US Club Soccer Grievance Against USYS- MYSA, WYSA, NDYSA, Will Be Heard on Thursday
IMS has learned that the Grievance filed last August by US Club Soccer against United States Youth Soccer and its affiliate clubs, Minnesota Youth Soccer Association (MYSA), Wisconsin Youth Soccer Association (WYSA), North Dakota Youth Soccer Association (NDSA) as well as the South Carolina and Tennessee Youth Soccer Associations will be heard this Thursday December 17, 2009, in Chicago IL.
The grievance states that US Club Soccer, the Minnesota Thunder Academy, Coast Futbol Alliance and Vitesse Soccer Inc. have complaint with the previous stated parties. The grievance is to challenge what the parties feel are discriminatory practices in treating US Club Soccer teams differently than teams from USYS state associations on issues that include: denial of insurance coverage for USYS teams attending a US Club Soccer sanctioned tournament; denial of a team’s use of their USYS player cards, rosters, etc. when attending a US Club Soccer sanctioned tournament; and charging US Club Soccer teams an extra insurance fee for playing in USYS sanctioned tournaments.
The grievance against MYSA, WYSA and NDYSA is in direct connection with the issues brought to light earlier this year concerning the National Sports Center’s (NSC) tournaments and those three state youth soccer associations’ attempt to convince teams that they would not be covered by the 3 association’s insurance nor would state association passes be honored at any of the NSC tournaments.
For more details on the grievance please see the original IMS article that links to the actual grievance filed by US Club Soccer and the original articles at IMS explaining the issues between the NSC and MYSA.
IMS will continue to update you on this situation.
For more information on US Club Soccer please see this earlier article I published at IMS on What is US Club Soccer.
Comments are closed.
I don’t understand. US Club is filing a grevience because USYS is being denied insurance at US Club sanctioned tournaments? It makes no sense. I’ve heard that it’s the other way around. I know that MTA has to jump through hoops at some of these USYS tournaments and they give you the runaround. I hope this gets solved soon.
Paul, not sure where the confusion is. Let me know if I have written something confusing, but USYS isn’t being denied anything. The state organizations claimed:
1) That their clubs would not be covered by their state associations insurance while playing in a US Club sanctioned tournament.
2) That the state associations passes were not good for the US Club sanctioned tournament.
Also, US Club Soccer is claiming: That US Club Soccer sanctioned teams were being charged extra insurance costs at USYS sanctioned tournaments.
Just one of the many possible problems of multiple overlapping jurisdictions.
I just updated the article with a link to an article I did last year on What is US Club Soccer. I think it’s a pretty good explanation of what the organization is and why they are different as well as what they hope to achieve.
Go here for that article entitled, What is US Club Soccer.
I’m familar with US Club. They were formed recently to be a more competitive alternative. They also have their own system similar to ODP called ID2 which identifies talented players for regional and national teams. There are both regional and national tournaments as well.
The bottom line is there is just too much red tape and anomosity between the two organizations. I think the only way to resolve it is for US Club teams to only play in US Club sanctioned tournaments. They are starting to form leagues and state tournaments in some states. Just not in Minnesota yet.
Paul,
I would disagree. Both US Club Soccer and USYS fall under the USSF umbrella. Both organizations should honor and accept player passes from the other. That from what I understand is the basis of the lawsuit since both are part of USSF.
Anything other than this is just defending turf and adding additional costs for the clubs and the players.
Get the adults and the politics out of the way and just let the kids play soccer.
“Get the adults and the politics out of the way and just let the kids play soccer.”
I wholeheartely agree with that and in a perfect world both organizations would play in each others tournaments unabated, but the reality is there is jealousy or whatever that impedes that.
The reality is that the insurance industry will NEVER allow players to be insured in events where the insured parent organization isn’t the sanctioning body. It doesn’t give anyone control over the standard that the parent organization had to meet to get the rate they did. If the unthinkable happens and this is ruled in favor of USClub Soccer, be prepared for huge hikes in the insurance rates for MYSA. This isn’t about turf, it’s about risk management.
It’s only about turf in the small minds that aren’t looking at the insurance issues.
Okay, I don’t understand why insurance is even the issue. Every tournament we sign a waiver basically saying any injuries are the families’ responsibility. I have my own personal insurance that covers all that. Why then do we need additional insurance? We can’t sue even if we wanted to.
USYSA insurance is governed by USSF, as is US Clubs. The fact that the one organziation doesn’t sanction anothers tournaments should require mutiple insurance policies as they are both governed by the same organization USSF.
USYSA are just being babies. They didn’t care when US Club was smaller an more obscure. I took teams to US Club tournaments and used by USYSA policy/proof of insurance all the time. USYSA are just trying to throw their weight around.
@Paul – The insurance coverage extended to members of USYSA or US Club organizations is a supplimentary insurance meant to cover where your primary insurance leaves off. You may be fully covered, so you for you, not an issue. Other families may not be in the same boat and may need the extra coverage should an injury requiring medical care occur. The waivers are generally a protection against litigation, but from my Legal Aspects of Sport course back in my college days, they don’t necessarily hold up all the time, but that isn’t the issue here.
@anyone interested – US Club rules do allow a US Club sanctioned tournament to extend their insurance policy to non-US Club teams at an added premium, which is what USA Cup ended up doing this past summer. Here is the rule from the US Club website:
Policy 10.04 Tournament Insurance
. The Organization may, through its insurance carrier, make tournament insurance available to its Members in cases where it is desirable to insure all non-member tournament attendees. Such insurance will be optional for the tournament host and incur an additional premium cost.
(Retrieved 22:55 16/12/2009 http://www.usclubsoccer.org/Files/USCS%20POLICIES%20(CURRENT)–6-1-08.pdf)
Oh, and a point I forgot to make…insurance coverage by the hosting touranment and attending teams is a requirement by pretty much every governing body, US Club, MYSA, AYSO, USSF, etc. The tournemant has to have it and they have to require all attending players to provide proof of insurance in order to be sanctioned.
CYA in an over litigated society.