CANCELLED WC Prep Match #1: Canada vs Panama- Sunday, June 5 4pm PT / 7pm ET, BC Place, Vancouver

[RJB]

10 minutes ago, Watchmen said:

I'm seeing a lot of "but what if Bontis is telling the truth?" in this thread, and I have to wonder what is that the CSA has done over the last few decades that would engender this kind of faith in them.

@Ansem is this poster allowed to care about things from the past?  If they didn't care at the time, are they allowed to educate themselves to understand things completely?  Are they allowed to care NOW?

[ag futbol]

So probably already posted but the Star article said the CSB contract supposedly has an option to extend the term from 10 years to 20. 
 

That is an incredibly crushing feature if true (assuming the extension is at the option of CSB)

Edited June 6, 2022 by ag futbol

[Cheeta]

38 minutes ago, RS said:

What exactly would you have Herdman say to the media? 

He can’t come out and support the CSA. He does that and instantly loses the locker room. 

If he supports the players, he’d be publicly taking a stand against the people who sign his paycheques.

The only thing he can publicly do is wait it out. Sure, he can go to bat for one side or the other behind closed doors, but there would literally be nothing good that comes out of Herdman addressing this issue with the media.

You don't think it's past that now?  

He's between a rock and a hard place.  Pick a winner and be generous to the loser, that's about as good it can get for him. 

Good luck, John.  LOL.  Let's see you talk your way out of this one.   

[ted]

13 hours ago, Cblake said:

Just waking up and just wanted to make sure, will their be a match today or not?

So much posted since I left home at 7:45 am to head to the ferry.

 

10 hours ago, DeWalli said:

Going to Red Card for wings and beers regardless Lads!!

I got wind of something being up a block away from Red Card.

 

10 hours ago, DeWalli said:

I'm guessing Herdman is livid about this. I wonder if all this crap is the tipping point for him leaving Canada to coach elsewhere. 

If I was Herdman I would be proud of the teamwork shown by these players. With an accent like his I think he knows a thing or two about industrial action.

 

7 hours ago, canucksfan said:

I know people who are already on their way from Victoria to this game, who's entire trip is now a waste of money.

I think the late notice from the players is a slap in the face to the fans. But I also think CSA should not have let it get to this point. It's shameful. This has become a complete disaster and I hope absolutely no one shows up to the game against Curacao on Thursday if it's played. I think the fans here deserved way better than this.

I spent the day traveling back and forth and there were many on the bus and ferry in red in both directions. As the details are emerging, it is clear that the CSA dicked around until this sort of action was required.

 

7 hours ago, Jedi Ram said:

Thousands fans already in DT not aware it's cancelled... Why do I get get a feeling something bad is gonna happen tonight? 

Nah. Most of us from the Island just went back on an earlier ferry and I bumped into two guys in Canada jerseys who basically shrugged and said they were gonna go watch hockey.

 

6 hours ago, Stoppage Time said:

Amateur hour for the players. They have lots of time to dispute this later toward the September window. The players could not have picked a better way to ruin good will among otherwise excited fans. Dumb move, boys!

It was the absolute best, and probably only, time to take action. This particular game was a friendly, not competitive, so lesser sanctions from FIFA. The media was paying attention after the Iran debacle. It is far enough away from the start of the WC to ensure that a deal can be hammered out in time.

Basically the best time for a strike is when it will hit home. I used to work at a University and the best time to go on strike was the first week in September. No point in going out in July. You have to pick your time and the players picked a good time.

 

3 hours ago, footballfreak said:

How was this not negotiated before the START of World Cup qualifying?

Ask the CSA. The players have been trying to get this done for a while now.

 

3 hours ago, The Beaver 2.0 said:

One thing's for sure: no nation is going to book friendlies until we get this sorted. No nation worth playing, at least

1. Good. Other nations adding pressure to get a deal done is good.
2. Why not? They get paid to train in Canada but don't have to risk injuries or being defeated because the game might not be played.

Edited June 6, 2022 by ted
spelling

[clamlinguine]

Bontis says even without all these programs  (refs, futsal, beach, youth...) the players proposal is still untenable. What if we lost and weren't getting the $10 million? Was everything going to shut down? It doesn't make sense.

 

[kacbru]

So I went away for a long weekend, completely off-grid. It was lovely. Just got home. Did I miss anything? 

WTF! 

[clamlinguine]

3 hours ago, king1010 said:

So we have even less money now. Great. 

Imagine if we hadn't qualified. That 10 million made us poorer apparently.

[keysersoze]

Just got back home so I'll post my rambling thoughts...

I haven't watched the press conference or read the players letter so apologies if I miss anything that was addressed in those two things.

