VANCOUVER—One of the first athletes to raise alarm about alleged abuse by a former coach is accusing the Vancouver Whitecaps of a “lack of transparency” following an apology from the team’s management on Wednesday.

Ciara McCormack, author of a Feb. 25 blog post that brought public scrutiny to the decade-old case, told Star Vancouver she felt the Whitecaps have not been clear and open with the public since the allegations were first made in 2008.

More than a dozen women who played for the Whitecaps and were part of Canada’s under-20 talent pool around 2008 have come forward to allege Bob Birarda, a former coach for both squads, acted inappropriately.

The allegations include rubbing a player’s thigh, sending players sexual text messages, making lewd comments and bullying young women who ignored or spoke out against his behaviour.

The players’ allegations have not been proven. Birarda has never been criminally charged.

Following a public apology from Whitecaps executives, a co-owner said they’ve “been losing sleep” over the issue.

“I feel badly, especially for the women who’ve been impacted by this,” Jeff Mallett told a select group of reporters on Wednesday.

McCormack pointed to differences in the team’s statement on Wednesday, compared to a previous one from April 17, which she found “disappointing but not surprising.”

The previous statement from the Whitecaps said that after an independent investigation by an ombudsperson, “the club and coach parted ways.”

But the statement on May 1 went into greater detail, revealing that the executive team and the Canadian Soccer Association “made the decision to no longer employ the coach effective immediately, Oct. 8, 2008.”

“Obviously, findings leading to a termination being very different to mutually parting ways — which was how it was presented in 2008 and April 17 and what allowed him to go back into the community and coach for 11 years,” said McCormack.

The Whitecaps’ communications director, Tom Plasteras, did not respond to criticisms about transparency or messaging, referring the Star to the team’s official statement. He did clarify Thursday that an ombudsperson hired by the club to investigate the allegations in 2008 had not recommended alerting the police.

Based on the ombudsperson’s recommendations, the coach was given training that “explicitly outlined appropriate boundaries and behaviour,” and he coached until the end of the season, at which point the team terminated his employment.

The club recently contacted police in Vancouver to see whether further action is required, the Wednesday statement revealed.

“Since notifying the VPD about the blog, Whitecaps have been in active communication with the VPD to offer our full and ongoing support and co-operation,” their statement said.

While workplaces are not always obligated to report allegations of abuse to police, legal experts say they should ensure that employees feel comfortable and safe with whatever decision is made.

“There’s an obligation on employers to keep employees safe, and that obligation includes an independent investigation and urgently limiting the risk to the individuals that have made the complaints,” said Elba Bendo, director of law reform at West Coast LEAF.

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“One component of that is to work with employees to assess what supports they may need in feeling safe ... which could be contacting the police, but that should be done in collaboration with the individuals experiencing the violence.”

The Whitecaps team competes in the Western conference of Major League Soccer (MLS), along with clubs including the LA Galaxy and Portland Timbers. The league did not immediately respond to the Star’s request for comment.

The Vancouver Southsiders, one of the largest fan clubs for the Whitecaps, has organized walkout protests over the team’s handling of the abuse allegations.

Paul Sabourin-Hertzog, vice-president of the Southsiders, said the group will hold a board meeting to discuss Wednesday’s statement. While he hopes to continue open dialogue with the club, they “have many questions” for them.

Sabourin-Hertzog also criticized the exclusion of all but a few media outlets to the Whitecaps’ press conference Wednesday. Several Star Vancouver journalists were denied attendance.

“Personally, I was really disappointed to hear that the Whitecaps had chosen a very small selection of local media to have a private audience with Mr. Mallett,” he said.

He added that supporters had requested a “spirit of openness and accountability” from the club, which was not reflected in the press conference.

Some fans took to the club’s Twitter page to ask for more information and say that the apology wasn’t “good enough,” while others said the apology was welcome and what they “needed” to see.

Patrick Meehan, a Southsiders member and season ticket holder since 2011, said he was finding it difficult to muster up the enthusiasm to watch games.

“They still run youth academies. They’re accused of all of these things ... but we don’t see any changes happening,” the 34-year-old policy researcher said.

“How can we as fans possibly continue to cheer them on?”

With files from Canadian Press

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