I am not certain but I think that Charlie Cuzzetto, President and Chair of the BC Soccer Board of Directors, has replied to my open letter posted on bcsoccerweb.com. After wading through the plethora of words, I’ve assembled what I see as the Coles notes summary of Mr Cuzzetto’s response:

• important - net results in favour of Canadian player development and our national team programs for the long term
• important - BC Soccer fully committed to BC talent in support of the national teams programs; “BC player first commitment”
• MLS content issue - in capable hands of CSA “our parent body”. We support the CSA as it represents the best interests of Canadian player development.
• Dialogue ongoing between CSA, Pro Clubs and MLS on this issue
• This is a short term player content issue vs larger player development issue. Only a small subset.
• CSA Long Term Player Development philosophy in play here. Please be patient as it moves forward.
• BC boys and girls best chance will be facilitated by best possible youth development programs. Again, please be patient.
• Whitecaps FC has been a big part of the plan here in BC and will continue to be.
• MLS brand will help grow game in Canada
• Collaborative team effort between all stakeholders. We will all get stronger. Please be patient.

So in short, BC Soccer is committed to player development and supporting national teams programs through a “BC player first policy”, and they’re committed to the CSA “parent body” – who, as it turns out, does not support the proposed elimination of the Canadian player content quota whatsoever.

BC Soccer, we’re also told, is committed to continue their partnership with the Vancouver Whitecaps who, as it turns out, are in favour of eliminating the Canadian player quota, which would impact the “BC player first” commitment and go against the CSA’s desires on this issue.

I am still confused.

This is a short term content issue? My understanding is once this is in place (and it will be by all accounts), it will not be up for discussion until 2015. What is Mr Cuzzetto’s definition of short term? I am currently in my 40’s. 5 years is more than 10% of my life!

So basically, according to Mr Cuzzetto, BC Soccer supports pretty well everything and everyone on this issue even though the main players appear to be at odds with one other. In essence, they are asking all the budding players in BC who have dreams of playing professional soccer or possibly representing our country in the next 5 years,  to please be patient. Be patient while we work on getting our development model right in the short term (which appears to be 5 years) as this will benefit everyone in the long term (which is definitely longer than 5 years). Oh, and sorry that your current opportunities will likely be limited but keep working hard. You never know.

Colin Elmes
Managing Director
TSS Academy