I support the players and while I obviously don't have all the information I'm guessing they are much more in the right than the wrong given the history of the CSA. That being said, it's obvious this issue has been brewing a long time (at least since March if the stuff I read earlier was correct). Does it not serve the same purpose if they said at the start of this window we aren't even showing up and will forfeit the Nations League game without an agreement? Release your statement and raise whatever hell you want.

This brings me to a cascading series of increasingly bad decisions by everyone involved...

So if the Iran match doesn't get cancelled for non soccer reasons do the players pull the same shit with a sold out crowd last minute or do they go through with the game? That definitely would have had more potential to get ugly.

To me this is where the blame shifts just as much to the players as it does the CSA. Why is there another friendly scheduled, you show up for a couple practices then you pull this literal last minute cancellation? I think it was earlier in this thread someone mentioned that the players were spotted partying into the wee hours of the morning too. I didn't find out about the cancellation until 2:30PM local time while browsing this forum and I don't think the ticketmaster email came until gametime basically. After the Iran debacle it was time to put out some sort of statement and plan of action, to not even give a day of notice to me is classless.

You had tons of people in the downtown area who were completely unaware what was happening. I was pissed myself, then you see little kids who have really only grown up with a Team Canada that is actually good and poised for success having this as their first in person experience with the team. I ended up having a decent enough time doing something else downtown and it's not like the money I spent coming out is going to have any sort of impact on my life, but personally I took it as a middle finger to me and all the other fans who showed up. To me that is much bigger than any time/money spent today. Sports is an outlet/entertainment for me, so doing shit like this is alienating the exact type of person you want on your side. I'm not going to pull some whoa is me "I'm never supporting this team again!" rant, because I'll obviously still watch games and support the team, but am I going to be buying a red, white, purple and green membership or your overpriced merchandise? Nope. I'm one person, but that hundreds of dollars this year alone you are missing out on.

Glad I have this place to express my thoughts on all of this. Here is to actual games being played and all of this being solved and not coming up again!

 

[PegCityCam]

27 minutes ago, clamlinguine said:

Bontis says even without all these programs  (refs, futsal, beach, youth...) the players proposal is still untenable. What if we lost and weren't getting the $10 million? Was everything going to shut down? It doesn't make sense.

 

Did the CSA sign away any WC revenue in the deal with the CSB? Perhaps this is one, of many, reasons they don't relish transparency? 

Edited June 6, 2022 by PegCityCam

[A_Gagne]

8 minutes ago, keysersoze said:

Just got back home so I'll post my rambling thoughts...

I haven't watched the press conference or read the players letter so apologies if I miss anything that was addressed in those two things.

I support the players and while I obviously don't have all the information I'm guessing they are much more in the right than the wrong given the history of the CSA. That being said, it's obvious this issue has been brewing a long time (at least since March if the stuff I read earlier was correct). Does it not serve the same purpose if they said at the start of this window we aren't even showing up and will forfeit the Nations League game without an agreement? Release your statement and raise whatever hell you want.

This brings me to a cascading series of increasingly bad decisions by everyone involved...

So if the Iran match doesn't get cancelled for non soccer reasons do the players pull the same shit with a sold out crowd last minute or do they go through with the game? That definitely would have had more potential to get ugly.

To me this is where the blame shifts just as much to the players as it does the CSA. Why is there another friendly scheduled, you show up for a couple practices then you pull this literal last minute cancellation? I think it was earlier in this thread someone mentioned that the players were spotted partying into the wee hours of the morning too. I didn't find out about the cancellation until 2:30PM local time while browsing this forum and I don't think the ticketmaster email came until gametime basically. After the Iran debacle it was time to put out some sort of statement and plan of action, to not even give a day of notice to me is classless.

You had tons of people in the downtown area who were completely unaware what was happening. I was pissed myself, then you see little kids who have really only grown up with a Team Canada that is actually good and poised for success having this as their first in person experience with the team. I ended up having a decent enough time doing something else downtown and it's not like the money I spent coming out is going to have any sort of impact on my life, but personally I took it as a middle finger to me and all the other fans who showed up. To me that is much bigger than any time/money spent today. Sports is an outlet/entertainment for me, so doing shit like this is alienating the exact type of person you want on your side. I'm not going to pull some whoa is me "I'm never supporting this team again!" rant, because I'll obviously still watch games and support the team, but am I going to be buying a red, white, purple and green membership or your overpriced merchandise? Nope. I'm one person, but that hundreds of dollars this year alone you are missing out on.

Glad I have this place to express my thoughts on all of this. Here is to actual games being played and all of this being solved and not coming up again!

