Canadian Soccer Association Thursday, November 02, 2006 The Canadian Soccer Association Moves in a New Direction The Canadian Soccer Association (CSA) announced earlier today that the Executive Committee has determined that a new course is necessary for the development of soccer in Canada. In keeping with this resolution, the CSA Executive has decided to install new direction, and accordingly, Chief Operating Officer Kevan Pipe will be leaving the organization effective today. “Canadian soccer is entering a new era and we felt, as an executive, it was time that the CSA embark under new leadership,” said CSA President Colin Linford. “This decision was extremely difficult and not taken lightly.” The CSA would like to extend its highest appreciation to Mr. Pipe for his loyalty and devotion to the development of Soccer in Canada for the past quarter century.
Just to sum up what i pretty much said reading this 10 minutes ago on the voyaguer website... ...ummmm.... oh ya and... ...wow.....
Hopefully Nsawila and Hirschfeld are now called and start in the Hungary friendly. That would show who was behind their exclusion in favor of much less talented flops the last 3 years all along.
Im still trying to get this through my head. Like the world has turned upside down. Pipe's gone!!!! I admit i softened on him when he did the Voyaguer interview last month and had planned to do one this month. But still, I don't believe theres a single fan of the national team who hasn't prayed for this years and years. Oh ya and im an atheist, or atleast i was til today
You're so naive Cuddles. You really think there's a conspiracy to keep Lars from the team? How clueless do you have to be to not see that Kenny Stamatopolous is obviously head and shoulders better than Lars ever will be.
I can't believe my 232,000 emails to the CSA finally paid off, thank you Linford. Hopefully Jason Bent will now get the insurance money that they own him.
Maybe the CSA found noticed that Thunder Dan was being courted by Chelsea and couldn't believe that Pipe let him get away. As far as Hischfield is concerned, don't you realise that the conspiracy against him goes much deeper than that? Finally, I'd like to say that Pipe's reign hasn't been all bad, IMO he did ok with what he was given. Hopefully they can find somebody to rally the support of the provincial associations and get an adequate head coach.
Last NT call for Lars: november 2005 against Luxembourg Harper new Prime Minister: January 2006 I think it's pretty obvious where this conspiracy come from..........
Jason DeVos on Pipe from the Sportsnet article: http://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/article.jsp?content=20061102_152846_5580 DeVos, who has retired from international play, says not being able to represent Canada at the World Cup is his biggest regret. He said the players will ultimately have to put up their hands for Canada's failure to reach the sport's greatest showcase. But errors on the administrative side did not help. "Because for a country like Canada to qualify for the World Cup we've got to get everything right." "If you speak to anyone who's represented the men's team in the last 10 years, they'll probably all say the same thing," he added. "That there were a lot of things that were done by the association which were completely contrary to our main goal which is to qualify for the World Cup." DeVos recalls a World Cup qualifying game in Edmonton against Trinidad and Tobago where he left the dressing room to find a reggae band on the pitch "trying to make them feel at home." "And I thought to myself `You must be kidding me. Would we go to Mexico and have the Barenaked Ladies playing on the pitch?"' Players also chafed at having to fly eight times zones or more and negotiate complex itineraries to arrive in Vancouver for a qualifying match. No doubt, Pipe did not book the reggae band or the plane connections. But he was the top paid official at the association. "A lot of the frustration we felt as players inevitably landed on his doorstep," said deVos. DeVos said he had never had a problem with Pipe on a personal level, calling him courteous, open and professional. "But like I said there was so much wrong with the way things were done, the way things were run, inevitably ... most people held Kevan accountable for that."
Jeezus, your standards aren't too high. Pipe's reign was a f*ing disaster, no ands, ifs or buts about it. We've fallen from a top 3-4 nation in CONCACAF in the 80's thru 90's to barely top 10 in CONCACAF on the men's side. Despite the huge N. American boom in soccer, we've got virtually 0 corporate presence in Canada. We were handed $35 million for a national stadium and will have nothing to show for it except reduced rent at BMO field and pissed off associations from west to east. The women's team is making headlines for all the wrong reasons. (I suspect the Charmaine Hooper controversy and the bad optics around Kerfoot's basically bankrolling our women's NT and potential of the loss of his generosity has led to this firing). I could go on and on but I am too happy to relive the miserable past.
I know know how romanians must have felt when they stuck Nicolae Ceaucescu up against a wall and shot him. If he does end up with MLSE look for that team to move within 3 years. BUT Let FREEDOM ring right accross the land.
Amen brother. Amen !!!! Now I hope they dont stop there. There are a few at the Povincial levels that need to be retired too.
Hey Eurodad I guess we won't have to talk about firing Pipe at our next big soccer get together. I still think the petition would have got him fired much sooner.