Home Canadian Soccer The Association Richmond-based club asks for court injunction to stop BCSA-Whitecaps deal

Richmond-based club asks for court injunction to stop BCSA-Whitecaps deal

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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 Elmes
The 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.

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5 Comments

  1. James

    July 23, 2014 at 7:27 pm

    Sadly the BCSA is no different from any other CSA member Association, To my knowledge, currently no Provincial Soccer Association allows private-academy membership. This is a shame because it deprives academy players the ability to play in leagues, local or travel tournaments and from eligibility for provincial team selection! I’m in Manitoba and it’s all the same. I have to pay double the fees every season for my boy. First pay the district club he plays for just so he can play in games and tournaments and be considered for provincial team selection and than I have to pay again to send him to a private academy where he actually gets trained at a high level and learns everything he now knows. Sadly most people can’t afford one set of fees let alone another for the “luxury” of getting proper training.

    Again, to the best of my knowledge (please correct if wrong), the OSA was the first CSA member association that claimed it would allow academy membership and participation beginning with its newly created League 1 high performance league. But, in the 11th hour of league ratification they pulled the plug on all private for-profit academy participation in the league … all of course except for TFC. Sound familiar.

    Getting back to Manitoba, in 2012 the MSA finally endorsed academy membership…but not really! They mandated membership requirements 100x stricter than any of its currently district clubs face that if applied to all, no one could possibly achieve membership in the MSA! I’m all for standards driven leagues and membership but it must be attainable and it must apply to all across the board.

    If the CSA ever wants soccer to grow in this country and truly want to start producing a talent pool for the men’s and women’s national teams to be successful, it MUST embrace private entrepreneurship in the soccer community, not punish it!

  2. Test

    March 22, 2014 at 7:13 pm

    Any idea what happened in this case? Someone mentioned that this case was thrown out in Nov 2013. Is that true?

  3. Jonny B.

    May 18, 2012 at 7:34 pm

    Sounds honestly like more politically alligned conservative interests than actual soccer interests pushing this case.

    I don’t see BCSA’s relationship with the Whitecaps as violating their own charter, nor a problem with the charter.

  4. TSS Parent

    May 16, 2012 at 6:52 pm

    I send my U12 daughter to TSS and it is by far the best development she is getting. I hope someone from VanU Academy and even Fusion read this. There are so many groups at TSS that every girl can be put into the level that fits her needs. That is not the case elsewhere.

    BUT, I do not understand why my daughter (me I guess) at 12 years old has to spend thousands and thousands of dollars to play HPL. My son pays less to play rep hockey but hockey is run by not for profit organisations. BC Soccer needs to re-think the costs as many kids will be excluded.

  5. TIMEFORCHANGE!

    May 16, 2012 at 4:25 pm

    Its time BC soccer stops its control of who is rewarded and punished. Parents need the choice as the BC soccer sanctioned Elite leagues are totally biased towards “nepotism” and is unfair. Open Competition breeds success, monopolies breed corruption and inefficiencies. It’s the kids that ultimately pay the price! Literally! Its time the CSA is involved in monitoring grass roots development and “open competition” so the “selective” nepotism and politics in BC soccer ends!

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