 

It seems the offer that pissed them off something fierce was tabled Thursday, which is why things have only started going off the rails since Friday.

I hope the players get the compensation they deserve, but I also hope they're getting some quality and professional advice right now to avoid getting that compensation at the expense of tarnishing their brand, alienating many of their new-found fans, and financially knee-capping the CSA and CPL. That would be unfortunate.

[Greatest Cockney Rip Off]

7 hours ago, BearcatSA said:

I wonder what Pesch's wife thinks of the situation?

She is very familiar with incompetence, so I am sure she can relate. 

[scullion44]

At least the players looked in a good mood when signing happy birthday to Hoilett

[king1010]

4 hours ago, PegCityCam said:

Did the CSA sign away any WC revenue in the deal with the CSB? Perhaps this is one, of many, reasons they don't relish transparency? 

This is the big question. 

[eramosat]

I'm soooo happy I decided to just goto bed (was very tired) instead of staying up to watch this match!!!

You just gotta laugh, little point complaining or crying over other people's money concerns.  I'm sorry the match did not get played, esp. for in-person fans, but I could care less who gets what, and why, not worth my concern.

 

Edited June 6, 2022 by eramosat

[Hawkguy]

10 hours ago, king1010 said:

So we have even less money now. Great. 

This was pretty obvious. They'd never be able to book another friendly ever if they didn't compensate Panama for their time wasted. 

I'm not going to take either side - but I feel like they should have cancelled the game earlier or played the game and then refused afterwards to play anymore until it's been settled. 

They're fighting about money that they just screwed hundreds, maybe thousands of fans out of with no care about them. 

It's always the fans that get slapped across the face in shit like this. 

[prairiecanuck]

6 hours ago, clamlinguine said:

Imagine if we hadn't qualified. That 10 million made us poorer apparently.

Well we just spent 700 or 800K on Panama and Iran could cost us a lot more than that.  It seems they are doing their best to piss away every single dollar they receive from the world cup.

[prairiecanuck]

8 hours ago, ag futbol said:

So probably already posted but the Star article said the CSB contract supposedly has an option to extend the term from 10 years to 20. 
 

That is an incredibly crushing feature if true (assuming the extension is at the option of CSB)

Options can be mutual options, right of first refusal.  There is absolutely zero reason why the every detail of that agreement is made public.  The problem is the president who made this deal is long gone.

Edited June 6, 2022 by prairiecanuck

[wallflower]

18 hours ago, Jedi Ram said:

Players got 5 million in "players fees"? 

That's a lot of money.

Nope I am def not on the side of the players on this one. Playing for your country should be a honour.  Optics for the players itself is not good cause you just basically screwed the fans over who travel far and spend a lot of money. 

Agreed to a certain point. Which is why I made a comment elswhere that any informal representation should come from the lowly paid, if anyone. Alot of spectators are none too keen on the absurd payroll for many. The one area where I sense there is something to be revealed is in the CSB business deal. Is there something untoward that needs to be made transparent?

[wallflower]

18 hours ago, Wingback6 said:

There is an apology to the Panama players and the fans, in the letter the players shared which you have clearly not taken the time to read.

In this grade four level letter, there is a sentence buried after a diatribe. Panama deserves a full on discreet apology from both these players and Canada Soccer.

[SpursFlu]

I'm not sure we need to apologize too much to Pamama. They just got an all expensed paid 2 night stay in Vancouver with 100 grand spending money 

[eramosat]

 

19 hours ago, The Beaver 2.0 said:

Bontis should have struck a conciliatory tone--to get the fans on side--and apologized for the cancellation, and then said that the CSA is working hard with the players to strike an equitable agreement that recognizes their dedication, hard work etc. in getting Canada to the WC, and that the primary focus is getting this solved quickly so the staff and players can get back to preparing for Qatar AND so the CSA can continue to do the work of building on all the momentum we have for soccer in this country etc.

you mean...a media-savvy, vanilla response that presses all the right optics buttons but doesn't provide any real information about the situation?

what we got was an emotional and defensive response to a petulant players', last-minute boycott of a match.   while disputes about $$ in these situation seems to be common, match boycotts do not.  so...an honest response, at least.

btw, nice job on your response! I feel better hearing it! now get out there, and hammer out a men's and women's revenue sharing scheme, a WC qualifying bonus for the men with whatever revenue sharing applies, a separate WC results bonus,  whatever insight into the details of the arrangements with the CPL owners, and anything else you think is required!

[clamlinguine]

oops

Edited June 10, 2022 by clamlinguine

[Christian B.]

Check your credit card online. I received refunds for both games from Ticketmaster. It took less than the 30 days that it was supposed to take.