High School Football Cancelled For The Season

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File photo of a football field

The high school football season has been cancelled.

In a joint statement issued by the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board, the Greater Essex County District School Board, Conseil scolaire catholique Providence and the Windsor Essex County Secondary Schools Athletic Association they say the  decision was not made lightly, but was made in the best interest of the safety of  students.

“One of the main determining factors in this decision has to do with helmet safety. The Ontario Physical and Health Education Association recommends that football helmets are required to be
certified by the manufacturer on an annual basis in order to meet standards of safe play. This can often be a lengthy process; it’s estimated that it could take at least six weeks or more to complete that certification process.After that certification, all teams would be required to hold 10 practices with full pads before the season could begin,” the statement reads.

They say that given the amount of time that would be required to certify helmets, certify coaches, and train student athletes so that they could play safely, there is simply not enough time in the fall to allow for a football season to safely proceed.

They also say their decision is consistent with a number of other boards around Ontario that have also decided to cancel or postpone their football programs this year.

They also say that moving the football season to the spring  is not a realistic option.

“Given that soccer is also held during the spring, holding both sports at that time may cause considerable damage to those school fields with natural grass. This would make it extremely
difficult to conduct regular outdoor physical education classes if school fields were being used simultaneously during the spring for football, soccer, and other outdoor sports,” officials said.