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The twisting tale of how a $200,000 lawsuit against an Ottawa youth soccer coach — accused of poaching players from a rival soccer club — was dropped just weeks after it was filed has laid bare the internal politicking that occurs in the world of competitive teenage soccer.
Ottawa South United Soccer Association (OSU) — one of the largest soccer clubs in the city — launched a lawsuit on June 1 against Russell Shaw, a former coach with the organization.
In a statement of claim, OSU alleged Shaw breached his contract with the organization when, in October 2016, he took a position with West Ottawa Soccer Association and began coaching the same age groups and gender as he had been while coaching at OSU.
“The defendant immediately commenced soliciting players with whom he had worked under his services contract (with OSU). In doing so, he exploited the confidential information contrary to the terms of the services contract,” the lawsuit stated.
The lawsuit did not say how many players Shaw was allegedly to have solicited, however people familiar with the case told this newspaper that fewer than 10 players, between the ages of 14 and 16, switched from OSU to West Ottawa Soccer after Shaw changed clubs.
OSU was seeking $200,000 in damages for Shaw’s alleged breach of contract.
Three weeks later, the lawsuit was dropped.
Days earlier, this newspaper obtained emails from OSU executives that revealed the club would consider dismissing the litigation against Shaw if a separate matter between OSU and West Soccer was resolved.
On Wednesday, when this newspaper first contacted OSU about its case against Shaw, the organization refused to comment, saying in an email, “OSU and (West Ottawa Soccer) are in discussions on this matter and no official comments will be made to the media at this time.”
West Ottawa Soccer was not a named defendant in the litigation against Shaw.
Brian Mason, the president of West Ottawa Soccer, said he was completely perplexed by the situation. He said his soccer club investigated the allegations against Shaw and interviewed the families that moved from OSU. He said all nine families believed to be involved signed affidavits swearing that they were not contacted or solicited by Shaw.
They heard he was leaving for another club, liked his coaching style and followed him, Mason said.
“We’ve done a review of the allegations and the history and everything that’s gone on. We 100 per cent support Russell Shaw. We don’t believe he has done anything wrong,” said Mason. “Soccer is not hockey. There are no geographic boundaries, we all know that. Players follow excellent coaches. Players are allowed to move from club to club.”
(Shaw did not comment when reached by this newspaper.)
Image of Russell Shaw from a bio page on the website of the West Ottawa Soccer Association, where he coaches.
Mason also said several West Ottawa Soccer players have moved to OSU in recent months to take advantage of the coaches and training that club offers, a fact, Mason said, that makes it even more difficult to understand OSU’s lawsuit against one of his coaches. He said Shaw’s contract with OSU ended in 2015. He said Shaw wasn’t happy with the offers OSU had been making to him while negotiating a new coaching contract and as a result left for West Ottawa Soccer in 2016.
Mason questioned why the lawsuit was filed against Shaw, when Ontario Soccer, the regulating body responsible for overseeing the sport in the province, has a policy that discourages clubs from taking legal action against coaches, players or other organizations.
“Ontario Soccer and its Members, Registered Organizations and Registrants shall not invoke the aid of the ordinary courts without first exhausting all available remedies within Ontario Soccer to resolve any and all disputes of disagreements between them,” reads Article 12 of Ontario Soccer’s bylaws.
OSU did not answer questions regarding whether “all available remedies” had been exhausted before launching its suit.
While the merits of OSU’s lawsuit perplexed Mason, what’s made clear, in emails obtained by this newspaper, is that after the suit was filed, the possibility of dropping the lawsuit was tied to the resolution of another matter OSU faced: a six-month suspension against one of its coaches.
In November 2017, an OSU coach was suspended for allegedly sending mass emails to entire teams at West Ottawa Soccer in an attempt to lure players to OSU. While player movement is allowed by regulators of the sport, soliciting players from other clubs is not. A complaint about the OSU coach was filed with the Eastern Ontario District Soccer Association, the organization responsible for policing soccer clubs in Eastern Ontario. The organization determined a suspension was warranted.
OSU appealed the suspension to Ontario Soccer. The club was unsuccessful in its attempt to have the suspension overturned.
“A case such as the one noted is very rare within our soccer community,” read an emailed statement from Ontario Soccer. “This case was reviewed by Ontario Soccer through our independent judicial process and parties involved were given the option to appeal any decision to Canada Soccer should they choose.”
