Leaving Canada was devastating, but footy coach Bev Priestman has new goals now. Photo / Nicola Edmonds
It was one of the biggest football scandals in recent history: the Canadian team accused of spying on the New Zealand team at the Paris Olympics. As a result, coach Bev Priestman was banned for a year and faced some of the toughest days of her life.
Convinced she would never be able to show her face on a football pitch again, the 39-year-old is now back in the public eye as the Wellington Phoenix women’s team coach, leading the stellar squad to its best result in history. And she doesn’t take a moment of it for granted.
“Now I appreciate every day,” she says. “I was very married to the game and I still am, but I think I have a better perspective on everything.”
The 2024 Games should have been a victory lap for Bev and the Canadian team, as they prepared to defend their gold medal. Instead, before the Olympic flame lit the cauldron, her world imploded.
She and two staff members were caught using a drone to spy on New Zealand training sessions, and the fallout was brutal.
“I was rushed through airports like a criminal,” she recalls. “I got home and realised the enormity of it. My family picked me up from the airport, and we didn’t stay in our house for a few days because we were too afraid. When we did go back, we had people knocking at our door and rubbish left there. It felt very traumatic very quickly.”
In the weeks that followed, Bev decided to stay silent.
“There was a lot I wanted to say, but I didn’t want to create any more drama for the team,” she says. “Everything was played out in the media without any of the real facts. But you can’t do anything.”
For legal reasons, she still hasn’t been able to speak about the specifics of how it all unfolded.
An independent review found that this was not an isolated incident at Canada Soccer and it was part of “a past pattern of unacceptable culture and insufficient oversight within the national teams”.
After a month of hiding in her home, too afraid to even drop her son Jack at kindergarten, Bev’s wife, former Football Fern Emma Humphries, made the decision to return to New Zealand.
“Very quickly, Emma said, ‘We’re going to have to pack up and leave.’ At first, I was in denial, but I realised how much I needed to for my mental health and for my little boy.”
It was the right choice. As soon as the former England assistant coach left the country, she felt the weight lift off her shoulders.
“I remember the day we left Canada. I was at the airport with my hood up, trying to fly under the radar. When we landed in Sydney, I took my hood down. I felt free.”
Once they settled in Christchurch, Bev’s biggest concern was how this would affect Jack, now 7.
“His world changed overnight, and he doesn’t really know why,” tells Bev. “My little boy was born in Canada – he loved the team. The biggest thing was that I felt like I had let my family down and that he would have to read about it one day.
“There is a day when I’ll need to have a conversation and explain it to him.”
For most of Jack’s life, Bev has balanced motherhood with the busy schedule of an international coach. The one silver lining of that dark time was being home every day with Emma, 39, to take Jack to school, and enjoy beach walks and family camping trips.
“I got to spend some really special time with them that maybe I wouldn’t have had if this hadn’t happened.”
In the early months of the scandal, Bev thought she’d never work in football again. While she never lost her love for the game, the thought of returning to the spotlight felt overwhelming.
But when Emma landed a role as director of the Wellington Phoenix Academy, Bev couldn’t ignore how it felt to be back with her people.
So when the opportunity to coach the Phoenix women’s team arose, Bev chose to face the music rather than walk away for good.
Although she doesn’t know what her future holds, with the Phoenix women now within touching distance of their first-ever playoffs, Bev knows she is capable of anything as long as she has her family by her side.
“I look back and, yes, there were some very dark days, but I think you realise you’re stronger than you think you are.”