McGill explores possible move to OUA football league in 2013
MONTREAL – Ď㽶ĘÓƵ has applied to play in the Ontario
University Athletics football conference, which, if accepted, would
move the Redmen from the Quebec league to Ontario by 2013, the
team’s 133rd season on the gridiron.
The OUA will be expanding to 11 teams with the addition of Carleton
in 2013, which opens the door for a 12th squad and would allow the
OUA an option to have two divisions of six teams.
“The opportunity to be part of a restructured OUA football league
with the addition of a second Ottawa-based team meant the time was
right for us to consider such a move. And to do so we had to submit
our candidacy,” said Drew Love, executive director of athletics and
recreation at McGill, who indicated that he has not yet made a
decision to leave the six-team Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec
football conference.
“Should we make the move, we will continue to be a contributing
member of the Quebec conference in the majority of our sports. In
fact, we currently have 21 teams in the RSEQ – more than any other
Quebec university. We had to make a formal application to the OUA
last week, which was their deadline to have playing privileges for
the 2013 season and we have no idea if they will accept our
proposal,” said Love. “We have a long tradition of playing football
in Ontario and were part of the first intercollegiate football
league in 1898, initially with Queen’s and Toronto and later
Western, our traditional Old Four rivals.”
The OUA champion currently receives the Yates Cup, which was
donated in 1898 by Dr. Henry B. Yates, a former McGill football
player who graduated from medical school in 1893, went on to become
a professor at McGill until 1914 and served in the Canadian Armed
Forces during the First World War. The Redmen vied for the Yates
Cup from 1898 until 1980, when they parted ways with the Ontario
league – then known as the OUAA – and began challenging for the
Dunsmore Cup as part of the Ontario-Quebec Intercollegiate Football
Conference. Since the RSEQ league was formed in 1998, McGill has
reached the final twice in 14 years, the last time occurring in
2002. McGill won the Yates Cup 10 times, including their last
conquest in 1969.
“The possibility of playing football in the OUA is an intriguing
one and we feel that it is a good match for our program,” explained
Love.Ěý “We recruit about 40 per cent of our players from high
schools across Canada. They are significantly younger compared to
the average CEGEP recruit, so the move to the OUA would put us on a
more even playing field. The OUA also plays a shorter regular
season schedule, eight games instead of nine, which we feel is a
better academic fit for our student-athletes.
Love noted that four of McGill’s 28 varsity teams already compete
in the OUA (men’s hockey, women’s field hockey, men’s & women’s
rowing) and indicated that McGill would also look forward to
establishing greater ties with its Ontario colleagues as
well.
“It would provide us with enhanced marketing opportunities to
resume our long-standing rivalries with a number of teams, most
notably Queen’s, which typically draws our largest crowds. In
addition, it would give us a chance to play in front of many of our
alumni and families of current and prospective McGill
students.”
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SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Communications Office
McGill Athletics & Recreation
514-398-7012
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