Dylan Dyson: Canadian sports reporter on FIFA deducting points from Canada following drone spy-gate

FIFA have made their decision on the drone spying scandal at the Paris Olympics - and they haven't held back.

Canada have been deducted six points and three coaches - including head coach Bev Priestman - have been banned for a year after they twice spied on New Zealand training sessions.

Ottawa-based sports reporter Dylan Dyson joined Piney to discuss the 'heavy-handed' sanctions placed on the team.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine
from Newstalk ZB We go significant punishments for the Canadian
women's football team at the Paris Olympic Games. FIFA has
announced a six point deduction from their group tally at
the Games. That've been fined two hundred thousand Swiss francs,

(00:27):
which is nearly four hundred thousand New Zealand dollars, and
their head coach, Bev Priestman and two members of her
staff have been banned from all football activity for the
period of a year. Canadian support staff twice used drones
to spy on New Zealand training sessions ahead of their
games opener on Thursday. Canada won the match two to one,

(00:51):
meaning they go from minus six to minus three and
stay last in Group A. Incidentally, New Zealand don't get
the points, it's just Canada who lose them. Dylan Dyson
is an Ottawa based sports who joins us on Weekend Sport. Dylan,
thanks for leading us your expertise. What did you make
first of all of these sanctions handed down by FAFA.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yeah, Jason, I thought these were some pretty heavy handed
sanctions that were given to the Canadian women's national team.
You know, it's a triple whay. It's the points deduction,
it's the suspension of the coach, and it's the financial
fine as well. I mean, anyone here who follows Canadian
soccer knows that Canada soccer has been in financial turmoil

(01:38):
for some time, so you know, just the extra fine
just you know, ads on top of it all. But
like you said, a minus three points total after one
game at the Olympics, I mean, I've never seen that
before in my life. We've seen you points deductions for
teams like Juventus or Everton, Nottingham Forrest this past year.

(01:59):
I've never seen the points total in the negatives. And
you know, all of this together seems very heavy handed
and I feel extremely bad for the players. I think
that's a sentiment all across Canada. It's the poor judgment
from the coaching staff to you know, blatantly cheat like this.
I mean, Canada are defending gold medal champions from the

(02:21):
Olympics in women's soccer, and you know there's no need
for them to go out and try and cheat this way.
They have a strong team and it's just it's unethical
in Canadians in Canada's view, and you know, Canada has
this perception that we're all very nice over here, and
to an extent that is true. But you know, with

(02:43):
that personality, you know, we also feel a great deal
of shame when things like this happen.

Speaker 1 (02:48):
Sounds like a similar kind of psyche to what we
have here in New Zealand. How long do you think
this has been going on? Do you have a gut
feel on that.

Speaker 2 (02:59):
It's it's really tough to think about how long that's
been going on, because not long ago, just a couple
of days ago. John Herdman, who is currently head coach
at Toronto f C in the MLS, he was the
women's national team head coach prior to bev Priestman, and

(03:20):
you know, he says, you know, this wasn't going on
under my watch. You know, he was head coach for
you know a number of years with the Canadian women's
national team and you know, drone usage recently kind of
when I say recently in air quotes, recently kind of
came into heavy usage in sports and recreationally. But he

(03:43):
says that never took place. And then you know, our
our sister station here in Canada TSN reported that, you know,
John Herdman showed drone footage to you know, upwards of
a dozen seventeen players on the Canadian men's national team
when he left the women's team, he joined the men's
national team. Now he's with Toronto FC. Now it's the

(04:07):
priestsman who's done this and has been successful with Canada.
So it's very disheartening and it's tough to imagine how
far back this could go. And to look at Canada
soccer as an organization. We have come so far in
such a short period of time over the last three,

(04:27):
four or five years, you know, great qualification campaign for
the twenty twenty two World Cup, a great showing at
the most recent Copa America tournament, and to think a
lot of that could be tarnished by the actions and
poor judgment of you know, a few coaching staff members.

(04:49):
It's a real gut punch to Canadian soccer fans.

