Aron Winter was brought to Toronto FC from Ajax under the mandate to remake the team. It should hardly come as a big surprise that he intends to do so both on and off the field. But his latest decision, apparently to close the post-game locker room to reporters, appears to be flouting official league policy.
Aron Winter’s Closing Of Post-Game Locker Room Appears To Run Afoul Of League Policy
A note to the media from Aron Winter. #TFC http://twitpic.com/4g3jjy
Jason deVos
jasondevos
In the letter, Winter is credited as writing, “Outside of North America, the press does not have access to the locker room. I believe that is a sacred place and a safe place for the players to be and that is why I have chosen not to open the locker room.” The letter goes on to say that players will be made available in the gym “under a different configuration that I feel is safer for everyone involved.”
Only problem is, official league policy is for teams to open the locker room 15 minutes after practice, according to at least one league communications officer. Whether or not this practice is standard in other leagues around the world is largely immaterial. Virtually every league in the United States, from the minors all the way to the majors, allows at least some press access to locker rooms.
But even if TFC’s policy is allowed to stand, this hardly seems like the right way to go about announcing it. Apparently, he allowed at least one week to pass without announcing the policy and then notified the press via letter. Clearly, the honeymoon is over in Toronto, where the announced attendance was 18,986, about 4,000 less than capacity. Getting on the bad side of local media hardly seems like a move in the right direction.
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