(Paris) This is the most serious cheating scandal in Canada since the doping of Ben Johnson. Acts of espionage that implicate our two national soccer teams, and that tarnish one of the greatest successes in Canadian Olympic history: the women’s gold medal at the Tokyo Games.
Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Ottawa must intervene.
How? There are several options. For the doping scandal in Canadian athletics in the late 1980s, the government went all out. A commission of inquiry. This is a mechanism usually reserved for the most important national issues, such as the sponsorship scandal or the fate of missing and murdered Aboriginal women. More recently, to shed light on the cover-up of a gang rape at Hockey Canada, parliamentarians used another lever: the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage.
It is up to elected officials to choose the best process. What matters is that Canada Soccer officials are held accountable to the Canadian public for their selfish actions, which tarnish the country’s reputation on the international sporting stage.
“The coaching staff of the national women’s team has gone over the top,” said federal Sport Minister Carla Qualthrough. “This is completely unacceptable. Canadians expect so much more from you, and the athletes deserve so much better.”
In the last 72 hours, we first learned that a Canada Soccer employee operated a drone to spy on a training session of the New Zealand women, the Canadians’ first opponents at the Paris Games. Then we learned that he had spied on a second training session.
Then the Globe and Mail got hold of a compromising text message from an assistant coach. Then a TSN investigation revealed that Canada Soccer has a long history of spying on its rivals. According to reporter Rick Westhead’s sources, this was particularly the case during the Tokyo Games, where the underdog Canadians won the gold medal. TSN also saw correspondence from a women’s coach that alluded to spying on Costa Rica, South Korea and Trinidad and Tobago. Sometimes it was done by federation employees. Other times, it was done by contractors.
For the Canadian Olympic Committee, which had previously refused to expel head coach Bev Priestman from the Paris Games, the TSN investigation was the last straw. On Thursday night, the COC removed Priestman from its delegation, along with a one-way ticket to Canada. Canada Soccer also suspended her. The men’s team, meanwhile, is now the target of at least two allegations. One against the United States in 2019. The other against Honduras in 2021.
There is no shortage of questions.
Who implemented the spy program? Who authorized it? Who supervised it?
Who at Canada Soccer hired spies? How much were they paid? With what budget?
In its 2023 annual report, Canada Soccer details where its revenue sources come from. 11% of its funds come from government grants. Was our tax money used to buy drones to spy on opponents?
And the fees you pay to register your children in a local club, did Canada Soccer use them to hire spies?
Stay with me, I’m not finished.
How many years has this been going on? TSN says the men’s team used a drone to spy on a closed-door American practice as early as 2019. Did Canada also cheat during the 2022 World Cup qualifier? During the World Cup in Qatar? Because TSN’s sources are adamant that the women’s team spied on other teams at the 2023 World Cup, as well as the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
Let’s cast a wider net.
What about our national junior teams? Are they also involved in acts of espionage? Because the drone operator who was arrested by the police in Saint-Étienne and who was sentenced to an eight-month suspended prison sentence, Joseph Lombardi, is a veteran of the U17 and U20 teams. According to the federation’s website, he has accompanied them to at least six international tournaments, and he has been associated with the coaching group of the national women’s youth program since 2012.
I would love to hear Bev Priestman testify. Earlier this week, she told the Canadian Olympic Committee she “had no knowledge” of the spying. Sure. I also guess the sky is green, chickens have teeth and I am a Maltese. And what did former men’s and women’s coach John Herdman, now with Toronto FC, know?
I assure you that journalists will move every stone in their path, as has been the case for the past three days. The fact remains that we do not have as many levers as Ottawa. We cannot compel witnesses to appear, collect evidence under oath or demand documents.
Maybe other national federations are doing what Canada Soccer is doing. Or worse. That doesn’t excuse the cheating we’re facing two years before we’re set to host the men’s World Cup.
It’s ugly.
Very ugly.
Let’s wash our dirty laundry as quickly as possible, before the visitor arrives.