Appeal tribunal upholds OLA’s decision, MSL requests emergency meeting
Brodie Merrill, Brampton Excelsiors 2010 (Photo: Ward Laforme)
Both the Owen Sound Sun Times and Peterborough Examiner have reported that an appeal tribunal has agreed with the Ontario Lacrosse Association Board of Directors’ decision to return the Excelsiors Lacrosse Club back to Brampton from Owen Sound.
The two local papers also report that the tribunal confirmed that if long-owed player development payments weren’t made by MSL clubs by May 20, 2022, the previously reported 49 players impacted would officially be declared fee agents.
Nearly a month ago now, the OLA Board of Directors had communicated to MSL that if these requirements were not met by the end of April, they would no longer recognize the MSL executive and also suspend MSL Commissioner Doug Luey for five years.
Luey and MSL instead appealed the BOD’s decision, but weeks later are in seemingly the same spot. While the tribunal did uphold the OLA’s requirements regarding the Excelsiors destination, they informed MSL that a seventh franchise in Owen Sound would be permitted. Based on recent public statements made by MSL, Owen Sound expansion is not a solution Luey and the league would likely support.
In recent weeks, Peterborough Lakers spokesperson Brian Cowie had stated that if the appeal did not go favourably for the league, MSL would consider legal action, “Because there seem to be a calamity of process errors on their part.”
With that said, Sun Times sports reporter Greg Cowan today tweeted:
New on the Excelsiors beat: Reg Holinshead, OJCLL Commissioner, Sue Finnen, Women's Major Series Lacrosse commissioner, Joe Hiltz and MSL Commissioner Doug Luey requested an emergency OLA board of governors meeting this past Thursday. Meeting is in the works.
Both the Sun Times and Examiner outline issues the tribunal had with the original transfer of team ownership between the Brampton Excelsiors Lacrosse Club and Bug Juice brand owner, Joe Norton (Major Excelsiors Lacrosse Team, MELT).
The summary states Norton was “reluctant” to answer questions and “avoided giving comprehensive answers”.
The summary states the transfer of ownership from the original BELC to Norton had many irregularities including “failure to obtain BELC approval of sales agreement, failure of MSL to formally review and approve sale and present approval to OLA; failure of OLA when knowing about sale taking place to ensure sale was executed properly and approve said sale”.
The summary states all parties involved in the 2018 sale of the Excelsiors to Norton failed in some form in acquiring the necessary approvals and dealing with the issue in a timely matter.
The Examiner update shared a similar story:
The tribunal’s ruling obtained by The Examiner casts blame on all parties for not following proper procedures in the sale of the team including blaming the OLA itself. The tribunal was not satisfied a proper sale and all necessary approvals had been conducted and sided with the OLA decision to return the team to BELC under the guidance of its new president Glenn McClelland.
The ruling states, “The Tribunal rules that this matter be returned to the effected parties to facilitate the inclusion of a 7th team in the 2022 season. That team to be awarded to Joe Norton (MELT) to operate in Owen Sound.”
A six-team schedule, which included Owen Sound but not Brampton, was announced by MSL several weeks ago. The season was to start a week from today in Six Nations. The schedule, as well as the league’s entry draft, were not support by the OLA, who back in August of last year, had requested specific sale-related documentation between Norton and the BELC in order to validate and approve the team transfer.
There’s been stalemate since.
Some have speculated that if the league does not get their way, in addition to potential legal action as threatened by Cowie, MSL could disband from the OLA altogether.
MSL had previously stated that the OLA provides them insurance and entry into the Mann Cup, but seemingly little to nothing else. An earlier MSL announcement indicated:
We do understand and respect that the OLA is the governing body of lacrosse for Ontario and MSL is under that umbrella. The OLA provides MSL the insurance needed to play, and is the governing body responsible for supporting an Ontario representative for the Mann Cup, the national championship for senior A lacrosse in Canada.
The governing body of MSL is and always has been its Board of Governors, who collectively stand with its commissioner Doug Luey, Owen Sound Lacrosse Club owner Joe Norton, along with all teams - Brooklin Lacrosse Club, Cobourg Kodiaks, Oakville Rock, Owen Sound LC, Peterborough Lakers and Six Nations Chiefs, its Governors, players, volunteers and Executive Committee members.
The Western Lacrosse Association and MSL actively have another issue on their hands: access to all of the sport’s best box players.
As first reported by The Lax Mag, the Premier Lacrosse League has added a clause to their player contracts, no longer allowing their professional athletes to compete in leagues taking place during their season of play (June-September). While the restriction was lifted for players still taking part in the National Lacrosse League’s playoffs, which are presently taking place, the same wasn’t done for Canada’s Senior A leagues, a suspected target of the new contractual terminology.
Since the leagues’ recent plea to the PLL, the American-based league has signed more players that had previously played in either MSL or the WLA. Additional Canadian players were also recently drafted by PLL clubs.
The Calgary Roughnecks’ Curtis Dickson, who also plays for the WLA’s Langley Thunder, has been one of the few pro players to publicly choose Canadian amateur box over the PLL. Dickson had previously played for the PLL’s Chaos, a team with a significant number of Canadians on their roster. Dickson’s NLL teammate, Jesse King, is another prominent player that will be spending his upcoming summer north of the border.
The WLA, which in comparison to MSL, has quietly cruised through a lengthy offseason during to the pandemic, are set to start their 2022 regular season on May 27th at the historic Queen’s Park Arena in New Westminster, British Columbia.
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