Due to the impact of COVID-19 and given the CLA May 28^th announcement that all 2020 National Championships have been cancelled, the RMLL Junior A and Senior B Divisions have now made the difficult decision to cancel their formal 2020 Seasons.

RMLL Response to COVID-19

April 9, 2020
Duane Bratt
RMLL President

This is the update from the March 15 communication regarding covid-19.

On April 8, 2020, the Alberta Lacrosse Association (ALA) put out a communication that announced the cancellation of the minor box season, but that some sort of modified programming may occur in July-August.

This communication focuses on major box lacrosse.

The RMLL is formally cancelling the intended scheduled regular season, playoffs, and provincials across all of its divisions. There will be no games played in April, May, or June. However, we are still preparing and hoping for some type of modified schedule in July-August.

Recognizing each Division has unique circumstances and needs, any modified schedule will be developed on a Division by Division basis in consultation with the teams in each Division and will be dependent upon:

• • Availability and opening of facilities
  • Availability of referees
  • Availability of players

The Canadian Lacrosse Association is proposing to make a decision by May 15 about whether national championships such as the President’s Cup (SrB), Minto Cup (JrA), and Founders’ Cup (JrB) will be held in 2020.

The ALA discussed the issue of refunding of fees in their April 8 communication. For RMLL players/teams, there are three different types of fees:

• • ALA Intent to Play. Players directly paid this fee of $60.25 when they registered through the RAMP system (RMLL Intent-to-Play). If there is a complete cancellation of a major lacrosse division’s season, this fee (minus an administrative fee of $10) will be refunded. If there is a modified schedule, a different fee will be determined by the ALA Board of Directors. No refunds will be issued until these decisions have been made.
  • RMLL Franchise Fee. All Franchises pay a minimum Franchise Fee of $800 to the RMLL. If there is a complete cancellation of all lacrosse in a Division, this fee plus any Division extra fees will either be refunded or credited to 2021 season for all Franchises (minus an administrative fee set by the RMLL Executive). If a Franchise participates in a modified schedule, a new Franchise Fee will be determined by the RMLL Executive.
  • Team Player Registration Fees. A player pays this fee to the team that they are playing on. For the vast majority of teams, this fee has not been paid yet, because the team selection process had yet to occur. However, there may be some players who have already paid their team fees. In this case, you need to contact your team to determine what their refund policy is.

The reason for withholding administrative fees is that the RMLL’s fiscal year is October-September. As a result, the RMLL has already incurred costs including the 2019 AGM and 2020 planning meetings and the graduating midgets combines in Edmonton and Calgary. The ALA is in a similar position and this was outlined in their April 8 communication. 

Regardless if a Division Season is cancelled or not, we need to ensure all Major body corporate Executives are covered by the ALA’s Directors liability insurance. Therefore, the RMLL will be sending the ALA the list of names of each body corporate Executive as listed on the Franchise Certificate for their Franchises. From this list, the ALA will issue each Major body corporate (ALA Member) an invoice for $10.00 per Executive name.

The RMLL will continue to provide updates on its response to covid-19. It is a very fluid and unprecedented situation.