The player's choice: Be angry, or be effective

Earl Cochrane is out at the CSA. Now the players have a choice to make

soccer ball in empty field

Earl Cochrane should have never been hired as CSA General Secretary. It was a tone deaf decision to make last summer and one that was never going to work for anyone, including Cochrane.

To hire an insider’s insider when everyone — and I do mean everyone — was mad at the inside was just a poor choice all around. It didn’t even matter what kind of job Cochrane did. Very few people were going to give him the benefit of a fair look.

The nine months that he was in the job didn’t exactly go smoothly. I’ll let others decide if he did a good job or not. However, when it comes to whether it was time for the two parties to move on the answer is clear.

Absolutely. There was no way forward in the current dispute between the players and the FA with the old guard in charge. Even interim president Charmaine Crooks is looked at suspiciously by the players, even though she was an elite athlete herself. Too much of an insider, they said, when she was named.

That’s probably an unfair claim by the players. She is an interim appointment for a position that must be elected. They need someone there. It’s not particularly helpful to reject people without first trying to work with them.

That’s where we are though. The trust has eroded to the point that the players seemingly want to burn everything down. You can appreciate their anger — there have been mistakes made, clearly. But, there comes a point where you have to evaluate whether anger is what is needed any longer.

Anger has a role. It galvanizes. It generates attention. It starts a conversation, often a long overdue one.

However, it can often shut a conversation down too. It can prevent compromise from happening when the anger consumes you. This is where it’s best if you step back and let others represent you.

That may feel wrong to you at first — YOU ARE RIGHT, DAMN IT — but there comes a point where you have to ask yourself an important question: Would you rather be angry or effective?

Is your goal to be told that you are right, or are you truly looking to improve the situation.

Let’s hope it’s the latter right now. The core leadership that the players were angry at is gone. That doesn’t mean that the challenges the CSA faces are gone, but hopefully there can be people put in place now that can independently look at the situation and have a candid and hard conversation with the players with the goal of finding a solution that works for everyone.

And hopefully the players are willing to listen and be part of solution that leads to a better future for them and the next generation.

You can’t erase the past. You can only move forward. With Cochrane leaving, it’s time to do just that.

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