PARIS — The ruling was just and proper. But the punishment itself was too harsh for Canadian soccer players who did nothing wrong but follow their coaches.
The players didn’t break any rules. They didn’t buy any drones. They didn’t test positive for anything.
They are the victims of a cheating coach, victims of a cheating staff led by head coach Bev Priestman, who thought she was smart than the rest of the soccer world.
And now Canada Soccer is $226,000 poorer and Priestman is banned for a year — and maybe for life — and the poor women who came to the Olympics will greet hope and belief, with pride to perform for Canada, they have been slapped by the governing body of the sport for doing nothing wrong.
The fine could have been larger. The suspension for Priestman should have been longer. But docking the Canadian players six points in the Olympic tournament, ostensibly ending their Games after an opening-round victory over New Zealand, was not necessary. That was piling on.
That could have and should have been handled in a more appropriate manner.
It’s amazing how quickly this story has twisted and turned since it first began as a police matter in France. The use of a drone was illegal. The use of a drone to film an opponent’s practice was immoral. And at first, the Canadian Olympic Association, for reasons difficult to believe, were with Priestman, who penalized herself by sitting out the opening game of the tournament.
The assistant coaches were sent home. The head coach was supposed to return after a one-day exile. But one day after the exile, she, too, was appropriately banished by Canada from the Games. Her Olympics was over: Her future as Team Canada coach is all but over. All of that is appropriate.
But what did the players do wrong here?
What’s their fault in all of this? Why did FIFA punish the team more, really, than the coach? Who, if anyone, stood up for the players? And should that be challenged in the Olympic Court of Arbitration?
There was every reason to punish Bev Priestman. There was every reason to fine Canadian soccer. The coach did wrong. The players didn’t. And they pay too heavy a price in this scandal that won’t go away.
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