# MNT supports WNT



## espola (Feb 13, 2020)

"Soccer is perhaps the most corrupt sport in the World. We do not want a US Soccer Federation that behaves like FIFA."









						Statement about the USWNT 2017-2021 CBA
					

The United States National Soccer Team Players Association statement about the US Women's National Team Players 2017-21 collective bargaining agreement.




					ussoccerplayers.com


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## espola (Feb 13, 2020)

"Rather than share the massive surpluses the women helped generate with the players, they are using those funds to dramatically increase the Federation’s annual legal fee budget to over $10 million to try to impose massive legal fees the women cannot afford. They’re lobbying and using every legal trick in the book to try to distract Congress, the Judge, and the soon-to-be-empaneled jury. "


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## espola (Feb 13, 2020)

"The exploitation of athletes to generate revenues that are siphoned off to benefit owners of for-profit leagues and teams, Federation personnel with massive above-market salaries and bonuses, and self-promoting all-expenses-paid Federation “volunteers,” must end. The practice of paying multi-million dollar bonuses to personnel associated with the Federation for running various Federation-controlled tournaments in the United States should be investigated and outlawed. "


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## Soccerhelper (Feb 13, 2020)

espola said:


> "The exploitation of athletes to generate revenues that are siphoned off to benefit owners of for-profit leagues and teams, Federation personnel with massive above-market salaries and bonuses, and self-promoting all-expenses-paid Federation “volunteers,” must end. The practice of paying multi-million dollar bonuses to personnel associated with the Federation for running various Federation-controlled tournaments in the United States should be investigated and outlawed. "


Well, let's clean the house and find good men and woman who know how to share with others and make soccer the beautiful sport it is.  This Federation is bad and it's been bad since I got involved with it.  My eyes saw what they saw and my hears heard what they heard.


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## outside! (Feb 13, 2020)

Wow, that took courage. Massive respect.


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## espola (Feb 13, 2020)

Soccerhelper said:


> Well, let's clean the house and find good men and woman who know how to share with others and make soccer the beautiful sport it is.  This Federation is bad and it's been bad since I got involved with it.  My eyes saw what they saw and my hears heard what they heard.


When I first got involved in Cal South soccer back in the 90's, I emailed the President of Cal South with some questions about how the organization was run.  He told me how to access the minutes of the board meetings with a caution that not everything that is done or discussed among the board members makes it into the minutes.  He also explained why he would not be running for re-election.  The opacity of the upper management of Cal South has continued over the years, and I am happy not to no longer have children subject to their malfeasance and questionable judgment. 

As an example - when the President of Cal South was forced to resign because his employer had transferred him out of town, rather than acknowledge that the sitting Vice President should assume the office in accordance with the by-laws, the Board went into Executive Session and selected one of he District Commissioners to be the new President.


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## espola (Feb 13, 2020)

espola said:


> When I first got involved in Cal South soccer back in the 90's, I emailed the President of Cal South with some questions about how the organization was run.  He told me how to access the minutes of the board meetings with a caution that not everything that is done or discussed among the board members makes it into the minutes.  He also explained why he would not be running for re-election.  The opacity of the upper management of Cal South has continued over the years, and I am happy not to no longer have children subject to their malfeasance and questionable judgment.
> 
> As an example - when the President of Cal South was forced to resign because his employer had transferred him out of town, rather than acknowledge that the sitting Vice President should assume the office in accordance with the by-laws, the Board went into Executive Session and selected one of he District Commissioners to be the new President.


I should have added - at the next Annual General Meeting, the Vice President won the election to be President over the usurper.


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## soccerobserver (Feb 13, 2020)

@espola thanks for posting the brave statement from the USMNT. I've been trying to make the same point for some time. I hope the players from the USWNT and the USMNT can make progress participating in the revenue they helped create. The US Soccer Federation  beaureacrats/apparatchiks should not be paid as if they are owners.


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## outside! (Feb 14, 2020)

And whose stupid idea was it to homebase USSF in Chicago?


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## Soccerhelper (Feb 14, 2020)

outside! said:


> And whose stupid idea was it to homebase USSF in Chicago?


In the Kimball House of all places too.  Gr8t work environment for the ladies I heard.


