TORONTO – I confess to experiencing deep sense of satisfaction and delight when Canada scored its 2-1 victory against the host country, France, in the first round of Women’s Soccer at the French Olympics, July 28. Read about it in Corriere Canadese’s pages. The Ladies of Soccer in Canada resuscitated their hopes of advancing to the next round, but only so tenuously. 

They are up against not one, but two, “organizations” prone to the usual evils of bribery and corruption – The Olympic Committee and FIFA. In fact, they can give seminars on the sophistication required to achieve desired outcomes that have virtually nothing to do with the individual capacity/performance of athletes.

Assuming that everyone comes into this world with the birthright of original sin (propensity to act narcissistically, selfishly and maliciously towards others), it is only a question of time and circumstance when someone will find us “guilty” of the most nefarious of crimes.

The young Ladies representing Canada on the soccer pitch were saddled with a six-point penalty because their “coaches” had sent drones to spy on their opponents’ practice. Presumably there was an unalterable game plan they could have used to guarantee success against the Canadian side that was not available to those same coaches in videos of past (and recent) performances by those same opponents. I doubt it, but it is a convenient claim.

So the “penalty must fit the crime”: create an environment where the athletes on the field cannot move forward and “embarrass the institution”. What exactly does that mean? Well, in any of the four- team qualifying round division, the maximum number of points any team (that means only one team) can obtain is nine (9). Were that to happen, no other team needs more than six (6) to advance. To accomplish that, they would have to win two games. Problem to resolve?

Canada’s world-class, high-ranking ladies team’s next opponent was France. Depriving Canada of six points would virtually guarantee the advancement of France. Neither the Olympic Committee nor Macron’s machinations could tolerate any other result. What is that saying: “by hook or by crook”?

Our Ladies “stayed above the fray”, “did not cry in their beer” and “proved themselves superior”. A more apt saying for the situation is, “you go girl(s)”!