NDP calls for committee probe into Olympic Canadian soccer drone scandal

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This article was published 08/08/2024 (748 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA – The suspended head coach of Canada’s women’s soccer team could be summoned to Parliament next month to explain how the team got caught cheating by flying a drone over an opponent’s practice ahead of the Paris Olympics last month.

As first reported by TSN, NDP MP Niki Ashton sent a motion to the clerk of the House of Commons heritage committee Wednesday, asking for Bev Priestman to appear before the committee before the end of September.

She also wants former head coach John Herdman, analyst Joseph Lombardi and assistant coach Jasmine Mander to be summoned.

“This is about Canada’s reputation, and based on the recent reports it doesn’t seem to be just limited to what happened at the Paris Olympics,” Ashton said in an interview with The Canadian Press Thursday.

“This seems to be a broader issue when it comes to the women’s soccer team.”

On July 22, Lombardi was arrested by French police in Paris after retrieving a drone that had been spotted flying over a practice session of New Zealand’s women’s soccer team three days before Canada was set to face them in their first Olympic match.

Footage on the drone showed images had also been obtained of a New Zealand team practice on July 20.

FIFA docked the Canadian team six points in the Olympics group stage, fined Canada Soccer about $313,000, and Priestman, Lombardi and Mander were suspended for a year.

Priestman denied knowledge of the incident, but on July 25 Canada Soccer CEO and general secretary Kevin Blue said in a statement that information had “come to our attention regarding previous drone use against opponents, predating the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.”

A document released July 31 by FIFA about the penalties imposed on Canada noted that an email sent by Priestman in March said that spying had been done for years and also happened with the Canadian men’s team. In the email, she claimed all “top 10 teams do it.”

France, Germany and Zambia’s teams have all denied doing it.

That same FIFA document shows Canada Soccer believes the spying began under Herdman, who was the team’s head coach from 2011 to 2018. He was the head coach of the men’s team from 2018 to 2023, and a year ago left Canada Soccer to become the head coach of Toronto FC.

There’s no suggestion the players had any involvement in the scandal, and Canada Soccer is backing a full independent investigation.

Canada is set to co-host the men’s World Cup in 2026 with the United States and Mexico, and Ashton said Parliament needs to get involved to help restore Canada’s reputation ahead of that.

“It’s critical to do this,” she said of the House investigation.

“Canada is a country that’s known for fair play. We’re increasingly a country that’s good at soccer on the world stage and we need to be able to get back on track, get women’s soccer back on track, get soccer back on track and especially as we gear up to co-host the men’s World Cup in 2026.”

The heritage committee isn’t set to meet again until after the House of Commons returns from its summer break on Sept. 16. Ashton said she wants to push the motion as soon as possible after that, noting the four witnesses she requested are just a starting place.

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Other witnesses could follow after that, she said.

Ashton said officials let their players down and the claims that everyone is doing the same thing smack of arrogance.

“This is not what Canada is known for on the world stage,” she said.

“But given that we’re in this place, and the more stories I read, the more convinced I (am) that Parliament has a critical role on behalf of Canadians to seek accountability and make sure that this doesn’t happen again.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 8, 2024.