After more than 50 per cent of the Airdrie & District Soccer Association (ADSA) members in attendance of a special meeting on Feb. 12 voted in favour of non confidence, the ADSA president said the board will meet to discuss next steps for the organization and prioritize setting a date for the Annual General Meeting.
“We took this meeting very seriously and welcomed the opportunity to discuss members concerns as well as the rumours that had been circulating for weeks," wrote ADSA President Keith Mills in a statement. "The one thing we heard from many in attendance was that this was an issue for the AGM where there is always an opportunity to run for a position, if you are championing change."
Mills said the board had sent several emails to the membership encouraging attendance at the special meeting and asking for feedback in other ways, including sharing in person office hours.
“We are all volunteers who love the sport and our community," he said. "We want everyone to have a positive experience and are looking forward to getting focus back on the game."
A February 12 special meeting was held in response to a petition that was circulated to remove the ADSA Board.
The ADSA stated that members in attendance were able to ask questions and board members addressed rumours that had been circulating in the media over recent weeks.
Following the discussion, a vote was held on the question of if the board should be removed. Of the almost 900 ADSA members eligible to vote, 266 attended the meeting and 138 voted in favour of the resolution and 122 voted against. The resolution was defeated as it needed 75 per cent support to go through.
Prior to the vote taking place, one director decided to step down on their own accord.
The concerns
A coach and parent of a player, Kris Hanson, said he hopes changes will take place before the AGM.
“Having more than 50 per cent of the vote, I think that spoke volumes,'' Hanson said. “So I'm hoping that the board will change and actually help move the club forward. But if not then you know what we have to do, we have to get 75 per cent of the vote and we got to figure out how to do that.”
According to him, members of the ADSA are angry with a lack of accountability and transparency of the current soccer executive.
The petition campaign was a result of the board ignoring multiple concerns, issues, and irregularities that were raised during a town hall meeting in November of last year, Hanson stated.
“The biggest issues would be lack of communication and lack of transparency,” Hanson said. “And the way they treat their staff and volunteers.”
Fiscal mismanagement was another concern Hanson addressed, stating the board only posts unaudited financials.
He added there were also conflicts of interest including the president and his wife both holding director positions on the board, as well as the vice president/former president sitting on the board with immediate family employed by the organization.
“I am a parent of a player but I'm also a coach, and the way that this current board handled the removal of the executive director without cause or without reason, and subsequently had the director of coaching resign his position, [left] coaches kind of to themselves with nobody to direct them,” he said. “Change is needed.”
The ADSA currently has just under 1,000 members in the indoor season, not including outdoor soccer players. The association provides soccer activities for kids starting at age three all the way into adulthood.
“What we want is to have an organization that's primarily centred on providing opportunity to Airdrie kids and ensuring that they have fun and are safe both on and off the field,” Hanson said. “It's about loving soccer.”
He added that the league has lost full club teams and qualified coaches to the Calgary Minor Soccer Association (CMSA) due to the board's mismanagement.
