Anyone see this story...a youth soccer player in Sylmar was allegedly murdered by his coach? Parents are now suing the city under the grounds that the city vets permits and failed to run a background check. It doesn't say which club he played at but according to grok it seems to be a low level club that either has played or did play in coast and otherwise has rec for the youngers. A few implications for all of us:
1. If the precedent is set that cities need to check background of all coaches of clubs permitting costs are going to go up and the city will stop doing it at a lot of locations
2. That in turn will drive the remaining smaller/ethnic clubs out of the market entirely or (like some Latino leagues such as during COVID) underground. Training space is already at a premium which means basically only the letter leaguers and AYSO will be able to afford it.
3. Coach was allegedly undocumented. Raises the question about whether the background checks are catching citizenship. If not, insurance is going to be going up on everyone in Socal. If so, hard to see how clubs will be able to get insurance on any coach without verifying work status.
4. In the end I don't think it goes anywhere (sovereign immunity is too hard) against the city but still scratching my head how soccer officialdom didn't catch it. Isn't this the point of all the requirements and the training?
5. Very much of a two tier system has begun to develop. The higher letter leagues with mega clubs get fully checked out employees and refs filling out 1099s while the lower you go on the chain the more of a die roll it becomes. In economics it becomes the airline ticket problem....my guess is the trend is the highest letter leagues (MLSN for the boys, ECNL for the girls) pull away due to the college recruiting opportunities and everything else in the middle just dies esp. once you hit the olders.
1. If the precedent is set that cities need to check background of all coaches of clubs permitting costs are going to go up and the city will stop doing it at a lot of locations
2. That in turn will drive the remaining smaller/ethnic clubs out of the market entirely or (like some Latino leagues such as during COVID) underground. Training space is already at a premium which means basically only the letter leaguers and AYSO will be able to afford it.
3. Coach was allegedly undocumented. Raises the question about whether the background checks are catching citizenship. If not, insurance is going to be going up on everyone in Socal. If so, hard to see how clubs will be able to get insurance on any coach without verifying work status.
4. In the end I don't think it goes anywhere (sovereign immunity is too hard) against the city but still scratching my head how soccer officialdom didn't catch it. Isn't this the point of all the requirements and the training?
5. Very much of a two tier system has begun to develop. The higher letter leagues with mega clubs get fully checked out employees and refs filling out 1099s while the lower you go on the chain the more of a die roll it becomes. In economics it becomes the airline ticket problem....my guess is the trend is the highest letter leagues (MLSN for the boys, ECNL for the girls) pull away due to the college recruiting opportunities and everything else in the middle just dies esp. once you hit the olders.
