Richmond-based club asks for court injunction to stop BCSA-Whitecaps deal By Steven Sandor Posted on May 15, 2012 5 0 883 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter The B.C. Soccer Association is being sued. Late last week, Sportstown B.C. Holdings and Total Soccer Systems Inc. filed their suit in the province’s Supreme Court which asks for an injunction that would prevent the provincial soccer body from continuing its partnership with the Vancouver Whitecaps. All items reported in the statement of claim have yet to be proven in a court of law. The TSS Academy, based in Richmond, is a for-proft academy that isn’t allowed to become a full BCSA member. And it is angered that the BCSA entered partnerships with the Whitecaps, which is a for-profit MLS team. The Academy believes that is an unfair barrier to its business. According to TSS, the issue is not the Whitecaps, it’s the BCSA. Even though the case is a long way from being heard, in the meantime TSS and its lawyers are asking for “a temporary injunction prohibiting the Defendant (the BCSA) from receiving any funding from the Vancouver Whitecaps or from the Province of British Columbia” until the case has been resolved. Colin ElmesThe TSS Academy has taken issue with the Electronic Arts BC Soccer Premier League, which is being organized under the banners of the BCSA and the Whitecaps. TSS is claiming that it runs in competition with their business and that the fees received by the new EA league are in excess of operating costs, which make it a for-profit venture. And, TSS feels that parents know that if they want their kids to make provincial teams, they need to play in the EA league. So it feels what it considers to be for-profit venture has been given a competitive advantage over another for-profit venture. “The arrangements between the Defendant BCSA and the Vancouver Whitecaps to stream players of a high-performance level within one system controlled by them together is damaging to the business of competitive for-profit operations such as those of the Plaintiffs, particularly since the arrangements operate as a competitive advantage for one for-profit business over another.” That comes from the Statement of Claim. Colin Elmes, technical director of TSS, said “I have no axe to grind with the Whitecaps.” He said that TSS accounts for eight Whitecaps’ season tickets. And he thinks the Whitecaps were well within their rights to ask to partner with the BCSA. “But the issue is that a non-profit organization, which gets a bulk of its funding from the province, should have had a look at this and said no, this is not a fit for us,” said Elmes, TSS went to court in 2006 over sanctioning, as it felt it was running into difficulty getting the provincial blessing for its teams to travel outside the province for tournaments. Since 2006, the for-profit academy has existed in what the court documents called an “uneasy peace” with the BCSA. One of the issues is the district restrictions, which Elmes claims is badly hampering youth soccer in B.C. For most youth teams to be eligible for leagues, they can’t carry more than three out-of-district players. TSS, Elmes said, brings in around 750 elite youth players, many from outside the Richmond area. That number of out-of-district players allowed moves up when teams get to the U-17 levels and up. But, to Elmes, it means that the long-existing Academies aren’t encouraged to bring together the best of the best — because of eligibility issues which he says that are far more restrictive in B.C. than other provinces. But, the new EA Premier League has broken away from the territorial restriction model. The Statement of Claim also states that the BCSA did not allow TSS Academy to place a squad in Washington State’s Puget Sound Premier League, as it needed special dispensation to move across the border. And that’s because it isn’t a full member of the BCSA. “Such refusal to sanction participation in the Puget Sound Premier League indicates the continued desire and intent of the Defendant BCSA to destroy the business of the Plaintiffs,” reads the Statement of Claim. The TSS claim also suggests that its operations were impacted when it was forbidden access to an elite division of the Surrey Spring League. It also accused the BCSA of emailing those attending the Western Canada Showcase asking if TSS players were properly registered. “The Vancouver Whitecaps have a showcase event which is supported by the Defendant BCSA, and it appears accordingly that the said Defendant has no difficulty with other non-profit organizations having such events without any issues as to participation.” Elmes said that he doesn’t see his organization needing to enter teams into traditional youth leagues, “But if I want to form a spring league with some other clubs, I don’t want to have an organization standing in my way.” To see the Statement of Claim, CLICK HERE.
