Coach Rana Reider during a training session in the Stadio dei Marmi, in Rome, on May 15.Alessandra Tarantino/The Associated Press
The Canada Soccer incident went from gas-powered screw-up to nuclear sporting meltdown when head coach Bev Priestman was sent home on the eve of these Games.
Canada Soccer released a statement, which the Canadian Olympic Committee then re-released. It didn’t give any reasons for the expulsion. It only referred to “additional information” about Priestman’s case.
Today, we’d still be wondering about that added info were it not for FIFA’s decision to release a filing on the matter. In it, readers discovered that, according to Priestman herself, she wasn’t the unlucky person on top when someone went rogue. She was in charge of an entire dirty tricks operation.
In part, you pay for Canada Soccer. As much as it is the property of the people who work and/or play in it, it’s also yours. More yours, maybe.
That should entitle you to a few particulars about it. How much money are they getting? Where is it going? Are they running a soccer team the way G. Gordon Liddy ran a re-election campaign?
The idea seems to be that Canadians should be happy to put their hands in their pockets, and then, when things go awry, take them out and slap them over their ears. That the people who fund sport cannot be trusted to know what’s going on in sport.
It’s bad policy and worse public relations.
If the FIFA document hadn’t hit the internet, people would still be asking about this. The mystery of it would draw in rubberneckers. All the built-up affection for the team would be bleeding off.
Instead, FIFA helped Canada Soccer turn Priestman into the villain of the piece. It’s not over, but the pressure has been temporarily released.
When in doubt, tell the whole truth. The COC and the Canadian sports establishment at large seem incapable of this elemental test of character.
It’s depressing enough when it’s the pros. But when it’s people who stand up and take the Olympic oath about “the true spirit of sportsmanship” and “the honour of our teams,” it’s inexplicable. You can’t talk about how much this should mean to all Canadians, and then keep secrets from them about it.
Nonetheless, the COC was back at it on Monday.
Andre De Grasse’s coach, Rana Reider, has had his Canadian team credential pulled.
The word generally used when anyone talks about Reider is “controversial.” He does two things – coach winners and trail scandal. He is currently the subject of three lawsuits brought by women he coached or knew through sport. At one point, he could only work when he was accompanied by another adult.
The owners of the Canadian Olympic program – you – might have a few questions about all this. Why was he accredited in the first place? What did he do that made you not want to accredit him now?
We have a sports-writing colleague whose favourite shtick was waggling his fingers in the air while sitting in front of a keyboard. He’d say, “What time is it?” We were meant to reply, “I don’t know. What time is it?” Then he’d say, “It’s magic time.”
Another Canadian scandal at the Olympics, one for which Canadians deserve forthright answers from the outset? That’s magic time for the COC.
Early Tuesday morning, they released another one of their impenetrable statements. The crux of it (if it can be said to have a crux):
“On Sunday August 4th, we learned of new information about the appropriateness of Mr. Reider remaining accredited by Team Canada at the Paris 2024 Games. In discussion with Athletics Canada, it was agreed that Mr. Reider’s accreditation be revoked.”
Well, what does that mean?
You already knew he had a reputation as a bad guy. Now you’re saying that three days before De Grasse defends his gold medal, you found out he’s badder than you thought? Do you people not have the internet over there?
Most of the statement is in the form of an excuse, which no one cares about. Save that for the meeting with HR.
All the co-owners of your business want to know is what he’s supposed to have done, or what you’ve just heard he’s done in the past. Anything else is self-serving.
Somehow, our institutions have begun to leverage the type of understanding we give to victims. We don’t expect that people who’ve just had something awful happen should spill the whole thing to us. That’s their business, and a story they will tell in their own good time. Or not.
A publicly funded sports program cannot be a victim because it’s not a person. It doesn’t get to do stupid and/or illegal things and then hide behind, “I just can’t speak about it right now. You understand.”
We can’t understand, because we have no idea what they’re talking about.
This could be about a Sunday piece in The Times of London detailing the lawsuits against Reider. Or maybe he went on a spree and ran over the Olympic mascot with his car. Because they won’t say, it’s left to our imaginations.
Because Reider coaches track instead of soccer, we may never know what happened. The only transparent thing about the COC is its hope that what usually happens will happen again – the Olympics will end, people will forget to check back in and the story will die.
At that point, Reider may or may not face a comeuppance, but the COC will be fine. “Rana who? Oh yeah, we totally forgot about that guy.”
This is a two-step process for ensuring that things that have gone wrong will continue to go wrong in the future.
The COC has got a lot to say about the good work it does, and how we should all be grateful for it, and proud of everything it does.
But as soon as something goes wrong, the COC stops telling us things. Then we have to infer what it means, though it’s not that hard to do so: “Thanks for all the taxes, but mind your own business.”
Editor’s note: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the writer sent the COC an email to inform the organization of the column and to request new information regarding the case of track coach Rana Reider. The email did not reach the COC due to an address error, so the organization did not have an opportunity to reply.
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