League statement regarding cancellations

The BC Junior A Lacrosse League in response to the recent forfeitures by Burnaby and Nanaimo have the following comments:

It is never good for the game when a team has to forfeit a game due to not being able to field a team. Unfortunately, this past Sunday July 3, 2016 and July 6, 2016, the Burnaby Junior Lakers and the Nanaimo Junior Timbermen both were unable to field enough players to play their games.

It is important to understand that both teams did attempt to try and fill their rosters with players from the West Coast Junior B Lacrosse League and BC Intermediate A League. Unfortunately they were not able to have the cooperation from all the teams which they contacted.

The West Coast Junior B League started playoffs July 4th and the BC Intermediate A League teams contacted were unable or not willing to provide players to help either team. As their playoffs are looming within a week.

Injuries were also a factor for both teams who had players with injuries willing to play but as safety was a concern the General Managers for both Burnaby and Nanaimo felt putting those players at risk was not worth it.

Our league will be reviewing the forfeitures and the league process and consequences at our next league meeting.

We apologize to our fans for the unfortunate inconvenience these forfeitures may have caused and look forward to seeing you all at our Playoffs starting this Tuesday July 12th, 8pm in our Wild Card 4th place Port Coquitlam vs 5th place Langley. The full schedule is on our website www.bcjall.com.

Respectfully,

Karl Christiansen

President/Commissioner

BCJALL