Team owner wants to thwart city tourney
By JIM KERNAGHAN -- London Free Press
Since we know a bit about blackouts by now, wipeouts should be easy to understand.
The highly irate owner of an Ottawa pro soccer team says he will seek to erase a tournament in London, and would have had the ban in motion but for last week's power outage.
"It will happen; it's just a matter of when," bombastic Ottawa Wizards owner Omur Sezerman said yesterday.
"Our law firm has had problems as a result of the power outages."
Sezerman is talking two actions -- one an injunction to prevent the Canada Cup tournament in London on Labour Day weekend, the other against the Canadian Professional Soccer League, its team owners and the league's competition committee.
The league isn't backing down.
No sport implodes better than soccer.
To hear multimillionaire Sezerman tell it, everybody is against his Wizards, which should be host of the Canada Cup tournament, not London City.
To hear others tell it, the scientist who manufactures high-tech diagnostic medical equipment is a megalomaniac and ultra-controller. Do as Sezerman sez seems to be a hallmark.
London City president Harry Gauss was a bit circumspect, given Sezerman's litigious nature.
"Obnoxious," he said when asked to describe him.
Gauss said the Canada Cup tournament is going full-steam-ahead, and so is the Rogers Cup, the league playoff championship scheduled for Oct. 3-5.
Ottawa was selected to host the Canada Cup last year but owners nixed the site, complaining it required too much travel time, and voted to move it to London.
That's when Sezerman threw up the offside flag and left everyone scrambling to get back onside. Unfair, he charged, and in violation of promises he had been made.
CPSL administrator Stan Adamson is awaiting a call from the Ottawa owner to determine whether the Wizards are in. He can't deal with schedules and promotions until he's certain. Sezerman, among other things, feels his team, as defending champion, should not be required to play preliminary games.
So, who is this guy Sezerman?
Well, Sezerman arrived with the arse out of his jockstrap and knees out of his bathing suit and parlayed scientific genius and drive into a thriving company that has employed as many as 500 at its Ottawa-area Carp headquarters.
It has its own mansion for scientists and trainees from abroad, sumptuous quarters used by visiting CPSL officials. The stadium Sezerman built for his team has what has been described as among the most manicured of natural grass fields in the world.
He's hospitable, generous and loves the game. League champ last year and undefeated this season, he doesn't stint on players, as the presence of 36-time Malawi international midfielder Peter Mponda indicates.
He also has been described as a chap often at odds with many of soccer's governing bodies. He has been known to murmur soccer in Canada is antiquated and needs a thorough overhaul and has brought legal action against the Canadian Soccer Association, Ontario Soccer Association and the Eastern Ontario District Soccer Association at various times.
It's always interesting when league constitutions come under close scrutiny by the courts. In the case of the CPSL, the Canada Cup has been a work in progress this year, the first time the Cup has been open to any senior team in Canada.
This isn't a power outage. It's more like a power play.