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## espola (Feb 14, 2020)

As bad as the corruption in USSF claims to be the USMNT complaint, it's not like the bad old days when Chuck Blazer made millions by being in the right place at the right time.  He started out as a dad-coach with no playing experience of his son's rec team into international prominence in managing USSF, CONCACAF, and FIFA, getting rich on bribes and hidden payments.  He eventually became an informant for the FBI and IRS when they discovered his tax frauds, exposing corruption throughout the system.   Those revelations eventually led to the downfall of Jack Warner from the control of CONCACAF and Sepp Blatter from FIFA.


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## outside! (Feb 14, 2020)

espola said:


> As bad as the corruption in USSF claims to be the USMNT complaint, it's not like the bad old days when Chuck Blazer made millions by being in the right place at the right time.  He started out as a dad-coach with no playing experience of his son's rec team into international prominence in managing USSF, CONCACAF, and FIFA, getting rich on bribes and hidden payments.  He eventually became an informant for the FBI and IRS when they discovered his tax frauds, exposing corruption throughout the system.   Those revelations eventually led to the downfall of Jack Warner from the control of CONCACAF and Sepp Blatter from FIFA.


While I agree that on the surface, the corruption at USSF does not seem to be as bad as when Blazer was in charge, the whole organization still has the reek of corruption.


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## espola (Feb 14, 2020)

outside! said:


> While I agree that on the surface, the corruption at USSF does not seem to be as bad as when Blazer was in charge, the whole organization still has the reek of corruption.


Blazer wasn't really in charge (he was USSF VP for one term) but he was in a good position to know where the money was flowing so he could wet his beak regularly by facilitating introductions and arrangements.  USSF appointed him to powerful positions in CONCACAF and FIFA, where his beak got even wetter.

In the days when soccer was a forgotten sport in USA, several people got into power because no one knew what was happening or just didn't care.  Sunil Gulati, for example, the last President of USSF, got his start in the sport as a volunteer at the Connecticut State ODP camp, where he did previously unheard of things like pulling a cart of drinks to the training fields.


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## espola (Feb 14, 2020)

espola said:


> Blazer wasn't really in charge (he was USSF VP for one term) but he was in a good position to know where the money was flowing so he could wet his beak regularly by facilitating introductions and arrangements.  USSF appointed him to powerful positions in CONCACAF and FIFA, where his beak got even wetter.
> 
> In the days when soccer was a forgotten sport in USA, several people got into power because no one knew what was happening or just didn't care.  Sunil Gulati, for example, the last President of USSF, got his start in the sport as a volunteer at the Connecticut State ODP camp, where he did previously unheard of things like pulling a cart of drinks to the training fields.


Old news on Blazer includes a few lines about his apartments in (no surprise, now that we know better) Trump Tower.









						Soccer Rat! The inside story of how Chuck Blazer, ex-U.S. soccer executive and FIFA bigwig, became a confidential informant for the FBI
					

The most crucial Olympic ring of the 2012 London Games was a keychain, wired for sound and given to soccer exec Chuck Blazer — by the feds.




					www.nydailynews.com


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## Soccerhelper (Feb 14, 2020)

@espola is on fire.  I new you new you're stuff sage brother from another. Preach it!!  I was so naive i thought soccer was like other sports, fair and all that. One wise coach once told me, "beware of the dad that gets on da board."  I told him a few weeks ago that he was right but he didn't warn about the dads who also have a few million in da bank and who want more money plus wants to make sure his kids and other kids get in the best games on the best fields possible. One day at a time.


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## espola (Feb 14, 2020)

Soccerhelper said:


> @espola is on fire.  I new you new you're stuff sage brother from another. Preach it!!  I was so naive i thought soccer was like other sports, fair and all that. One wise coach once told me, "beware of the dad that gets on da board."  I told him a few weeks ago that he was right but he didn't warn about the dads who also have a few million in da bank and who want more money plus wants to make sure his kids and other kids get in the best games on the best fields possible. One day at a time.


I never have been what people should consider to be wealthy, but I was able and willing to step in when unexpected small money problems popped up, such as the $27 per-checked-bag charges every player had to pay on a team flight to the midwest.  I also discovered that sometimes coaches or managers or other parents would pay the club fees for a good player whose family had no money in the budget for youth sports.


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