Dear Editor,
Re: “Little to cheer in soccer coach saga,” Voices, Jan. 29.
The Richmond soccer coach saga is a truly sad affair.
This coach is well known on the Richmond fields. There is a very definite line between his supporters and detractors.
The fans are generally louder and bolder than those who disagree with the negative coaching style — behaviour that consistently violates established codes of conduct and policy. The fans prefer to focus on winning rather than behaviour; they like to boast about championships. They like to dismiss those who voice concerns as being soft, too sensitive, pansies.
The Richmond FC brass needs to take responsibility for this debacle squarely on their shoulders.
Club leaders knew this could become a very serious issue at some point. It’s a chance they were willing to take as they chose, repeatedly, not to address the problem.
No less than four board members and seven coaches walked away from the club in response to this behaviour in just over a year. Many more voiced concerns.
Those people became excluded and treated as outsiders; they became targets. Many very good volunteers have walked away in frustration. More importantly, many good players left the sport.
Current sport culture is not tolerant of these old-school ways. We must expect more from our youth sport leaders.
Laura Heroux
RFC parent and former RFC board member
Letter: Reinstate Sciascia
Dear Editor,
Re: “Little to cheer in soccer coach saga,” Voices, Jan. 29
Thank you, thank you for this column. I totally agree with your perspective on the case.
That Mr. Sciascia was dragged into court was absolutely disgusting.
RFC does, indeed, need to look at what went wrong here. And somebody, anybody, please apologize for the way this all unfolded.
Bruna Wevers
Richmond
