Charly Cardilicchia, head coach of the Westshore Rebels, has been suspended for three games for violating the coaches code of ethics.
The British Columbia Football Conference (BCFC) has applied for further sanctions against the Rebels, but details will not be disclosed.
Blake Roberts, head of BCFC’s media and business development, said Cardilicchia was suspended for comments he made during an interview with a newspaper in Kelowna, saying the league was “pretty Mickey Mouse,” after the Rebels game was cancelled against the Kamloops Broncos due to poor air quality.
Cardilicchia did not respond to the Gazette’s request for comment.
Westshore Rebels official statement following the 3-game suspension of Coach Cardilicchia https://t.co/iPLYAPyCJY @BCFC_Media @CJFLnews
— Westshore Rebels (@WestshoreRebels) August 23, 2018
In a statement, Rob Lervold, president of the Rebels, said the organization respects the BCFC’s decision on the suspension and acknowledged that Cardilicchia’s comments were in violation of the coaches code of ethics.
Roberts said was Cardilicchia was sanctioned in June for comments made on his Facebook page about coaches and players of other BCFC teams, the BCFC had to take stronger action towards his comments in Kamloops.
Cardilicchia apologized for his comments in June.
RELATED: Westshore Rebels game postponed due to poor air quailty
According to Roberts, the Friday before the Aug. 18 game against Kamloops, Broncos president Dino Bernardo and Lervold held a meeting due to air quality in Kamloops, and decided to go ahead with the game Saturday. Roberts said both teams didn’t want to cancel the game 24 hours in advance in case the smoke cleared.
Saturday morning around 6 a.m. the Rebels called BCFC president Tyler Mclaren, and then Bernardo to double check that the air quality was good enough to play, but didn’t receive a response.
So the Rebels started on their trip and once on the mainland they received a call that the air quality was so bad that the game had been cancelled.
Roberts believes the issue was that Cardilicchia thought the Rebels could have “saved” money if they didn’t get on the bus.
Roberts said it is unfortunate, but the Rebels had this trip in their budget, so it wasn’t being paid for out of pocket, they gained another week off with no injuries, and the Rebels will have home-field advantage when they play Kamloops in a four-point game on Sept. 15.
Shane Beatty, the Rebels’ defensive co-ordinator will step in as the acting head coach while Cardilicchia serves his suspension.