An Alberta soccer discipline committee has delivered its verdict. Not guilty!Central Alberta Soccer Association (CASA) President Jon Mulder, suspended and banned on October 12, will be reinstated. It was determined he didn’t commit any offences — although what they might have been in the first place, was not clearly stated in the decision.The hearing was based on an internal email he wrote objecting to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) training affecting soccer players as young as three years old. Mulder was still penalized. He was ordered to pay $30 to take sensitivity training. Perhaps an attempt by the Alberta Soccer Association (ASA) to save face over botched ‘management’ skills?“I’m a bit relieved they found that I wasn’t guilty of anything. But I’m very frustrated that they did it,” Mulder told the Western Standard.“Even at the outset I didn’t see how what I wrote violated any policies. I’ve been suspended for over two months now to find I didn’t do anything wrong.”“I still don’t know what they were accusing me of doing wrong, other than an offensive email. They didn’t elaborate. They just said that the codes of conduct listed in the hearing notice, I was not guilty of violating.”An extreme ban by ASA Executive Director (ASA) Lisa Grant, who suspended him, forbidding him to play, coach, referee, administer soccer at any level or attend ASA-sanctioned games as a spectator, was lifted.The Ponoka area decade-long soccer volunteer may talk to people now. Comrade Grant had ordered him not to!Sports volunteers who object to woke ideology should weep with gratitude at the mercy afforded Mulder who had the nerve to express an opinion.Mercy? Or the realization that Grant had no grounds to stand on and policy was violated. Not by Mulder.He was notified December 20 about the verdict of the panel that investigated a “Breach of Code of Conduct.”“Following your discipline hearing held on December 06 2023, the Alberta Soccer Discipline Committee has found that you are NOT GUILTY of breaching the following ASA Rules & Regulations on Discipline & Appeals,” reads the email from Cicero Viana, ASA operations manager.It referred to a clause in the code outlining values to “ensure a safe and positive environment” in ASA that include supporting equal opportunity, prohibits discriminatory practices and treating everyone with respect and fairness.And a clause outlining the responsibility to respect individuals regardless of things such as athletic ability, colour, race, citizenship, ethnic origin, gender identity, gender expression, sex and sexual orientation.“While there are no sanctions or levies held against you, the Discipline Panel did deem your communications to be insensitive. As a result, the Panel has directed that before your current suspension is lifted, you are required to complete, at your own cost, the Respect in Sport course.”It gave Mulder until December 31 to provide proof of completion. “Once you complete the Respect in Sport course, you are fully eligible to participate in soccer activities.”Then it got petty.“This letter will remain on your record and will be considered by Alberta Soccer should any future disciplinary incidents involving you occur.”ASA policy states suspensions from one year to a lifetime ban must include a $100 fine and $500 bond.Nothing there about it having authority to order someone found “NOT GUILTY” to take sensitivity training.But there, it’s over.Or, maybe not. Mulder’s lawyer Craig Paterson will explore the merits of that penalty.“We’ll see if there’s an argument to be made, my lawyer’s looking into if the committee had the authority to mandate it or not because they found me not guilty.”That email was leaked to the CBC violating privacy policy of the ASA that received $324,942 in 2022 in provincial and federal grants, the bulk from the province.Surely, a panel was swiftly struck to sniff out the leaker that led to a lopsided article in which Grant accused Mulder of being “disgusting.”“We’re going to explore options to see about filing complaints with regards to how they conducted the committee, the leaking of the email and making public comment the day they received the email from me, Canada Soccer praising my suspension.”Mulder responded to Grant’s October 11 email to soccer members informing them about an Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility (IDEA) virtual conference hosted by Canada Soccer.The objective being to “amplify the great work being done in communities across Canada” and focus on “women and girls in soccer, (sexual minority community) inclusion, all-abilities soccer, anti-racism and new-to-Canada participants in soccer.”Mulder later admitted his response was “aggressive.”“Keep Marxist politics out of sports, especially children’s sports,” wrote Mulder.“Only perverts and predators wish to discuss sex and sexuality with other people’s children. Adults don’t need to discuss their sexual proclivities in order to participate in community sports.” “We ought not engage in the bigotry of low expectations, nor should we seek to impose policies that implicitly discriminate against Canadians, especially young males of European descent, which is what all those initiatives seek to do.” “This top-down imposition of radical left wing ideology into our communities and sports programs is wholly inappropriate.” “This isn’t great work. This ideology is proven to destroy everything.”But Mulder supported the code the panel referenced by calling for non-discriminatory practices to include young males of European decent.“Bottom line from my perspective is the result is satisfactory, not perfect, but satisfactory,” said Mark Giles with Mi2, who was retained to handle the communications and investigative aspects of Mulder’s case.“Most importantly, they recognized through whatever process that he really wasn’t guilty of anything else, other than expressing his opinion, and they didn’t like the way he did it.”“Hilariously, there were no specific allegations or charges against him.”Giles compared it to “being accused of a violation under the provincial Highway Safety Act without a specific allegation or section” such as speeding, or an unsafe left turn.“What we have wanted from the beginning was what we got. I wasn’t envisioning sensitivity training as much as he agreed that OK, next time he’d communicate a little more diplomatically.”“Pick your battles. We’re not going to argue with this. He’s done his 40-minutes of sensitivity training. He’s now sensitive. Most important was his reinstatement.”Giles said this could have been easily resolved with conversation “rather than the bullying, intimidation and violation of its own policies by the ASA over a two-month period.”The former military public affairs officer, military policeman and Calgary policeman helps people fight for their rights.“Hopefully, the ASA and others like them — making up the rules as they go along — have learned there are those out there with considerable skill and resources willing to push back against their tyrannical actions and behavior against sports/community volunteers and others expressing their views.”“The sad part is, we can’t be there for all of them. We’d have to work 24 hours a day and even then, we wouldn’t scrape the surface of it.”Sad commentary on community sports.The Western Standard reached out to Grant for comment.
