Wayne Hudson
Sports & Health Editor
@WayneaHudson
The York Lions Women’s volleyball team has been disqualified from the final four of this weekend’s provincial playoffs, due to a violation raised by Ontario University Athletics’ (OUA) Eligibility Committee.
In their playoff quarterfinal game, the Lions beat the Royal Military College (RMC) of Canada 3-0 in a single elimination game, and advanced to the semi-finals. However, due to York having an ineligible player participate in the winning game, RMC has now been given the semi-finals position.
Before participating in post-season play, a roster player is required to be eligible for at least one regular season game, according to Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) regulation. The player in question recently left another school to attend York, and in doing so she missed the period of eligibility by approximately 2 days.
OUA executive Ward Dilse explains that, although the violation can be traced down to a few days, the decision to disqualify York is final.
“If you use an ineligible player and you win the game, then a sanction is an automatic forfeiture,” he says. “There is no movement on that at all, it is black and white in our constitution.”
If York played with an ineligible player and did not win the game, Dilse says only a $500 fine would apply. Since the team won, however, he says a sanction applies in addition to the $500 fine.
However, it is not only the semi-final position York is losing; OUA rules state the highest ranking team may host the Final Four tournament. Since York’s elimination, the hosting duties of the tournament go to University of Ottawa, the highest-ranking remaining school.
York is attempting to appeal the decision. York University will attend a hearing February 24 at 3:00 p.m. with the OUA Appeals Committee to discuss and argue their points to regain their former final four position.
But Dilse says taking this step creates another set of potential problems.
“The reality is, this is such an unfortunate circumstance all around because the window of time here is obviously closing,” he says. “Because the national championship is next week, we have to declare the OUA champion on Sunday in order to participate in the international championship.”
With numerous possible outcomes, the formerly first-place Lions are waiting to find out whether their championship dreams were just cut short.
Excalibur will be following the appeals process.
