Saint Mary’s University Football team has been punted from an Atlantic University Sports (AUS) championship game as an ongoing eligibility issue hangs over the program.
The decision by AUS to cancel the Loney Bowl, Atlantic Canada’s conference championship, came on Thursday, only two days before Acadia University was set to host Saint Mary’s.
Acadia University, as the first place finisher in the irregular season, will now move on to face the winner of the Ontario University Athletics conference champion in the Uteck Bowl.
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It’s an unprecedented move from AUS as they’ve never had to cancel a final over an eligibility issue.
“There’s a tremendous amount of uncertainty right now around where we are at with the eligibility issue,” said Phil Currie, AUS executive director, in an interview on Thursday. “We felt with all that uncertainty it’s probably not an appropriate reason to go forward.”
An ongoing legal dispute between U SPORTS, Canada’s governing body on university athletics, and SMU as a result of the eligibility issue, has forced AUS to make a decision.
“We’ve had the option for a while, but we felt that it was important for us to make the decision now,” Currie said, explaining that Acadia is now free to prepare for the upcoming Uteck Bowl.
U SPORTS reportedly began investigating Saint Mary’s University over the eligibility of wide receiver Archealaus Jack, the league leader in receptions and receiving yards,.
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Jack’s eligibility came into question over a rule that states if a player is affiliated with a CFL team or listed on a team’s practice roster until Aug. 15 of that year, then they must wait a full 365 days until they can play for a university team.
Jack was released from the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders on Oct. 11, 2016 but has played for SMU throughout this season, including games before Oct. 11, 2017.
The Uteck Bowl is set to go down Nov. 18, as Acadia hosts their yet to be determined opponent.