Drug testing caused a stir the last time Mann Cup was in town
The Mann Cup final started Friday night here in Peterborough under the auspices of the Canadian Lacrosse Association.
The CLA runs the series by determining ticket prices, the schedule, assigning referees and handing out discipline to players and management. This is not the Century 21 Lakers’ show.
The last time the Mann Cup was in the city six years ago in 2012, the CLA turned it into a circus of national interest.
The series, won by the Lakers over Langley, was unfortunately noted in the national press for a drug-testing debacle and not for the great lacrosse on the carpet.
Now the CLA has returned to the city in charge of this series after another year of dubious actions.
Last November the Peterborough Examiner was the first to reveal a rift between the national lacrosse team’s management group and the CLA executive.
The result was the managers resigned from their positions thereby putting Canada’s participation in the then upcoming World Lacrosse Championships in Israel and the entire 2019
World U19 Women’s Lacrosse Champions set for Peterborough next summer in jeopardy.
The problems started when the CLA lost their Registered Canadian Amateur Athletic Association status. This meant that national teams could not offer tax receipts for donations to their programs. Players playing for Canada at world events for a number of years had to pay their own way there to compete.
The sanctions came about from the CLA’s participation in a $60.7 million gifting program the Canadian Revenue Agency deemed to be an abusive tax shelter. The national managers demanded the CLA seek to reattain that status so they could run their program. The CLA balked so they resigned. The impasse did not end until days before the Canadian men’s team had to leave for this summer’s world championship.
Last week at the Minto Cup final in Calgary, more problems for the CLA. The series was put on hold when all the referees resigned after the CLA refused to suspend a player for abuse of an official. New officials were brought in.
Now the show has moved to Peterborough where many fans still remember the debacle the CLA caused here six years ago tainting the win of the Lakers.
That all started when the CLA did not properly inform the two participating teams, Langley and the Lakers, of the drug testing protocol that was in effect for the series. This was one of the first national lacrosse events to be tested by the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES) and the CLA was expected to advise the teams of the protocol.
I was the convener of the series and in the opening meeting of team managers, referees and CLA officials there was no mention of any drug protocol other than the CCES may do some drug testing.
That they did!
When they appeared at the Lakers dressing room after a game demanding to take some players away to be tested, team management, not aware of any drug testing protocol, was slow to comply. It was the same with Langley.
The CCES complained to the CLA officials that the coaches did not co-operate with them.
Joey Harris, the president of the CLA sitting in Winnipeg, bypassed the on-sight discipline committee, suspended both coaches; the Lakers’ Jamie Batley and Langley’s Rod Jensen. There was no hearing and no interviews of the coaches or series officials.
The suspensions were eventually stayed and the Lakers won the Mann Cup in six games.
Hearings dragged on until the next spring. Lawyers became involved. Eventually one Langley player received a suspension of two years for illegal drugs. Also, the Lakers were fined $5,000, Langley $3,500 and Batley and Jensen received five-game suspensions for not co-operating.
Now the CLA show has returned to the city. Be ready for anything!