Beaches suspension unanimously supported by OJLL
Last week, the Ontario Junior Lacrosse League Board of Governors met to discuss a number of items, including the status of the Toronto Beaches Jr. A Lacrosse Club.
The team was indefinitely suspended by OJLL Commissioner, Mark Grimes, on December 6th for the club’s connection “to a competitor of the Ontario Lacrosse Association.”
During their Tuesday evening virtual meeting, board members from each of the league’s ten active clubs voted unanimously in support of Grimes’ decision to suspend Toronto, who will have the opportunity to appeal their punishment on January 4, 2022.
The OJLL currently has clubs based in the following cities or regions: Brampton, Burlington, Kitchener-Waterloo, Mimico, Oakville, Orangeville, Peterborough, Six Nations, St. Catharines, and Whitby.
The previously mentioned competitor in question is the Tewaaraton Lacrosse League, whose fifth franchise, the Toronto Lacrosse Club, seemingly shares at least some staff, namely Jason Shuttleworth, with the city’s OJLL club. Shuttleworth operates the Toronto Beaches and was also announced as the majority owner of the Toronto-based TLL team.
In addition to being deemed a direct competitor of the OLA and OJLL, the TLL has also threatened civil action against them, allegedly for over $100,000. TLL representatives claim that amendments made by the OLA regarding Junior & Senior player eligibility and a possible suspension for participation in a non-sanctioned league, are the reasons why they were forced to cancel a North American pro prospect showcase/combine leading up to the 2021 National Lacrosse League Draft.
“We had the Meridian Centre rented, Curt Styres had agreed to provide us with NLL turf, we had contracted Stadium Events to stream the games and arranged for Steven Stamp and Brian Shanahan for play-by-play, new jerseys were supplied by Xtreme Threads, educational sessions planned about the culture and history of the game, NLL had secured and placed referees and we had the volunteers in place to execute a phenomenal event,” said TLL President, Lewis Staats, in the league’s confirmation of the combine cancelation.
Of the 16 picks in the first round of this past year’s draft, twelve were either active or since graduated OJLL players, including the first overall selection, Johnathan Donville. A total of 43 OJLL players were selected in the 2021 NLL Draft, by far the most of any other league.
Last week, Lacrosse Canada issued a similar statement regarding player participation in non-sanctioned events or other competition. LC had previously communicated the same to member clubs on the governing of those guidelines within their province of play.
In response to The Lax Mag’s request for comment regarding last week’s decision, the OJLL Commissioner supplied the following statement:
The suspension of the Toronto Beaches Jr. A Lacrosse Club management and its representatives on December 6, 2021 is a direct and necessary response to the management's intention to compete with the Junior to Major leagues of the Ontario Lacrosse Association (OLA).
We acknowledge that the Toronto Beaches Jr. A Lacrosse Club has appealed the suspension in accordance with OR11.1 in the OLA Rules and Regulations. The Ontario Junior Lacrosse League (OJLL) met on Tuesday, December 14, 2021 and a recorded vote was taken to support the Commissioner's decision to suspend the Toronto Beaches management and its representatives until the appeal has been dealt with. The motion was carried unanimously by all member clubs.
The appeal is scheduled to be held on January 4, 2022 and will be heard by all member clubs.
Mentioned in the Toronto LC expansion announcement, the TLL has upped their age limit from 22-year-old players to 23. Those max-aged players would be too old for the OJLL but instead potential first-year Senior players, which would include Major Series Lacrosse. The announcement reads, in part:
In conjunction with adding this new franchise, the TLL Board of Governors also made the decision to amend the eligible age limit and make the TLL a “23 major junior lacrosse league” as opposed to the 22U age limit that we had envisioned utilizing had the TLL been able to play this past summer. “We believe that the change to a 23U league will be beneficial and provide added value as we continue to develop our plans to become the premier major junior lacrosse league in North America,” added (TLL President Lewis) Staats.
See the full announcement here.
Soon after the OJLL’s suspension statement was issued, Shuttleworth posted the following on his Instagram account, “The Beaches is the home of lacrosse in this city and @beachesjra is the premier product for lacrosse in @toronto. Everyone is starting to realize that especially folks from Hamilton and Mimico. Stay tuned”. See the entire post here.
As reported by The Lax Mag earlier this month, Ontario Lacrosse provides the NLL with by far the most players on their past or present rosters.