their positions and the other half stand for election.  In addition, there is no provision for conflict of interest, allowing elected board members to hold both a provincial position, as well as a position on a member board.  At the January 22 Annual General Meeting of the ASA, we propose that a full slate of candidates for all elected positions for the board be nominated.  The other order of business to be addressed is the key issue of conflict of interest of board members.  Our petition seeks to amend the bylaws to preclude anyone from holding a position on the ASA while they hold a position on a local soccer district board.

 
2. New Attitude. We need to elect individuals who have the necessary leadership qualities to bring the ASA into the 21st century. We believe the best leaders have the following characteristics:  honest, open, forward looking, inspiring, competent and credible.  Anyone elected a director at the provincial level should be able to fulfill the duties of a) loyalty, b) diligence and c) obedience.  Loyalty so they can place the interests of the organization above their own, diligence to act reasonably, in good faith and in the best interests of the organization; and obedient to the governing bylaws, rules and regulations.

 
 3. Respect for People and the Organization. At the 2011 AGM, there are other resolutions that need to be pursed including addressing the reputation of the ASA.  A renewed, refocused board needs to deal with business functions and address issues such as the Billings allegations, financial matters caused by the crisis, and use of expense accounts by all board members.

What can you do to help? 

 
Be informed. Contact us if you have any questions.  Let us know if you support the kind of leadership we are seeking for the Alberta Soccer Association.

What can I do to be informed?

 
Visit the Reform Alberta Soccer website.  See the timeline 2010 for the chronology of events leading to this crisis in leadership.  Visit the Media section for various articles written on the dispute to date. 

Write to us at:

 
president@stalbertsoccer.com