AUS cancels fall sports programs
No men’s and women’s soccer, or cross-country running for MUN Sea-hawks
The Memorial Sea-hawks varsity women's soccer team reached the conference semifinals in each of the past six years, and like 2014, when the Lady Birds won their first championship banner, the squad had hoped to make a run towards a title in the Atlantic University Sport circuit this season.
Unfortunately, that's not going to happen.
And not because pundits are writing off the Seahawks before they even hit the pitch. Rather, the AUS conference made a rare announcement earlier this week that it has decided to suspend all regular season and playoff competition until January 2021 for its member teams.
U SPORTS, the national body which oversees Canadian university sports, also confirmed the cancellation of all fall 2020 national championship events.
That means, for the Seahawks, there will not be any play this season in men's and women's soccer, nor competition in cross-country running.
The decision, coming about as a result of COVID19, was finalized by the AUS board of directors at its most recent meeting and was reached in consultation with Canadian university sport conferences Ontario University Athletics (OUA) and Canada West, as well as U SPORTS.
The writing was on the wall last month when Memorial
announced it is “welcoming” new and returning students in the fall, but it will be to a, “primarily remote teaching and learning environment for the fall semester.
“Full in-person, on-campus courses will not resume before January 2021.”
Since then, Memorial Athletic Director Karen Murphy said Dalhousie, the University of New Brunswick, Mount Allison and Cape Breton University are following the same approach as MUN of online delivery of curricula for the fall.
“It's a devastating decision at this time ... very disappointing, but this is where we have to go,” Murphy said. “The decision was made after much consultation and deliberation with sport administrators at our university and other universities in the AUS and across the country.
“We're absolutely keeping the health and well-being of the student-athletes and coaches first and foremost. There are 11 institutions in the AUS, and everybody is on the same page.”
Another factor which came into play was travel and the requirement of self-isolating following interprovincial travel.
The AUS conference, for example, includes universities in Newfoundland and Labrador, P.E.I., Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
So the question is how could a student-athlete complete a large amount of travel and expect to self-isolate for 14 days following each return home?
“That was a factor in trying to reach these decisions,” she said. “There are geographical issues when you have a conference that spans four provinces. Canada West is in the same situation.”
The Memorial Sea-hawks men's and women's soccer teams were set to open the new soccer season Sept. 12-13 at King George V Park in St. John's against Mount Allison University.
In addition to soccer being put on the backburner, there will also be no competition in cross-country.
However, Memorial's Athletic Department is “hopeful” of a condensed schedule for men's and women's basketball, women's volleyball, swimming, track and field and curling, all winter sports.
Volleyball is scheduled to start in October, basketball on Nov. 1.
“Those decisions will not be made until the fall,” Murphy said.
In terms of student-athletes losing a year of eligibility because of the suspension of play this year, U SPORTS has determined that if there is no national championship in a given sport, studentathletes in that sport will not consume a year of eligibility.
As for honouring scholarships and bursaries to student-athletes, those decisions will be made by each individual institution, Murphy said, before adding, “At Memorial, it's our intention to honour those commitments.”
There will be no layoff of the contracted varsity coaches at Memorial.
“Layoffs have not been in any conversation,” Murphy said. “My intention and understanding is that they will proceed as they normally do, and they're quite busy right now.
“Some of them have done a fantastic job of finding ways virtually through appropriate social distancing to have small groups of student-athletes connect and do workouts via Zoom meetings, or connect with a trainer.
“They've certainly committed themselves to making sure that a lack of competition won't mean that there isn't a team and there aren't team activities and there aren't things the Athletic Department won't be delivering, albeit in a different format.”
And the search for a men's basketball to replace Peter Benoite remains ongoing.
“As you can appreciate,” Murphy said, “this is an evolving, shifting and ever-changing environment. We're still working through a pathway as to what the best way is to address that vacancy.”