[Alsfastball] 2004 men's senior nationals : residency requirement not being met - by Chad Rawn

[Al Doran]

From: "Chad Rawn" <chadrawn at hotmail.com>
To: fastball at pmihrm.com
Subject: 2004 men's senior nationals : residency requirement not being met
Date: Tue, 31 Aug 2004 10:44:45 -0400


A few additional comments on the issue of residency at the senior men's 
national tournament.  Clearly the starting point for any analysis of the 
issue is Softball Canada's 2004 Special Operating Rules (SOR's) which can 
be found at their website at 
<http://www.softball.ca/usr/documents/files/505/2004SORs.doc>http://www.softball.ca/usr/documents/files/505/2004SORs.doc

If you read the relevant section 2.6(a) of Part II, the wording for 
residency states: "In all Canadian Championships, all but one (1) player on 
any provincial/territorial representative team to a Canadian Championship 
must be a bona fide resident of that province/territory by the official 
residency date for the year of competition. One (1) exemption per team will 
be granted to a player who meets either of the following 
conditions..."  Section 2.7(a) requires that for residency a player must be 
"a legal resident of the province/territory that he/she will represent at 
the championship."  Section 2.7(b) further requires a "substantial 
connection" to the provincial/territorial association and lists several 
factors that can aid in showing that "substantial connection".

In making a proper determination, the two concepts that seem to be most 
important are that: (i) a player be a bona fide resident of the province 
and (ii) the player be a legal resident with a substantial connection.  No 
matter what documentation was shown or contrived on behalf of these players 
on either the Nova Scotia 1 or the Host team, the fact remains that the 
players listed by the anonymous author are NOT all bona fide residents of 
Nova Scotia nor are they legal residents of the province they are 
representing, nor do they have a substantial connection to the 
province.  Each team is permitted an exemption for one (1) player if the 
designation is made prior to the registration date.

The SOR's state in section 2.7(d) that it is up to the 
provincial/territorial association to make a determination on who is 
eligible to represent their p/t association in the championship.  What that 
means is that Softball Nova Scotia has made a determination that each of 
these players is a bona fide resident of their province.  That's a 
laughable determination and speaks poorly to Softball Nova Scotia's 
credibility and integrity.  Fortunately the SOR's further provide for a 
protest mechanism in Article 3 which can be launched by any other 
association.

As for Ivan Hapgood in particular, I must say that I vividly remember a 
national junior championship held in Oshawa, Ontario in 1997 in which Mr. 
Hapgood on behalf of his provincial association (Softball Newfoundland) 
made a big deal of Rob O'Brien and Greg Webber (native Newfoudlanders) 
playing for Ontario in the junior nationals.  These two players played in 
1996 for Ontario and were returning in 1997 as members of the Defending 
Champions entry.  They had been living in Ontario with jobs and a home 
prior to May 1st of that year and did have a very substantial connection to 
Ontario.  However, the wording of the rule for junior that year stated that 
January 1st was the residency date and Ivan Hapgood did everything possible 
to ensure that both O'Brien and Webber were banned from the nationals that 
year, no doubt out of spite that they wouldn't play for NFLD.  He was 
successful in those efforts and I'm very confused how Mr. Hapgood now turns 
a blind eye to a flagrant and gross violation of the residency rule at the 
senior level... ?

Furthermore, I do not find it appropriate whatsoever that Ivan Hapgood 
state in his email reply that "a decision was made and has been made known 
to the appropriate parties".  Sounds a little overly secretive to 
me.  Aren't the relative parties the players, the coaches and the fans of 
the game?  In my opinion there is no need in hiding anything if everything 
is above board.  Secondly, it would be interesting to know what 
documentation has been produced as Hapgood states in his email that  "all 
Provinces have provided the appropriate documentation to support the 
decision."  I think that should be made known as well as I'm sure other 
provinces would like to know *HOW LITTLE* it takes to circumvent the 
residency rule for future tournaments!    According to the 2004 Special 
Operating Rules,  it would appear that at this stage of the matter the only 
association that has made any determination on the validity of these 
players playing for Nova Scotia is Softball Nova Scotia.  If the matter is 
protested pursuant to Part II, Article III of the 2004 SOR's, it's at THAT 
time that the other p/t associations and Softball Canada would also have to 
be convinced of the determination as to whether these players are bona fide 
residents.

I also think it's very ignorant of Mr. Hapgood to state that information 
provided to the ISC for residency requirements is not pertinent to 
determination for this CASA national championship.  I would think that the 
Softball Canada mandate is to make ACCURATE decisions and that if evidence 
points to a player NOT being a bona fide resident, then that information is 
completely relevant.  The use of the word bona fide (meaning "authentic", 
"genuine", and "carried out in good faith") was not accidental by Softball 
Canada and carries with it a stringent requirement.  Mr. Hapgood himself 
pushed these meanings of "bona fide" in 1997 and it seems apparent that 
there has been some poor analysis carried out on what that term means at 
the 2004 senior men's nationals.

Chad Rawn
mailto:chadrawn at hotmail.com



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