Good afternoon gentlemen,
Hope you are all well and staying safe.
Over the last 3 months, our executive has been working hard to make our 2020 season a reality. Unfortunately at this point, with the rules in place for Phase 3 (and other reasons stated below), we must cancel the 2020 season of the RHMRBL. This was a tough decision, but one that was unanimously voted on by the 2020 executive.
I want to take this time to explain to everyone why this decision was made, and trust me this wasn’t easy on any of us...
First and foremost, the current rules laid out by the Ontario government for Phase 3 is that no league may play with more than 50 players (we have 90). There is also no inter-league play allowed (anyone that plays Thornhill or elsewhere as well, would not be allowed to play in Richmond Hill). These factors, as well as the list of members that have already chosen to not play this season as they do not want to take the risk, would mean a full re-draft would need to occur. This would set us back an additional 1-2 weeks and push our start date even further.
Additionally, since we are an independent league (not part of the OBA, like other leagues such as Thornhill), there are multiple additional steps that have to be taken to play this summer. We as a league would need to submit rules and protocols of our own for approval by the government (could take weeks to be approved). Also, our league would not be legally protected the same as an OBA league should someone get sick or decide to take legal action against the league. This is not something that we could risk, as it could put RHMRBL baseball in jeopardy forever. This is not something we feel comfortable doing.
On top of these reasons, we weighed things such as:
- Overall risk to the health and safety of our members and their families/friends
- The risk if we get started and then cancelled after 1-2 weeks, meaning all paid funds are now non-refundable
- Insurance coverage, and additional insurance that would need to be purchased because we are independent
- The “minimum rules” put forth by Baseball Ontario (no lead offs, umps behind pitcher, no spitting, no seeds, etc.) and how we could properly enforce these
At the end of the day, our founding and long time members have protected this league for 36 years. The 2020 executive is not willing to risk the future of this league for, at best, a 2 month “baseball” season. We also do not see any advantage in risking the health and safety of our 90 members, as well as their families and friends they would go home to every night. I cannot imagine the guilt we would all feel should someone in our league get seriously ill because we wanted to play a couple games of baseball.
We miss baseball as much as all of you and it’s heartbreaking that we are at this point. I hope that you all understand our decision and realize that this is the best decision for the future of our league and our members.
If you have absolutely any questions, please let us know and we will be happy to chat.
***REFUND INFORMATION AND OPTIONS WILL BE SENT OUT EARLY NEXT WEEK***
Cheers,
Jimmy Anderson Jr.
647-618-0598