OSU appealed and was denied in late April.
In emails between June 9 and June 12, sent by OSU technical director Paul Harris to multiple West Ottawa Soccer and OSU officials, a relationship between OSU’s suspended coach and its lawsuit against Shaw is outlined.
“I will speak to Jim (Lianos, OSU’s Operations General Manager) to see if the court date can be delayed to give Russell (Shaw) more time and hopefully no need to get a lawyer but what we need from you is whether there is a possibility to get (OSU’s) ban (of its suspended coach) withdrawn,” wrote Harris in an email dated June 9.
Harris specifies in the email that it is OSU’s desire to see all communications between the clubs, regarding the issue, go through their technical directors. However, he stated that he was having communications with OSU’s president Bill Michalopulos and general manager Lianos about the issue.
In another email, sent on June 12, Harris elaborates further.
“I spoke with Bill (Michalopulos) and Jim (Lianos) this evening and they are copied on this email to try and help us move to the next stage. This email is to confirm that OSU would agree to a 1 for 1 exchange however as I relayed … (the OSU coach’s) ban would need to be removed and this would need to be put in writing from the 1/3 (sic) party who will make this decisions (sic) we are presuming Ontario Soccer under these conditions Bill (Michalopulos) agreed that we would drop the court case against Russell Shaw.”
City of Ottawa George Nelms Sports Park on Mitch Owens Drive where the Ottawa South United Soccer Club trains and plays.
Harris also writes that OSU would like to see barriers erected to make player and coach movement between clubs more difficult. In his June email, he says that any player or coach transfer would need to be disclosed to the technical director of the club that the person is leaving. He also says that no “active recruitment” of players between nine and 12 years of age should be allowed. He adds that “active recruitment” will need to be defined. He also suggests that coaches who switch clubs be banned from coaching the same age group they were involved with for a period of two years and that suspensions against coaches who have been found to be breaking the rules regarding recruitment be replaced with fines.
Attempts to reach Michalopulos were unsuccessful.
However, on Thursday, this newspaper reached Lianos, who expressed disappointment that “confidential” emails had been released.
“Over and above the specific legal matter related to the contractual agreement with Mr. Shaw there are many more emails, and conversations that have taken place between the two clubs over the past few months in different forums to try and resolve the animosity and finger pointing between the two clubs. Many of those issues are generic long-standing pain points that concern youth soccer in general,” he said in an emailed statement. “The emails you have are confidential between the two clubs and it’s disappointing that you only have a small glimpse of the overall situation.”
This newspaper asked Lianos to provide more context regarding the situation, including providing emails or conversations that could help explain the situation regarding the suspended coach and how it pertains to the lawsuit against Shaw.
Lianos responded late Thursday night with a statement that was also circulated on social media.
“After considerable discussion and deliberation, the board of directors of Ottawa South United have determined that at this time we will be withdrawing the lawsuit involving a previous contractor. OSU strongly believes that this situation illustrates the greater need for processes and rules to be developed as soccer delivery continues to professionalize across Canada and to evolve with this changing environment to mitigate future conflict. This includes the rules around non-solicitation of players and coaches,” read the statement.
The Eastern Ontario District Soccer Association and Ontario Soccer already have rules and processes in place that prohibit the solicitation of players by other clubs.
Late on Friday afternoon, Harris responded, via email, to questions posed by this newspaper by saying that OSU would have “no problem” sharing further information if it would help provide an “accurate portrayal of the situation.”
Further information was not provided. But Harris did say that there were “many offline communications” initiated by West Ottawa Soccer’s technical director and Mason, West Ottawa Soccer’s president, “to attempt to work through some of the ongoing issues between the two associations.”
The lawsuit against Shaw did not go unnoticed in the Ottawa minor soccer community. A GoFundMe campaign to help Shaw pay his legal bills raised more than $6,000 from 62 donors.
Greg Amiel, community events co-ordinator for the Ottawa Redblacks, slammed the lawsuit on Twitter.
“Awareness must be brought to this across #Ottawa,” he wrote. “Truly wrong & this shouldn’t be a legal matter. This club should be embarrassed.”
Those sentiments were echoed by John Rodenburg, who works for the radio station TSN 1200.
