The Prince George Soccer Association will conduct a vote at its annual general meeting Tuesday night on whether to ban women from joining its drop-in division for players 50 and older.
The vote is a carryover from last year’s league general meeting in which three male players in the 50-plus coed group – Terry Carter, Kal Basi and Richard Ryan – made their intentions known to the board that they wanted the league to switch from coed to men-only. The matter was deferred to the 2024 AGM.
Keri Daly, who turns 52 next month, was the only female player in the 50-plus coed league the past two years, having joined it the year she became age-eligible. The league told Daly that if the motion passes in Wednesday’s vote and the coed league is then restricted to men, she would be grandfathered in because she’s already registered.
But that ring as a hollow promise for Daly because she knows it would close the door on any other women ever joining the league.
“Would it be possible for a motion be brought forward to vote to exclude people of colour, religion, sexual orientation, non-binary identification, ……or people of British descent?” wrote Daly, in a Jan. 9 letter to the PGSA board. “If not, then neither should a motion be brought to vote to exclude based on gender.”
Daly said the motion reeks of discrimination and misogyny and clashes with the guiding principles of the league, which are quoted on the PGSA website: “The Board endeavors to promote equality and diversity regarding gender, religion, age, language, ethnicity, professional backgrounds and personal experiences.”
The 50-plus coed league started four years ago when the North Cariboo Senior Men’s Soccer League merged with the Prince George Women’s Soccer Association. For the first two years, it had just one female player, Lindy Munk, who has since moved away from the city.
“Lindy felt she had a right to play four years ago because she was over 50 and I guess she came out to play one day and I think Terry Carter went to the board (to voice his objection) and they did a vote on the field and it was easily won for co-ed,” said Daly.
The move to try to ban female players is even more baffling to Daly because it involves a drop-in league which has no set teams, no referees, and game scores are not recorded.
“This is not league play, it’s a drop-in fun kick around,” she said.
Daly is an exceptional player and a Richmond Sports Hall of Fame member. As a teenager growing up in Richmond, her club team won the U-14 national championship and she also played on the U-18 provincial team that won nationals.
She doesn’t want to play with or against women half her age or younger in the women’s divisions, which she says can get rough.
The league has proposed creating an over-35 women’s drop-in league but she’d rather play with the men. Her boyfriend, Nelson Santos, also plays in the coed league and Daly looked forward to the year she turned 50 to join him on the field.
“It’s the most fun I’ve had playing in years here,” she said. “There’s enough people that know how to play and this is where I enjoy playing. It’s fun for me and I like playing with these guys and most of those guys love playing with me, but there’s a small group of them that just can’t get past it and it’s the most upsetting feeling.
“I won’t accept that and I won’t play until everybody over 50 can play. Even if there was an (all-women 50-plus league) that’s not where I’ll be comfortable playing. This is not OK for them to dictate where I play drop-in soccer. Most of the soccer people are great, there’s just a little group of men that have issues and they think they are 100 per cent right.”
Debbie Phair, 56, registered to play in the co-ed last year but dropped out when she saw the league had scheduled her women’s league games at the same times as the weekly co-ed games.
“It was my opinion and continues to be my opinion that this was done on purpose to prevent myself and other women from playing in the 50+ Coed,” said Phair.
“There are so few women by age 50 who still playing soccer, it’s a ridiculous motion. I think society in general still tolerates gender-based discrimination. In our opinion it shouldn’t be going to a vote, it should be something that the league is promoting as opposed to something they are restricting.”
Daly said there was just one other woman who registered for the coed group but she stopped coming after some of the men made her feel uncomfortable on the field.
Daly and Phair are rounding up as many PGSA members as they can to attend the meeting to vote and are encouraging them to gather proxy votes which allow them to represent as many as three other league members at the AGM.
