As you may have read here earlier, today's development is that the CSA will be rejigging who gets how many votes tomorrow morning, and the new numbers will not be released to the public until after all the elections are in the books.
No, it isn't a grand conspiracy. This re-tweak gets done annually, based on who contributes how much membership money. Big provinces get big numbers of votes, and on down the line.
The last message I got from Metcalfe Street reminded me this is a private meeting, and everything will be duly reported after the fact.
Here's why that hits me all wrong:
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
When I started this series of stories late last year, I opened with an incident at last year's CSA AGM, when president Dominque Maestracci chastised player reps Jason De Vos and Kara Lang for tweeting details of the meeting to the outside world.
Jason's question then -- and mine tonight:
Why the secrecy? Why is this meeting private?
The Canadian Soccer Association takes about $7 million annually from the soccer-playing public. All I'm trying to do is let any fee-payer -- or soccer fan -- who cares know how many votes their home province has.
In a wide-open election with so such clear choices and so much on the line, this doesn't seem unreasonable.
The candidates themselves talk about the need for transparency and communication.
Well, CSA, this right here is a basic transparency situation.
You've got to understand -- a heck of a lot of people out here simply don't trust you guys. Things are better recently, but this election tomorrow is The Big One.
I understand this is more a bureaucratic issue than a secrecy one -- but on this night in history I simply don't care.
Trust is not automatic. It is earned, moment by moment, over a long period of time.
This is one of those moments.
Let's see some of this transparency, please.
Onward!