Canada Soccer drone scandal could stem from systemic cheating

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SAINT-ETIENNE, France – The Olympic drone spy scandal is now extending to the men’s team.

Canada Soccer CEO Kevin Blue revealed Friday the national federation is sorting through what appears to be a systemic practice of spying on opponents in the women’s and men’s programs.

“Behaviour in the ethical grey area is completely unacceptable to Canadians and completely unacceptable to Canada Soccer and to me personally as the leader of the organization,” he said.

“(This) is painful right now but is turning out to be a necessary part of the rehabilitation process. Competing within the rules is a fundamental expectation held by Canadians and that standard has not been met here.”

The question now is how far does this cheating date back and who knew about it. Even the women’s gold medal at Tokyo is now at risk if this trickery can be traced back three years.

“The (International Olympic Committee) will take a hard look at this,” former Canadian goalkeeper Craig Forrest tweeted.

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Blue, four months into the job after working at Golf Canada, was made aware of an instance of an attempted drone usage by the men’s team during their recent Copa America run.

“I’ve received a lot of anecdotal feedback on the history of the issue as it relates to both programs,” he said.

“My current understanding is the fact pattern of that instance (at Copa) is significantly different than what occurred here (in France), especially as it relates to the potential impact on competitive integrity.”

Blue regretted that the scandal caused a major distraction to the Canadian Olympic delegation well before the lighting of the flame Friday. At the same time, he refused to consider withdrawing the women’s soccer team from the tournament after sending head coach Bev Priestman and two staffers packing from the Games.

He also wants FIFA’s disciplinary committee to allow Canada to keep three points in the group standings from the 2-1 win over New Zealand Thursday. The Kiwis have asked the world body to consider taking those away after the drones impacted the lead-up to the match.

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We feel we have addressed the situation swiftly and significantly…

Kevin Blue

“We feel we have addressed the situation swiftly and significantly,” Blue said, “and it would be to the detriment of our players who worked so hard and sacrificed to become Olympians. The players themselves have not been involved in any unethical behaviour.

“We ask FIFA to take that into consideration if contemplating any further sanctions.”

Blue endorsed Priestman’s main assistant Andy Pearce as the manager for the remainder of the tournament and doesn’t believe he had previous awareness of the drones. He has already spoken to Canadian men’s coach Jesse Marsch about the Copa incident, which Marsch said he learned about after the fact.

“The conversation we had was credible in my view at the time,” Blue said.

“The continued credibility of that will be explored as we can dig into a lot more detail. Jesse denounced it immediately and forcefully and has communicated that to his staff.”

Blue indicated he didn’t know if past Canadian players under previous coaching have interacted with stolen drone footage. But he will lean on the organization’s external investigation to learn the extent of the problem.

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“I’m beginning to receive anecdotes about events that have occurred in the past and the potential certain individuals may have had on the culture of this type of thing occurring,” he said. “There is no room for this conduct.

“What reported, if accurate, is an alarming indication of a significant problem. I’m sure we’ll be able to explore some of the anecdotes I’ve been made aware of in order to substantiate if they are true or not and take appropriate action from there.”

rpyette@postmedia.com

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