I'll add some thoughts if anyone is interested in doing some research.
From all the info I have been able to find on this, as far as I have gathered the timeline was essentially that BB "left" the Whitecaps/CSA with no immediate plans to go elsewhere. A father in Tswwassen/South Delta had his daughter's Metro team and a boatload of money so he paid BB to come in and coach that team. When HPL began, that team moved as is to Coastal with one of the caveats being that the management and coaching control structure remained in tact. Surely with the contacts they had at WFC, the Coastal hierarchy were aware at least of the reasons why BB was no longer there, however, as time had passed with no further fallout or incidents PLUS the fact that given the non-disclosure agreement prevented anyone from the Whitecaps from going on the record even if they wanted to (though I doubt they did...) it is a tough spot for Coastal.
Could and should they have taken a moral stand and found/created some other reason not to take on BB and this team? That's up for debate. Officially, though, they would have had no valid reasons not to take on BB. His record coaching over the next decade at Coastal speaks for itself. Several former players (including Ciara et al) rave about his coaching. He took that original Tsawwassen based team all the way through to U18 and then started again with his own daughters team at U13 and took them all the way through to winning a U17 National Championship this past October plus multiple Provincial titles with both teams along the way. Then it hit the fan.
It does not appear that their have been any further accusations of inappropriate conduct beyond that Whitecaps/CSA squad. That being said, the bill comes due. Things were handled differently in 2006/07/08; again see pop-culture everywhere with the #MeToo movement, see other horrific sports stories (US Gymnastics, Theo Fleury, etc. etc.) The play was always to make it go away quietly. That has to stop, period. However, that is a systemic issue and should be separated from the specific allegations against BB.
There is plenty of room to criticize how the Whitecaps handled investigating the allegations then and even more to criticize how they are handling the fallout now. If they came out and said "We handled it a certain way, in keeping with how similar incidents would have been handled at the time, but now we realize that this fell well short of the duty we owed as an organization and for that we apologize. We cannot go back, but we can go forward and we want to help make this better, etc. etc...." I think they would have got more traction. Instead, all this covering their ass and finger pointing elsewhere has contributed to an erosion of trust that has been growing for some time now with this organization. At this point, with everything that has happened, it sounds like the public wants blood and will not rest until they get it. Someone will likely need to hang...
That is one half of this conversation. The other is what happened with BB specifically. So far there have been no allegations that would rise to the level of criminal prosecution. BB was allegedly inappropriate with his remarks, there was some alleged inappropriate touching, alleged abuse of power. Maybe
@mtkb can help me out here. As far as I can find creepy/lewd/inappropriate comments are not a crime in and of themselves. They go against most workplace policies, etc. and can and should cost people their jobs, but they are not indictable. Inappropriate touching and abuse of power, especially when combined, are a crime.
See s. 153 of the Criminal Code:
Federal laws of canada
laws-lois.justice.gc.ca
The problem here is that the only account reaching this standard would be him allegedly touching the girls thigh. The problem is proving that this occurred, as the code states, "for a sexual purpose." That may seem straight forward enough (ie what other purpose could it have been for?) but that will need to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law and that is likely not as straight forward.
As for consequences, BB has had his reputation destroyed and will, in all likelihood, never coach again. Perhaps this should have occurred 10 years ago, but, as I said, the bill comes due.
For me personally, that is an appropriate consequence. Based on all the smoke, there is a fire of some sort here, but I, personally, do not see a crime as defined by our current laws (if you want those changed advocate to your MP). Based on his alleged actions, the guy is not somebody who should be working in sport and, even if delayed by some time, that has now happened.
As for the bigger picture, the Whitecaps have to address their systemic issues and that will continue to play out. Sport in Canada in general needs to take steps to ensure these types of situations never occur again, and I believe that is starting to happen. There is still a long road to go, but I think we are starting to take steps.
Finally, I dug this article up interviewing players after BB's dismissal ahead of the WC he was supposed to be coaching at. I found it a very interesting read. The author notes that there was no reason given for BB's dismissal and just lets that hang. Would be interesting to know whether the media pushed for any answers at the time. Also the two players interviewed are somewhat elusive in their responses about BB as is Ian Bridge. You can read into it any number of things from:
- they knew what occurred and they were coached on appropriate sound bites
- they knew what occurred and wanted to say more but did not feel safe doing so
- they knew what occurred and did not believe it was a big deal/they wanted BB to stay
- they knew something occurred but not exactly what
- they did not know anything about what occurred
Have a read if you like:
www.theglobeandmail.com
