Fall season of university sports cancelled due to COVID-19

University sports cancelled in Calgary Thousands of athletes had their season squashed Monday when university sports were cancelled. Glenn Campbell reports.

Calgary — There will be no university level football, soccer, rugby or field hockey in September as USports and the Canada West Foundation announced the cancellation of the fall season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

That means nearly 20,000 student-athletes will not be competing and hundreds of employees connected to the 56 sports schools will be out of work, including in Alberta.

The decision means regular season, playoff or championship games will not take place in football, men’s and women’s soccer, women’s rugby 15s, and women’s field hockey during the first term of the 2020-2021 season.

It also means players will not be charged a year of eligibility and there will be no changes to scholarship regulations for the 2020-2021 school year.

The news is still quite upsetting for programs at Calgary schools like Mount Royal University.

In a statement, Cougars Athletics and Recreation says, “We can’t begin to understand how disappointed our student-athletes, coaches, staff, and fans must feel right now.”

The statement continues, “this decision was made by the members of Canada West because the health and safety of everyone involved in varsity sports are incredibly important to us.”

St. Francis graduate Adrian Minakata signed on to play with the University of Calgary Dinos football team in the off-season, but just found out his dream to play for his hometown school with have to wait.

"It's heartbreaking because, you know, all that stuff just out the window," he said.

"And we're going to have to build up to it if it has to be another year to be out there on the field playing games and all that stuff."

Canada West says is is continuing further evaluations for golf, cross-country and swimming with a decision expected for those sports by July 15.

Basketball, hockey and volleyball are also expected to resume play, but no sooner than January 2021.

A final decision on Canada West competitions for Winter 2021 will be made by Oct. 8 regarding schedules for basketball, hockey, rugby 7s, track and field, volleyball, and wrestling.