Part 2: Unpaid fees key to Football BC’s status says board member Reda

Football players from British Columbia presently are not eligible to participate on National Teams or participate in the Football Canada Cup Under-18 championship. After many, many inquiries from CFC fans we tasked CFC investigative journalist Adam Pacheco to find out what the reasons were for this unfortunate circumstance. This is part 2 in a series of articles investigating the reasons.

CFC has learned that Football BC’s status within Football Canada is ‘not in good standing’ due to unpaid fees. In a conversation with Larry Reda, Board member for Football BC, Reda describes that Football BC will not be apart of this years Football Canada Cup due to unpaid fees from the 2011 tournament. Football Canada had set a deadline for February 1st 2012, for Football BC to get their unpaid fees taken care of, which they did not. This information of fees being the reason goes against what Football Canada President Roger Collette stated in part 1 of this story.

As the deadline has past, Football BC was then taken out of contention to be apart of this years Football Canada Cup. As of now, according to Reda Football BC has payed all of their back debts, however due to the circumstances, they are still not allowed to participate.

The news has come to be very serious for such people as Reda, as Football BC had already been preparing to participate. “I was really upset with the decision from Football Canada,” says Reda. The program had already held and ID Camp where more then 300 athletes had attended. From that, 115 were chosen to come back to another camp in May. It was from that camp, that Football BC would have their roster heading into the Cup. BC was in the process of being ready to participate.

Now Football BC will have to take the team that they had planned to bring to London this summer, and play them against other competitors. “We were holding camps to get prepared for this years cup, now we have to find other teams to play,” Reda says. There is “unsettlement” however, as some feel that Football Canada was persuaded to drop Football BC so easily, after Ontario had noted that they could bring two teams to fill the empty space. Ontario has sent 2 teams in both U18 championships and has sent multiple teams since 2006. Football New Brunswick’s entry would have forced 1 Ontario entry if an 8-team format was to continue. That was, until British Columbia missed the payment deadline.

Until more information is available, it looks as though Football BC’s participation in this years Football Canada Cup did in fact come down to unpaid fee’s from the 2011 tournament. And perhaps the reason, they and Football Canada, did not want the public to be aware of for reasons they only will know. We will still attempt to contact more individuals as the facts of this story don’t seem to add up.

NOTE: In a facebook post from the Football BC fan page they replied to article saying “Football BC advises that Mr. Larry Reda is presently not a Director of Football BC. Mr. Reda last served on Football BC’s board in 1983.” This is the first form of communication from the Football BC office in 4 weeks. We will attempt to get more soon.

CLICK HERE FOR PART 1