St. Clair student group claims to own Fratmen team

The sale of the AKO Fratmen football team to the Student Athletic Association (SAA) at St. Clair College was announced as a done deal on Twitter Thursday morning.

A Twitter account listed as Windsor AKO Fratmen kicked off at 6:50 a.m. by saying “The Fratmen and St. Clair College are pleased to announce another innovative partnership between the Fratmen Football franchise and its Student Athletic Association.”

The declaration caught St. Clair officials off guard.

“Nothing at this time,” John Fairley, the college’s vice-president of communications said in an email when asked if a formal announcement had been made. “Due diligence being done on both sides. Looking at the new year before any decision is made.”

The Fratmen Twitter account told a different story, saying “moving forward the Student Athletic Association will take ownership of the Fratmen.” The posts said the SAA will also be “taking responsibility for the business and gameday operations of the program.”

A sale of the club by Mike Morencie to St. Clair has been rumoured for some time and prompted the SAA and college to release a statement in October that the two sides were entering a “two-month period of due diligence.”

At that time, Ron Seguin, the college’s vice-president of international relations, campus development and student services, said 24 players off last year’s AKO roster were enrolled at the college and taking over the team was an opportunity to recruit more student/athletes.

“We anticipate legal being done in January,” Seguin said in an email Thursday. “Until it’s signed and sealed it’s not done.”

Seguin said he asked for the tweets to be taken down.

According to those tweets, a formal announcement will be made in January 2020 “fully detailing more of this exciting partnership with a chance to celebrate this ground-breaking venture.”

The posts said the current Fratmen coaching staff will remain intact.

Since 2014, the college has provided AKO players with a varsity athletic scholarship worth $1,250 if they are enrolled full time.

Attending St. Clair College is not required in order to play for the Fratmen in the Ontario Football Conference.

Starting in 2020, according to the announcement, the team will play and practise at the college’s new $25-million Sportspark.

The agreement was hailed as “the first such partnership of its kind in Ontario between a post-secondary institution and a junior football franchise.”

Attempts to reach Morencie for comment were unsuccessful.