Pay2Play Fact or Fiction?

[Guest]

Sees lots of claims that Crossfire ECNL is pay to play across all the age groups. Usually see these claims made about boys teams which is interesting to note.

Some murmurs about Seattle United too. My question is, is this common across the big clubs? Does Eastside and PacNW also engage in pay to play?

How has Crossfire never been investigated for this?

Or are all these claims just the usual troll poop on talking soccer?

[Guest]

I hear about it all the time at the larger clubs. We're at a smaller club that isn't even in the ECNL. A parent mentioned they invested in the coach's new business and then said he is expecting his son to continue to have a spot on the team for the foreseeable future. So yeah, it seems to exist in at both large and small clubs.

[Guest]

The term gets used in different ways. I'm horrified to hear about people getting more playing time because they paid coaches!

But the other way "pay to play" gets used is in juxtaposition to the professional academies where you enroll for free, whereas club soccer you pay to play.

[Guest]

Sees lots of claims that Crossfire ECNL is pay to play across all the age groups. Usually see these claims made about boys teams which is interesting to note.

Some murmurs about Seattle United too. My question is, is this common across the big clubs? Does Eastside and PacNW also engage in pay to play?

How has Crossfire never been investigated for this?

Or are all these claims just the usual troll poop on talking soccer?

I am a parent on a Crossfire team and I can tell you that if you pay the coach for private lessons, you will get more playing time. It's dirty and it's the big elephant in the room that no one will talk about.

Don't know about the other clubs but I don't see why they would be any different unless their ED cracks down on that corruption.