WINNIPEG – There’ll be one less team competing in the Winnipeg High School Football League.
Just days before the season was set to kickoff Murdoch MacKay Collegiate has folded their varsity football team because of a lack of players. The Clansmen lost a number of key players who suffered devastating injuries in practice, leaving the team with just 18 healthy players.
“They kinda had a perfect storm.” said Winnipeg High School Football League commissioner Rick Henkewich. “In the span of basically 10 days they had six season ending injuries, but the ones that hurt them the most, they lost their starting quarterback, the starting tailback and the starting middle linebacker.”
Most teams in the Winnipeg High School Football league carry between 30 and 40 players. The league tried to find a solution and even offered to let the team forfeit their first game of the season to give them time to find more players once students return to school. But with the Clansmen competing in the top division, player safety was also considered, and the league agreed it wouldn’t be a good idea to bring on players who are not prepared to play at that level.
“They have some numbers there but there’s the safety factor.” Henkewich said. “If we’re going to put 18 good ball players and six bad ball players on the field at that level of competition, I understand their decision.”
RELATED: St. Paul’s Crusaders back on top in high school football with win in ANAVETS Bowl
“In the long run, as much as it hurts the image of the league, in terms of player safety this is a good move for Murdoch to make that call. I know it’s a hard call for them to make, it’s a hard call for us to have to take.”
Some youth football leagues have seen a decline in participation in recent years, with many pointing to the greater awareness over the long term effects of head injuries. But the Winnipeg High School Football League will still have an all-time high of 43 teams across all five divisions this season.
“We’re not finding a drop in the number of players. We are getting parents who are concerned.” Henkewich said. “We’re still growing between 50 and 100 players a year.”
The loss of Murdoch MacKay leaves nine teams in the Potter Division (Division 1). It was too late to change the schedule so teams who were scheduled to play Murdoch MacKay will now automatically receive a victory. The plan is for the Clansmen varsity team to return to a lower division for the 2018 campaign but the school will still field a team in the junior varsity 9-man division this season.
Murdoch MacKay won the division two crown in 2010 and was promoted to division one the following year where they have been ever since.
The high school football league season opens on Thursday with seven games on the schedule.
WATCH: Commissioner Rick Henkewich discusses the loss of Murdoch MacKay
Comments