Author's note: Charlie Cuzzetto is president of the British Columbia Soccer Association.
Now, try this on -- since the Alberta Soccer Association board got hoofed last Friday, the backstage buzz in my ear has been that B.C. is not in favour of CSA governance reform. Turns out -- according to Cuzzetto, at least -- there simply isn't a syllable of truth to that.
Believe what you will. Here's the straight scoop from the Left Coast:
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Does British Columbia support the original model for CSA governance reform – the one which removes all provincial and territorial soccer association presidents from the CSA board?
We were strong supporters of the motion at last spring’s AGM, and felt that plan would be successful. However, I’m sort of a realist, and I came to the realization, with the various discussions that were happening, that certain provinces would not be in favour of that. And the reality of the bylaws is that you have to have a two-thirds majority for it to pass, and it wasn’t going to.
So, instead of having nothing, we examined different options in different areas, and I guess it’s called the compromise model. I felt that, if that went through, we would get about 97 per-cent of what we would have gotten with the first model – including the separation of operational aspects from what the board should be doing.
So clearly that means that British Columbia will support the compromise model if the original proposal is defeated a week Saturday?
Yeah. We support the original model, but we also support the compromise. We believe it is important for the Canadian Soccer Association to move forward, and deal with all the issues we have to deal with – not just governance.
I think that the compromise model, if you look at it closely, there’s not too many things that are different. As a matter of fact, there are some things that are enhanced from the original plan. There’s no executive committee in either, so that’s not an issue, but the national teams committee disappears in the compromise plan – which I feel is an important aspect because I don’t think Canada needs one.
I strongly believe that the provinces should not be involved in the national team program. It should be run by professional people who understand all the aspects – technical, competition – and should be setting goals and objectives, and be evaluated on those. I strongly believe that we should have that separation, and I think it is happening.
I’ve only been on the CSA board for a year and a little bit, but I’ve seen quite a bit of improvement. I think with this proposal – whether it’s the original plan or the compromise – I think you’ll see a big shift moving forward. Even with the compromise model, with three provincial presidents … some people think that’s going to be a big impediment, but I don’t think that it will. The structure of the board changes, and the functions of what the board does will be different. Long-term planning and strategic vision will change. We’ll reach a point where provincial presidents will feel that being on the CSA board is too much work. They’ll have to compromise on one, and not do both.
Ontario Soccer Association president Ron Smale has been adamant that he does not support the compromise proposal. Ontario has a large percentage of the votes that would be required to defeat it. Do you see any possibility that the compromise model could fail, and we’d all be left – essentially – with nothing?
I’d be shocked if that happens. I’d be extremely disappointed, because it would be a failure of the CSA, and all of us. I’m an optimist, and I believe either the full motion or the compromise will pass, which will be huge in the betterment of the CSA.
I was the chairman of the B.C. governance committee years back, when we were trying to evolve or change our structure. And we made a big mistake. We made it all or nothing. The majority of the stuff was a no-brainer, but there were certain areas where the changes were too powerful for the membership. And they rejected it. And I don’t want to make that mistake again, and I’ve communicated that to the members. If we get 97 per-cent of the deal, I think that’s a big, big step.