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Photo by Tom Ewasiuk/AFTN / PNG

This is the third time an alumna of that era has voiced concerns since the end of February, starting with a blog post from Ciara McCormack, then a public statement from former Canada player Andrea Neil. After the initial post by McCormack entered into the public conversation, the coach was suspended by their club team, pending an internal investigation.

In a statement on her website last week, Neil outlined her concerns into how the 2008 investigation was handled. She and the players involved said few, if any, players were interviewed by the third-party investigator. And they wanted to know why parents of the players — many of whom were minors — were not informed of the 2008 investigation or its outcome by either the CSA or Whitecaps.

“Considering the seriousness of the accusations that were coming from some parts of the team, why were the vast majority of the players, some of whom were central to the allegations, not spoken to as part of the process?” her post read.

“In my opinion, the scope of the investigation was actually quite limited, and I think the soccer community deserves to know why the Whitecaps and Canada Soccer chose to conclude it as quickly as they did.

“Secondly … when the independent fact-finder was close to concluding her inquiry, she spoke to me about what one of her recommendations would be to the Whitecaps and Canada Soccer concerning the coach involved. She told me that she would be informing the organizations that the staff member at the centre of the investigation should avoid future roles such as coaching, as she felt that they could not manage what she called the power imbalance between role as a coach and (the) relationship with the players.

“I, like many others, was understandably puzzled when the inquiry then concluded with the ‘mutual decision’ to part ways. Despite what I had been told by the independent fact-finder, in the end the inquiry was brief, the conclusion swift and the outcome seemingly amicable for all parties. All parties except, of course, the players.”