SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Club Soccer & ODP Curious to know

S&P.... I happen to agree with your general statement (not with my deductive reasoning skills)... I was just stating only the games that were played in club league last night. That is the only fact I know off... and in all my years I have never heard of this happening ...with payment

I've never heard of it happening either, but with what has been going on in the mega club scene the past few years I would certainly not hesitate to believe it. When you're talking about businesses worth a million bucks or so a certain unethical ruthlessness takes over. It's the same as any big business I assume. The happy-go-lucky small time bakery owner who makes a comfortable living did not cause the economy to collapse in 2008. It was the multi-billion dollar multi-national corporations that thought they could break the rules and get away with whatever they want. See the resemblance?

I bet some of this is going on! Bunch of sub .500 High School teams coaches persuading their players to go be on D and E teams at clubs instead of sending them where they can get better in order to pad their pockets!

Upon further thought ... would there be a violation if the HS coach is not affiliated with a club?

I believe the rules pertain to club coach, club players and club parents. I do not think it addresses external source or what equates to a "talent scout".

Does the fact they get paid make them a club member? a representative? is this a loophole?

S&P and futbol, I won't comment on either of your reasoning skills, but I do believe you're both making too many assumptions. True, this is the club board, but the OP also mentions high school coaches, so it was either post on both high school and club (boys & girls) or pick one; they chose this one. And yes, this is a soccer board, but they could have been at little susie's (or johnny's) badminton match (actually, I did not check to see if badminton is even in season) and just happened to have run into another soccer parent; or, heck, maybe it was another badminton parent who gets around.

I wouldn't even say it's "safe to assume that the notice is about a HS coach being paid by his/her club to persuade the players to play for a certain club." There are plenty of high school soccer coaches who do not also coach club soccer. So, this could be about steering players to the highest bidder.

If this is happening, though, I don't see how it could be a recruiting violation by the club – it sounds like the "club representative" is merely talking to the coach, not the players. And, even if the coach ends up "steering" his players a certain direction, who's to say he doesn't wait until the rules for recruiting say it's ok to do so (recruit)?

But, even if the coach was planning to steer his players towards a particular club (which I feel is perfectly reasonable) prior to speaking with this "club representative", if there is any type of benefit (money, beer, cars) the coach would gain from this, then it now has the appearance of being unethical, and that should be enough for most coaches to refrain from accepting anything.

well said Belligerent- too many unknowns here to make blanket statements- facts need to be substantiated as well as specific HS league rules and SCYSA rules cited before alligations are circulated.

Where is Rodney King when you need him? "Can't we all just get along?"

Seems to me that having a HS coach accepting kickbacks from a club for getting his/her players to sign up creates a conflict of interest. The coach is in a position to have to choose between what is best for the player (which should always be the first consideration) and what is best for his/her wallet. If the club is the best available fit for the benefit of the players, the coach should be steering them in that direction without monetary incentive--which means the kickback would be redundant, so why would it be necessary? If the club is NOT the best available fit for the benefit of the players, then the coach should not be steering them in that direction for any amount of money.

That's just me, but I think there are many treatises on ethics that would support the above statements.

Of course, this could also be just like thousands of other rumors...what he said that she said that we overheard may not be accurate at all. But IF it were to be true, the above applies.