OMFLL cancels season, local boys field LAX action in limbo

Greg Cowan
Aug 18, 2020  •  November 26, 2020  •  2 minute read
Field lacrosse file photo. Greg Cowan/The Sun Times

The Ontario Minor Field Lacrosse League has officially cancelled its 2020 season.

“Although there was a great deal of initial optimism after the July 24 Return to Activity guidelines came out, we regretfully announce that despite our best planning efforts, the 2020 fall field season will not be able to proceed,” an OMFLL release said.

The OMFLL said there were two restrictions put in place by the Ontario Ministry of Health which had to be lifted in order for any season to proceed. The league needed to have contact, and the ability for teams to travel and compete against clubs from outside of their health region.

“At this point, the emergency orders and border closures are being further extended and Christine Elliott, minister of health for Ontario, has indicated that further relaxing of the Ontario guidelines will not occur until there is a vaccine or treatment in place for COVID-19,” The OMFLL’s release said.

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The OMFLL said they received nearly 800 surveys from players and families as they consulted stakeholders for a possible return to the field.

“We had responses from members of every field club in Ontario, and every eligible birth year from 2004 to 2013. Nearly 80 per cent of respondents indicated that they would be registering their child to participate with their local OLA club in the fall program,” the release said.

Owen Sound Minor Lacrosse recently posted on their Facebook page that if the OLA were going to operate a boys field lacrosse league this summer they would hope to field teams in the under-11, under-13, under-15 and under-17 age categories.

Games were to be centrally located in Brampton, Oakville and Georgetown in September, with provincials following in early October.

OSML Boys Field Lacrosse Chair Mike Sarvis said by e-mail Tuesday that there was a large response locally for a potential season, including from families as far south as Mount Forest.

Sarvis and the boys field lacrosse executive is looking into some possible training and scrimmage dates in the fall, but nothing “concrete” as of yet.

“A lot will still depend on restrictions,” Sarvis said.

In July, the Ontario Lacrosse Association entered into Phase 3 of their Return to Action plan. This enabled local leagues to bring together their players for practices and scrimmages with modified rules in place, and no contact.

The Owen Sound North Stars girls field lacrosse program has been using Victoria Park in Owen Sound as the home of their Return to Action training program since July 15. Bi-weekly training sessions and scrimmages between North Stars teams have one week remaining on the schedule.