A former Canadian women’s soccer national team assistant coach who was handed a one-year ban by FIFA for her role in the Paris Olympic drone-spying scandal has finally spoken out, saying she knew Canada Soccer had a culture of spying on opponents.The Canadian Press reports that in a first-person account on The Players’ Tribune website, Jasmine Mander apologized for the incident, saying that while Canada spied on other teams, she didn’t know that team analyst Joey Lombardo would be flying a drone over a New Zealand training session on that fateful day.“I messed up,” Mander said.“I really did. I should have said something... Like many people within the organization, I knew that there were attempts by Canada Soccer to watch other teams train, and I accepted it. I didn’t do anything to stop it.”Mander believes it was unfair that she, Lombardo and head coach Bev Priestman were the only staffers identified and punished at the time, especially in the wake of Canada Soccer recently revealing that 14 coaches and administrative staff members had been disciplined in the wake of the scandal.Canada Soccer still has not identified the 14 employees nor detailed their punishments.Mander says she has no problem being held accountable and taking responsibility for her involvement, but, “when 14 people are disciplined and only three of us are named and shamed in public? That’s still very hard for me to accept.”Mander was placed on paid suspension by Canada Soccer, but she did not resign and says she wanted to share her perspective as part of the independent investigation into the organization..Canada Soccer launches appeal against six-point Olympic penalty for drone spying scandal.She states she was drawn into the scandal because Lombardo texted her from a police station. She also said she didn’t know that there were even laws in France limiting where drones could be flown.“I know that will sound shocking, but it’s just the reality … At first, I was really surprised by this, but the longer I worked in the game, the more I heard firsthand that this kind of stuff really did happen around the world,” she said.“When I started in the professional game three years prior, I slowly realized that watching the training sessions of your opponents was actually quite normal.“Of course, I understood on some level that watching teams’ game prep was immoral, but when I was new at Team Canada, the youngest member of the coaching staff by several years, I thought, ‘Oh, I guess this is normal at this level,’” she added, stating she was 25-years-old when she started at Canada Soccer and wanted to “help the team... look for any edge.”After returning to Canada, Mander says she felt “like a ghost” for several months.“My lawyer told me to see a psychologist, to make sure I documented my mental state. I visited my doctor, who had me fill out a depression assessment that asked if I had suicidal thoughts. I ticked the box that said ‘sometimes,’” she stated.The widespread circulation of her story and photo only made things worse.“I started to feel like Canada’s Most Wanted,” she said..Former Canada soccer head coach says she 'didn't feel safe' in North America following ban .“Yes, I should have done so much better. If you still think I was an idiot at the Olympics, you’re probably right.When the investigation’s report was released last November, Mander said she was disappointed.“I read it online like everyone else, and I don’t think it brought enough attention to the actual process behind the culture at Canada Soccer,” she stated.“It was very convenient that so many names were redacted. I couldn’t help but think, if you’re going to take out so much, why post the report at all?”She still has hope that the full story of what happened will eventually come out.“Just understand that I was part of an organization, and I simply tried to do my best. I know that it wasn’t good enough. I never wanted any of this to happen,” she said.“Honestly, it has felt like breaking up with 40 million people at once.”The Western Standard has reached out to Soccer Canada for comment.