“And we wonder why youth sports are so screwed up. We have a local soccer club suing a coach for leaving.”
vpilieci@postmedia.com
查看原文...
Ottawa South United Soccer Association (OSU) — one of the largest soccer clubs in the city — launched a lawsuit on June 1 against Russell Shaw, a former coach with the organization.
In a statement of claim, OSU alleged Shaw breached his contract with the organization when, in October 2016, he took a position with West Ottawa Soccer Association and began coaching the same age groups and gender as he had been while coaching at OSU.
“The defendant immediately commenced soliciting players with whom he had worked under his services contract (with OSU). In doing so, he exploited the confidential information contrary to the terms of the services contract,” the lawsuit stated.
The lawsuit did not say how many players Shaw was allegedly to have solicited, however people familiar with the case told this newspaper that fewer than 10 players, between the ages of 14 and 16, switched from OSU to West Ottawa Soccer after Shaw changed clubs.
OSU was seeking $200,000 in damages for Shaw’s alleged breach of contract.
Three weeks later, the lawsuit was dropped.
Days earlier, this newspaper obtained emails from OSU executives that revealed the club would consider dismissing the litigation against Shaw if a separate matter between OSU and West Soccer was resolved.
On Wednesday, when this newspaper first contacted OSU about its case against Shaw, the organization refused to comment, saying in an email, “OSU and (West Ottawa Soccer) are in discussions on this matter and no official comments will be made to the media at this time.”
West Ottawa Soccer was not a named defendant in the litigation against Shaw.
Brian Mason, the president of West Ottawa Soccer, said he was completely perplexed by the situation. He said his soccer club investigated the allegations against Shaw and interviewed the families that moved from OSU. He said all nine families believed to be involved signed affidavits swearing that they were not contacted or solicited by Shaw.
They heard he was leaving for another club, liked his coaching style and followed him, Mason said.
“We’ve done a review of the allegations and the history and everything that’s gone on. We 100 per cent support Russell Shaw. We don’t believe he has done anything wrong,” said Mason. “Soccer is not hockey. There are no geographic boundaries, we all know that. Players follow excellent coaches. Players are allowed to move from club to club.”
(Shaw did not comment when reached by this newspaper.)
Image of Russell Shaw from a bio page on the website of the West Ottawa Soccer Association, where he coaches.
Mason also said several West Ottawa Soccer players have moved to OSU in recent months to take advantage of the coaches and training that club offers, a fact, Mason said, that makes it even more difficult to understand OSU’s lawsuit against one of his coaches. He said Shaw’s contract with OSU ended in 2015. He said Shaw wasn’t happy with the offers OSU had been making to him while negotiating a new coaching contract and as a result left for West Ottawa Soccer in 2016.
Mason questioned why the lawsuit was filed against Shaw, when Ontario Soccer, the regulating body responsible for overseeing the sport in the province, has a policy that discourages clubs from taking legal action against coaches, players or other organizations.
“Ontario Soccer and its Members, Registered Organizations and Registrants shall not invoke the aid of the ordinary courts without first exhausting all available remedies within Ontario Soccer to resolve any and all disputes of disagreements between them,” reads Article 12 of Ontario Soccer’s bylaws.
OSU did not answer questions regarding whether “all available remedies” had been exhausted before launching its suit.
While the merits of OSU’s lawsuit perplexed Mason, what’s made clear, in emails obtained by this newspaper, is that after the suit was filed, the possibility of dropping the lawsuit was tied to the resolution of another matter OSU faced: a six-month suspension against one of its coaches.
In November 2017, an OSU coach was suspended for allegedly sending mass emails to entire teams at West Ottawa Soccer in an attempt to lure players to OSU. While player movement is allowed by regulators of the sport, soliciting players from other clubs is not. A complaint about the OSU coach was filed with the Eastern Ontario District Soccer Association, the organization responsible for policing soccer clubs in Eastern Ontario. The organization determined a suspension was warranted.
OSU appealed the suspension to Ontario Soccer. The club was unsuccessful in its attempt to have the suspension overturned.
“A case such as the one noted is very rare within our soccer community,” read an emailed statement from Ontario Soccer. “This case was reviewed by Ontario Soccer through our independent judicial process and parties involved were given the option to appeal any decision to Canada Soccer should they choose.”
OSU appealed and was denied in late April.
