Forge takes fire for coach
Social media inflames case of Reynders fighting racial allegations, despite successful appeal
Forge FC players say they finally went public Saturday with their support of assistant coach Peter Reynders because of recent socialmedia attacks on him, the Forge organization and the players themselves.
“During these sensitive times with racial injustices around the world, fans of the CPL (Canadian Premier League) have brought out accusations again from over a year ago, which had been proven not to be true,” Forge midfielder Kwame Awuah told The Spectator after all 18 team members signed an open letter to team owner Bob Young, which was posted on social media, expressing their unanimous support for Reynders.
“We wanted people to hear our side, people have only heard other sides. We had kept quiet because we pride ourselves on professionalism and we were thinking that the system would clear Peter’s name … and clearly it hasn’t.”
Last August, 83 days after the original incident which resulted in an investigation, Canada Soccer handed Reynders a 45-day suspension for “misconduct for breaching Canada Soccer’s Code of Conduct and Ethics whereby he allegedly made a discriminatory verbal statement that escaped the attention of the match officials.”
Reynders had been accused on social media by some Calvary FC players of making a racially insensitive remark during a skirmish between the Calgary-based team and Forge at the conclusion of a Canadian Soccer Championship leg at Tim Hortons Field on June 4, 2019.
Reynders immediately appealed the ruling, vehemently denied the accusations and said he’d been acting as a peacemaker. Reynders sat out the 45 days but has not said why he did so, when the suspension was under appeal.
Then, unknown to most people, Reynders’ appeal of the decision was upheld in late October. CPL commissioner David Clanachan confirmed that eight days ago but also said the appeal panel sent the evidence back to Canada Soccer (which handles the CPL’s disciplinary situations) with instructions to engage a third party to review it. There is an option to reopen an investigation if that third party chooses. The review process had begun but was interrupted by the pandemic.
It’s not known what was in the successful appeal or whether the investigation will ever be reopened: Canada Soccer, the CPL, Cavalry FC and Forge FC are all not commenting because it’s an ongoing situation.
Forge players say none of them, nor any of their coaches, were interviewed in the investigation. They also say the team’s video evidence has proven Reynders innocence.
Team officials, including Young himself, have publicly supported the players’ decision to go public with their stance. They also strongly condemned racism of any kind.
For the balance of their 2019 championship season, Forge players wanted to go to the outside world to back Reynders whom Awuah says, “is definitely not racist,” but team officials had urged them to keep their anger within the locker room during the investigation and appeal.
“We’ve wanted to say something for a year,” confirmed Forge attacker Chris Nanco who last week wrote a personal anti-racism essay for the CPL website.
“We know what happened. I was on the field right in the middle of the situation, the closest to everybody. No one heard anything and there was no reaction at the time on the field from the Black players from either team. All the evidence we had from video basically showed that he didn’t say it,” Nanco said.
“A lot of fans have been targeting us recently. ‘How can we play for an organization that is racist?’ and that kind of thing. We’re defending ourselves, our coach and the organization,” he added.
“It has popped up again a year later. People are using these sensitive times, and that’s not right.”
In a release from the club, Reynders said he appreciated the players’ action and he remains, “adamant that the allegation against me is baseless and without any merit whatsoever. I will continue to fight and defend myself during this lengthy process, especially more so now during this difficult period in our world where we must end racism together once and for all.” Awuah, who has known Reynders for 11 years, emphasizes that Reynders’ appeal was successful and the players want his name cleared.
“This is about someone’s whole career and reputation,” said Awuah, who grew up in Toronto’s tough Jane-Finch corridor
“This is not an attack on Canada Soccer. People have been questioning the character and integrity of the team. We are against racism. This is coming from me who’s Black, who’s actually been through racial profiling and racial injustice. More than half our team are Black guys, we’ve all been through it.
“The whole team is in support of coach Peter and we’re willing to do whatever it takes to make sure the right decisions are made.”
“A lot of fans have been targeting us recently. ‘How can we play for an organization that is racist?’ and that kind of thing. We’re defending ourselves, our coach and the organization.” CHRIS NANCO FORGE ATTACKER