SAINT JOHN — Canada Soccer is holding its annual meeting in Saint John where a new president will be announced.
The first two days of the three day conference at the Saint John Trade and Convention Centre consisted of general discussions and presentation for members. Saturday is where things have the potential to be a bit more exciting with the presidential vote.
The seat has been held by five time Olympian Charmaine Crooks in an interim role for the past 2 months after Nick Bontis stepped down citing a need for change. Challenging her for the role is current president of Sport BC Rob Newman, who also ran for the position in 2012 after serving 10 years on the organizations board. Newman would lose that race to Victor Montagliani.
A total of 4 seats will be up for grabs in Saturday’s vote, including the role of Vice President.
The sports governing body has seen it’s fair share of publicity in recent months, with the organization currently in on going labour disputes with both the men’s and women’s national team. Members of the women’s team refused to take the field at one point, pressing their demands to be paid the same as their male counterparts.
The women’s team will compete in the FIFA Women’s World Cup this summer in Australia and New Zealand. The men’s team made it back to the FIFA World Cup for the first time since 1986 this past fall in Qatar, failing to make it out of the group stage.
Ahead of the annual meetings in Saint John, N.B., players from both teams wrote a letter to presidents of the provincial federations urging for a change in leadership.
24 hours ahead of the vote members were still unsure of what would unfold when the voting process begins. The results are expected to be available for the public between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m Saturday.