In emails between June 9 and June 12, sent by OSU technical director Paul Harris to multiple West Ottawa Soccer and OSU officials, a relationship between OSU’s suspended coach and its lawsuit against Shaw is outlined.
“I will speak to Jim (Lianos, OSU’s Operations General Manager) to see if the court date can be delayed to give Russell (Shaw) more time and hopefully no need to get a lawyer but what we need from you is whether there is a possibility to get (OSU’s) ban (of its suspended coach) withdrawn,” wrote Harris in an email dated June 9.
Harris specifies in the email that it is OSU’s desire to see all communications between the clubs, regarding the issue, go through their technical directors. However, he stated that he was having communications with OSU’s president Bill Michalopulos and general manager Lianos about the issue.
In another email, sent on June 12, Harris elaborates further.
“I spoke with Bill (Michalopulos) and Jim (Lianos) this evening and they are copied on this email to try and help us move to the next stage. This email is to confirm that OSU would agree to a 1 for 1 exchange however as I relayed … (the OSU coach’s) ban would need to be removed and this would need to be put in writing from the 1/3 (sic) party who will make this decisions (sic) we are presuming Ontario Soccer under these conditions Bill (Michalopulos) agreed that we would drop the court case against Russell Shaw.”
City of Ottawa George Nelms Sports Park on Mitch Owens Drive where the Ottawa South United Soccer Club trains and plays.
Harris also writes that OSU would like to see barriers erected to make player and coach movement between clubs more difficult. In his June email, he says that any player or coach transfer would need to be disclosed to the technical director of the club that the person is leaving. He also says that no “active recruitment” of players between nine and 12 years of age should be allowed. He adds that “active recruitment” will need to be defined. He also suggests that coaches who switch clubs be banned from coaching the same age group they were involved with for a period of two years and that suspensions against coaches who have been found to be breaking the rules regarding recruitment be replaced with fines.
Attempts to reach Michalopulos were unsuccessful.
However, on Thursday, this newspaper reached Lianos, who expressed disappointment that “confidential” emails had been released.
“Over and above the specific legal matter related to the contractual agreement with Mr. Shaw there are many more emails, and conversations that have taken place between the two clubs over the past few months in different forums to try and resolve the animosity and finger pointing between the two clubs. Many of those issues are generic long-standing pain points that concern youth soccer in general,” he said in an emailed statement. “The emails you have are confidential between the two clubs and it’s disappointing that you only have a small glimpse of the overall situation.”
This newspaper asked Lianos to provide more context regarding the situation, including providing emails or conversations that could help explain the situation regarding the suspended coach and how it pertains to the lawsuit against Shaw.
Lianos responded late Thursday night with a statement that was also circulated on social media.
“After considerable discussion and deliberation, the board of directors of Ottawa South United have determined that at this time we will be withdrawing the lawsuit involving a previous contractor. OSU strongly believes that this situation illustrates the greater need for processes and rules to be developed as soccer delivery continues to professionalize across Canada and to evolve with this changing environment to mitigate future conflict. This includes the rules around non-solicitation of players and coaches,” read the statement.
The Eastern Ontario District Soccer Association and Ontario Soccer already have rules and processes in place that prohibit the solicitation of players by other clubs.
Late on Friday afternoon, Harris responded, via email, to questions posed by this newspaper by saying that OSU would have “no problem” sharing further information if it would help provide an “accurate portrayal of the situation.”
Further information was not provided. But Harris did say that there were “many offline communications” initiated by West Ottawa Soccer’s technical director and Mason, West Ottawa Soccer’s president, “to attempt to work through some of the ongoing issues between the two associations.”
The lawsuit against Shaw did not go unnoticed in the Ottawa minor soccer community. A GoFundMe campaign to help Shaw pay his legal bills raised more than $6,000 from 62 donors.
Greg Amiel, community events co-ordinator for the Ottawa Redblacks, slammed the lawsuit on Twitter.
“Awareness must be brought to this across #Ottawa,” he wrote. “Truly wrong & this shouldn’t be a legal matter. This club should be embarrassed.”
Those sentiments were echoed by John Rodenburg, who works for the radio station TSN 1200.
“And we wonder why youth sports are so screwed up. We have a local soccer club suing a coach for leaving.”
vpilieci@postmedia.com
查看原文...
