Report: Whitecaps’ response to allegations `appropriate’

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — An investigation concluded the Vancouver Whitecaps’ response to allegations of misconduct by former women’s coaches Bob Birarda and Hubert Busby Jr. was serious and “appropriate.” The report, prepared for Major League Soccer by lawyers Janice Rubin and Melody Jahanzadeh of Rubin Thomlinson LLP, says while the club acted “expeditiously” in hiring an experienced workplace investigator, there were issues with the investigation itself. MLS hired the law firm in November to review how the Whitecaps dealt with sexual misconduct allegations against Birarda in 2008 and Busby in 2011. The report says the investigations were “superficial and lacking in depth.” And it concludes some of the investigator’s findings “seemed overly generous.”