Quebec Games: Lac St. Louis soccer player wrongly suspended

LSL baseball players have sights set on bronze

By Alexandre Gauthier

gauthiera@transcontinental.ca

Lac St. Louis' baseball team will be playing for the bronze medal, missed the podium in archery, and had a rough day on the soccer pitch Sunday in the third day of Quebec Games competition in Sept-Iles Sunday.

The penultimate day of competition for first-week sports was disappointing for Lac St. Louis archers, soccer players and baseball players. In soccer competition, the region's two teams were relegated to the second division of competition.

Lac St. Louis archers pulled in a middle-of-the-pack ninth place overall, and failed to make the podium in any single individual event.

Montreal competitor Ralitsa Panichkova had the best results, with an individual fourth-place finish in the Benjamin Olympic category on the animal course – only a few points off the podium.

In baseball, a 6-2 semifinal loss to the Centre-du-Québec squad in the B division put a the Lac St. Louis squad in the bronze-medal game and put the team in a position to take home a Quebec Games medal for the first time in 34 years against Richelieu-Yamaska.

A rough day for soccer squads

The situation got even worse for the Lac St. Louis soccer teams of both sexes, after both the male and female teams dropped 1-0 decisions to Laval and Lanaudiere, respectively. Both squads were dropped to the second division for coming competitions, representing a huge disappointment for LSL athletes, who come from an area that historically is a soccer power.

The boys' side's relegation came not without some controversy. Pierrefonds resident Shawn Steen was suspended, injustifiably. Earlier in the day, a referee ejected Baie d'Urfe resident James Huxman, but wrote Steen's number down by mistake instead. So, minutes before the second game, Steen's suspension was upheld and by the provincial governing body and Steen was forced to sit.

The Lac St. Louis delegation did everything it could to clarify the situation for authorities for officials. "We confronted the referee in front of the players and he designated the same player for suspension as whose number was written on the earlier score sheet. We have to live with his decision," said federation director Max-Eden Joseph, who added he was disappointed with the decision. "There is a strong possibility there was an error," and described the incident as "unfortunate." The mistake was not completely undetected, though. "The federation never said it wouldn't recognize the error," he said, even though it was never officially recognized, which would've allowed Steen to play. "But I will not recognize it in writing," he said, shutting the door on further discussion.

Joseph didn't say if he would be preparing an official report to the officiating committee concerning the official involved. He did, however reiterate what federation director general Brigitte Frot said, which was that the unfairly suspended player would suffer no further sanctions over the incident.

Lac St. Louis chef de mission Jacques Chapdelaine said he would believe it when he sees it.

The player, he said "was a victim of the soccer culture, which has always been stronger than the individuals who make it up."

He wondered aloud when the damage done to the suspended player and the Lac St. Louis team would be repaired. "(The player) is waiting for the official statement in writing that there was a mix-up in the player's identification. If not, he'll always be remembered for having missed a crucial game," Chapdelaine said, adding he "deplored the absence of responsibility," on the federation's part in the whole controversy and said he hopes the governing body will take a lesson from the imbroglio to avoid putting more youngsters in this type of situation. "Even officials are allowed to be wrong, but the structure should allow them to fix their mistakes," he said, adding he hoped the federation would start housecleaning on some of its procedures sooner, rather than later.