Natalie Dunleavy
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, November 28, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - Yellowknife's indoor soccer committee for the Arctic Winter Games has lodged a complaint with the territorial government following a recent decision to allow regional teams to recruit players from outside their boundaries for territorial trials in January.

The committee sent a letter to Municipal and Community Affairs (MACA) last Wednesday opposing the department's recent decision, arguing it overturned an original ruling by the Sport and Recreation Council (SRC) Oct. 12 and goes against the rules in the AWG Handbook.

According to Yellowknife soccer co-ordinator Jack Simpson, the SRC arbitrator ruled that regional associations could dictate how their regions would select their teams, but not where they could get their players from.

"The guidelines did not give them the right to combine their player pools," said Simpson. "It's a matter of governance, not a matter of redrawing regions."

The SRC document said unless a consensus is reached by regional co-ordinators, the chef-de-mission and the assistant chef-de-mission, management of trials in each region must follow the policies laid out in the Arctic Winter Games Handbook.

It also suggested a formal evaluation after the 2008 Games to outline policy changes for 2010.

MACA was asked to review the situation, and decided Oct. 30 to allow cross-border recruitment in order to increase participation for regional teams short of players.

Minister Michael McLeod said his department's decision aligns with the original SRC arbitrator's ruling.

"We didn't feel there was anything done that was wrong," said McLeod.

He said the decision was made to allow more communities to be represented at the territorial trials.

"If Yellowknife had been in a situation where there was a player that didn't have an opportunity to try out, then I'm sure they have an opportunity to try for another team," he said.

Simpson said the Yellowknife soccer community, which has already selected its team according to the residency and regional standards laid out in the AWG handbook, believes the decision creates a double standard.

"It's a question of one set of rules for one region, and one set of rules for another region," he said.

Yvonne Carpenter, president of the NWT Soccer Association, refused to comment.