Foundation registered to raise money for Canada Soccer sits idle

TSN Senior Correspondent

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In the fall of 2012, with Canada three years away from hosting the Women’s World Cup, the country buzzed with soccer talk.

The women’s national team had just won an unlikely Olympic bronze medal in London, only a year after finishing in last place at the World Cup in Germany, and the sport’s profile was as high as it had been in generations.

It was the perfect time, Rob Newman figured, for the national sports organization to begin promoting the Canadian Soccer Foundation.

The not-for-profit foundation, which Newman had helped to create in 2010, had been intended to coax tax-deductible donations from the private sector and the public to support Canada Soccer – in particular its men’s and women’s national teams.

“There’s always been a challenge having enough funding to support those teams,” Newman, the chief executive officer of Sport BC, said in an interview with TSN. “It was obvious that sports like hockey had foundations and that significant dollars were being driven through them. And we thought, 'Why not soccer?'”

Newman, a Canada Soccer board member from 2003-2012, said that he called Peter Montopoli, then the federation's general secretary, and suggested it was time to begin building up the then-two-year-old foundation.

“After the success of the women’s team in London, Peter was in favour and supportive,” said Newman. “We were excited. This could have provided additional funding to develop the youth program and support both the men’s and women’s national team.”

But by early 2015, Newman – who remains a board member of the foundation alongside Montopoli and former Canada Soccer president Dominic Maestracci – said he was surprised to discover that Canada Soccer intended to