Canada West sports on hold during first term
Effects of coronavirus pandemic stretch into the fall for university athletes
There will be no defence of the Vanier Cup by the defending champion Calgary Dinos in 2020.
They’ll have to wait until at least next season.
That’s because Canada West football is taking a knee for the upcoming campaign.
So, too, is soccer, rugby and field hockey — and, perhaps, other varsity sports come 2021.
Until a vaccine is in place to combat the COVID-19 crisis, Canada West has decided no conference competition — regular season, playoffs or championships — will be scheduled for football, men’s and women’s soccer, women’s rugby 15s and women’s field hockey during the first term of the 202021 season.
“Until such time as there’s a vaccine, people can’t foresee a return to sport as we know it,” said Canada West president Clint Hamilton shortly after the conference made the announcement Monday.
“Of course, in Canada West, we did do a scope of work, understanding that institutions were facing financial challenges. So finances are always part of the equation. But the decision primarily was made on the health and safety of our student-athletes, coaches, fans and stakeholders.”
These moves were all made in response to the coronavirus pandemic and were ratified unanimously through a vote of Canada West’s 17 member universities Friday.
Abbreviated schedules in all four fall sports were slated to begin in September or October.
“The rationale behind the timing of the announcement is similar to the university communicating their fall semester plans,” said Dinos athletics director Jason Kerswill. “We all felt it would allow for our student-athletes to plan accordingly — to determine whether they were going to come back to campus or continue perhaps returning remotely in the fall.”
“(Students-athletes) and families are wanting to make decisions about being on campuses if they have to travel from afar,” agreed Hamilton. “We just felt, at every turn, we’ve been getting consistent messaging that although we’re all looking at ways that we can train and open up our facilities, that we were not getting an indication that we could ensure and guarantee safety and meet the physical-distancing requirements.”
U Sports, the national brand of university sports in Canada, announced the cancellation of its six 2020 fall national championships, helping to prompt the move by Canada West.
To boot, two of U Sports’ three other conferences — the Atlantic and Ontario circuits — have also opted to cancel their fall schedules.
“It’s a significant decision,” said Kerswill, pegging the amount of student-athletes affected by the decision to be upwards of 300 competing in the suspended fall sports. “These are the best athletes and coaches in Canada — I’m confident in saying that — at this level of play. As a university sport community, it’ll impact it greatly.
“That said, our student-athletes are student-first, and I do believe that when we’re allowed to compete again, we’ll quickly get back up to speed. When we’re given the green light, we’ll be ready to go.”
As for the two-term sports, they will — at most — have shortened seasons — while the schedules of the winter semester sports will be determined at a later date.
Golf, cross-country and swimming will be further evaluated, with a decision to be made by July 15. Basketball, hockey and volleyball seasons will start no sooner than January 2021.
A final decision on Canada West competition for 2021 winter sports — basketball, hockey, rugby 7s, volleyball, wrestling and track and field, will be made by Oct. 8.
“Certainly with winter sports, allowing us time to understand if advances are going to be made around the vaccine, we have some time,” Hamilton said. “Frankly, if there’s no vaccine, it’s going to be hard to envision us playing a January-to-march season.”
Along with the cancellations come changes to eligibility and scholarship regulations for 202021.
Most notably, fall-sport student-athletes — those who won’t get the chance to play for a championship in their respective sports this coming fall — will not be charged a year of eligibility and that the member schools will have more autonomy than usual in offering athletic financial awards.
“There will still be the regular scholarship caps in place … but I’m still hoping to offer the robust financial aid to our athletes — we want to support them as best we can,” Kerswill said. “I’m hoping over the next couple of days to host some town halls for the athletes and answer their sport-specific questions. Obviously, no one’s happy, but we sincerely hope it’s the right and necessary step to take.”
Just last month, Canada West cut the schedules of seven sports for the 2020-21 campaign.
Included was the usual eightgame football schedule shaved to just five, with each of the conference’s six teams — the Dinos, Manitoba Bisons, Regina Rams, Alberta Golden Bears, Saskatchewan Huskies and UBC Thunderbirds — playing each other just once.
But now, along with football, there will no soccer, rugby or field hockey in Canada West offing until next year.
Instead, individual universities can attempt to create a schedule based on exhibitions or tournament action — likely local and regional in nature — once they are cleared to training based on provincial and municipal health authorities.
“I’m personally crushed and devastated that we’re not going to see our Dinos student-athletes on the field of play this year,” Kerswill added. “Nothing brings me more joy as an AD here at U of C than to see our athletes go out and watch our athletes and coaches compete against the best of the best in Western Canada. To not have to have that opportunity to see is something I’m still wrapping my head around.”