Devo Reports that Rob Clark Says No NASL Compromise
Jeff Di Veronica is reporting tonight that he has spoken to Rob Clark after the meetings today in New York between the USSF, NASL and USL, and Clark says there was no compromise. Clark is the owner of the Rochester Rhinos. Di Veronica, writing on his blog for the Democrat and Chronicle, quoted Clark as saying, “I know people were hoping for some sort of magic, but there was no magic. There’s really not much to talk about. No compromise was reached. The NASL is moving forward with the application process and we’ll see what happens.”
Di Veronica stated that Clark was not at the meeting but three representatives for the TOA were there and reported to Clark.
Clark also made a point to say that representatives from the Canadian Soccer Association (CSA) were not there. This could mean that I was misinformed on the parties that would be present at the meeting and it could also mean that the TOA still plans on sanctioning through the CSA.
The CSA will be holding a press conference tomorrow to disclose their plans for the Canadian National Team this coming year. I would expect that if there is a time for open questions someone will ask about the NASL sanctioning.
Please see Jeff’s blog for the full story. Jeff is one of the few sports writers in the US who actually spends time following and writing about the game we all love. Also, you can follow Jeff on Twitter here.
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Um, sorry but Devo is not really that well respected in Rochester, true he does write about the Rhinos often to his credit, but he does little if any investigative reporting on his own, he writes about soccer but he doesn’t really follow it. If you ever really listen to him you’d see that he’s usually not very well informed and always a step behind and not a true soccer fan. Rochester is full of independent bloggers and media people who provide him with information that he then acts upon, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was reading your blog to see what’s going on and then acting on it instead of finding out and knowing for himself. The only reason he probably called Clark is because he read somewhere, like in this blog, that there was a meting in NYC.
the President of the Puerto Rico Federation is a those meetings.
Sage:
What’s the position of the Islanders in all of this? They are the franchise that has seemed to say the least about the USL/NASL schism. Puerto Rico also seems to be able to consistently field one of the most entertaining sides in the USL1 and it would be disappointing if they did not have a league within which to ply their trade next season.
Collegparkaddick, My Friend Christian who is a PR supporter has been in contact with the Islanders throughout this ordeal of the last 6 months and they have been amazingly unfamiliar with the issues and problems. The other issue PR has it that it is run by a board because there are multiple co-owners of the team including the department of tourism. So decisions are a lot more bureaucratic that in most cases of team ownership. So far PR have fallen right along USL lines.
Jimmy, I am in contact with Devo and James Wisie in NY. James is also on the Kick This radio show up there which I was a guest on a few weeks ago. They are very much in contact with Rob Clark and a sometime more than daily basis. He also has great contacts with USL’s Tim Holt and Chris Economidies who of course used to be with the Rhinos. He also has contacts with many of the USL players coaches. If you follow his blog he has been late in coming to some of the TOA/USL issues not because he didn’t know about them but he has not really been very supportive of how the TOA went about this. The one thing you are right about, he does read my blog and has linked to it quite often as I read his blog and have linked to his quite often.
The point I have made before is that rarely do you find a newspaper reporter who is given so much space to write about soccer. This is a whole op/ed piece I will (hopefully) do in the future. If the Democrat and Chronicle are giving Devo that much space on a year to year basis, it hasn’t just happened. I haven’t talk to Jeff about this but knowing how the newspaper business works and the sports editors involved, I would be willing to bet that he has really had to argue his point at times and fight to get the amount of words and space that he is allowed.
Devo is a Hack
Well then Bruno, I guess that’s decided then. Hmmmm….
Gotta agree with Bruno… but at least he reported on this development and I’m VERY GLAD there was no compromise. So one point for Devo… but he’s still way behind on my approval board. He reeks of a USL lackey in most of his posts…
He’s a hack only in the sense that he doesn’t agree with your position on the whole TOA/USL issue. If he was blatantly pro-TOA, you guys would love him.
The fact of the matter is, Devo has every right to be skeptical about the new league. He has every right to raise some of the questions. It seems to me like a good amount of people in the TOA camp think that everything Traffic/TOA has done has been perfect and that they are just giant victims. The USL is far from perfect. There are problems with the league. However, the TOA is not innocent in all of this either. There are questions that need to be asked about this new league.
No compromise… we will see…
The USSF has a lot more ability to manipulate the situation than people think particularly during 2010.
I find it humerous/ironic/pathetic that some people view this entire conflict between TOA/NASL 2.0 and USL as black & white. In the real world (which most people earn a living in) the word “compromise” is how things get done. If either side drinks the “Kool-aid” then we as soccer fans are the real losers.
To quote a great American philosopher: “Git ‘er done.”
Devo does not know his arm from his elbow and he just blurts (with plenty of typos i must add) out things other people tell him. he’s in Soccer sam’s pocket and CE’s pocket because they basically insured that he would have a job by reporting on the Rhinos
Ed: “There are questions that need to be asked about this new league”.
Do you mean from a structure/financial perspective or a what are their true motives perspective?
Brian,
Jim Wiese and Soccer Sam are both very knowledgeable about soccer, and they explain everything to Devo, and then he repeats what they tell him, but he really has no clue what he’s talking about. I dare you to ask him anything about soccer, like the World Cup, MLS, Champions League, whatever, and you’ll see that not only does he not know anything but he doesn’t care either, he’s not a soccer fan, he just keeps saying obvious things but really doesn’t have a clue. What he does is he waits for an official press release and then writes about it, or he’ll challenge what someone writes on his blog and usually it’s him being scooped, but it’s easy to scoop him because he doesn’t do any investigating himself, he just keeps waiting for others to give him the information or to explain it to him, then he writes it and takes the credit. Listen to his radio show sometime and listen to him talk and you’ll see for yourself. He’s just another non-soccer fan who was lucky to be assigned the job he has and he’s milking it because Rochester has no competing newspaper and the Rhinos have no option but to talk to him because he works for the only paper in town. He’s got it made. It pisses off many of us here in Rochester because he’s another example of someone using soccer to get paid when he doesn’t even really care about soccer. Let me put it this way, if he was offered the same money to write about the Buffalo Bills as he does the Rhinos, and he was told to choose between the two, he would pick the Bills in a heartbeat!
OK, Jimmy. I think we get what a couple of you are saying. Of course I listen to the show. I already stated I’ve been on the show. Your repeating the same things you’ve already said.
“if he was offered the same money to write about the Buffalo Bills as he does the Rhinos, and he was told to choose between the two, he would pick the Bills in a heartbeat!”
So that makes him a bad person? Or a person who doesn’t care about soccer? It may not be his number one sport but he does have an interest in it. Seems as if someone has an ax to grind. On top of that, last I checked this topic was about the TOA and USL, not about Jeff Di Veronica.
Lets get back to the topic please.
“Do you mean from a structure/financial perspective or a what are their true motives perspective?”
I think both. We don’t really know that much about the new league, other than the fact that they don’t like how USL was run.
It doesn’t mean that they don’t have answers and that they wouldn’t put together a better league. We just don’t know enough and I think it’s foolish to somehow think the TOA is this perfect entity that has no fault in the current situation.