Two co-ed basketball teams in the Saskatoon Rec League said they have been booted from the league and told police will be called if they step foot in another gymnasium.
So what are they accused of doing? The players said it is bringing their children along with them to games to sit on the sidelines.
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They are now calling out the Saskatoon Rec League for being unsportsmanlike.
“Get a babysitter or don’t play. Childcare is not our concern. You will not be refunded anything.”
Alfred Ng said this is just one of the many emails sent to him and the other team captain after they brought the children in tow to their Sunday night games.
“You don’t expect a business to respond like that to basically a paying customer,” Ng said.
The majority of the players on the two teams are parents who say they just wanted to have a little fun while being active.
They reviewed the terms and conditions before signing up with the Saskatoon Rec League. At that time there was nothing stating that children under the age of 18 were prohibited from watching the games from the sidelines, otherwise these parents said they would never have joined.
“I took my son Brady, he’s three – he has come to the games without problem for five weeks and all the kids who come they’re always supervised,” Ng said.
“We feel like we’ve been treated unfairly.”
The teams have since been removed from the league and told that the police will be called and players charged with trespassing if anyone steps foot in the facility.
“I wouldn’t wish this experience on anybody.”
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In an email to Global News, the Saskatoon Rec League defended its position, saying it would love to offer a league that is family-friendly and all inclusive, but unfortunately its insurance does not allow for this.
“We understand that this will upset some people but we will no longer be allowing anyone under 18 at the games. Some will say it is extreme but this is a major safety concern. We are an adult-only league where fully grown adults are playing sports at high speed in very confined spaces (we use smaller courts in gyms),” said the email.
“Many of our gyms do not have any separate area for spectating so children are right on the floor or on the sidelines where there is an extremely high degree of getting injured by full grown adults running at full speed, throwing balls, kicking balls, etc.”
WATCH: Saskatoon Rec League Basketball
In the meantime, it was brought to the attention of City of Saskatoon officials that the organization may have been operating without a business licence and it turns out, it was.
According to the city, someone has since applied for one and the licence will be issued within the next seven to 10 days.
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