Speaker 1 (04:53):
Do you think the play is new?

Speaker 2 (04:59):
That's a great question. I mean there's been a lot
of former women's national team players come out to say
they didn't know, you know, our greatest ever player, Christine Sinclair,
who scored you know, over three hundred goals for Canada.
She says, you know, they never saw any footage of

(05:20):
this type. You know, former goalkeepers coming out saying, I
did my research on penalty shootout to you know, win
US games. I never saw footage like that. So it's
you want to believe these players who put their heart
and soul into the match, who you know, kiss the
badge in pride every time they win for Canada, and

(05:45):
so you want to be on their side and believe
what that they're saying they never saw any drone footage
or any any footage of that was using spying of
other teams. But the more this scandal has evolved and
developed here on Canadian soil, the more we're learning about it.

(06:06):
You know, you know, did John Herdman have any influence
in this? Did Bev Priestman, you know, learn some of
these tactics from John Herdman. It's all very murky, and
it's you hope the players didn't know much about it
and it was kept within the coaching staff, but it's
it's impossible to say. And I mean, frankly, I don't

(06:28):
think we're going to have players come out and admit
that they were part of a chieting scandal.

Speaker 1 (06:31):
So of course no beef Priceman as a Sai band
for a year. But this is the end of her
surely as head coach of the Canadian women's football team,
isn't it.

Speaker 2 (06:45):
I mean you have to imagine, so, I mean, a
year out of football, it's just going to be damaging
for anybody. But like I said earlier, I mean US Canadians,
we prod ourselves on you know, being ethical, being fair
in everything we do that includes sport, and the shames
that the nation right now from this you drone gate

(07:10):
scandal that it's being called she is I can probably
say with confidence from my opinion that she will not
be returning to the Canadian women's national team. I just
can't see Canada Soccer taking her back as a head coach,
especially with new leadership at the top of Canada Soccer

(07:32):
trying to you know, sort out what it's called as
a systematic failure in terms of you know, this these
ethical findings. The Canada Soccer is doing an external or
having an external investigation done, you know, following these revelations
and you know, new CEO Kevin Blue he said, you know,

(07:53):
he used that word systematic more than once in the
most recent press conference, So that gives you an indication
that this kind of behavior, these actions go back much
further than just you know, this one time use. So
it's it's you know, in my view, near impossible to
say that preasonable will return to the Canadian women's national.

Speaker 1 (08:14):
Team and just back onto the grass. Dylan. As we've
mentioned the six point deduction, the three they got for
the winner of New Zealand. They are at minus three.
They could get to three points if they beat both
Columbia and France, so all is not lost. But what
do you think this will do to the to the
playing group. Will they be galvanized, will they be demoralized,

(08:40):
what sort of what do you expect from the players?

Speaker 2 (08:44):
Well from let me let me say this rate from
a job, from a fans perspective, I think a lot
of fans think it's near impossible for the team to
dig itself out of this minus three points haul right now.
But as a player, I think it's going to motivate
them in the fact that they're going to go out
there and they have to prove now that you know

(09:06):
they're not relying on drone footage, you know, spying tactics
on other teams just to be able to win. They're
gonna want to go out there show that they have
the skills, the fortitude, the team spirit and the the
ethical play that can beat any other team in the world,
as they did at the last Olympic Games. So I

(09:27):
really think it's going to motivate them to show what
they can do. And like, like we've said, honey, a
minus three points total, if a team can come back
from that and qualify out of a group stage, I
mean that'll be talked about for years to come.

Speaker 1 (09:44):
Dylan, great to get your insight. Thanks for joining us
across New Zealand. We'll look forward to seeing how this
plays it certainly on the grass and u and off
the field as well in the in the time of hit.
I appreciate you taking the time for a chat today.

Speaker 2 (09:55):
All right, cheers, thanks Jason.

Speaker 1 (09:56):
Now, thank you, Dylan. That is Dylan Dyson. Off to
AA based sports reporter for more from Weekend Sport with
Jason Fine. Listen live to News Talk ze B weekends
from midday or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.