The Cold Lake Fighter Jets are fighting the Alberta Football League's (AFL) decision to pull them from the playoff tournament.
On Aug. 15, the AFL broke the news to the Cold Lake football team that they wouldn't be competing in playoffs this year, after the AFL league council were told the Fighter Jets had "contravened the Alberta Football League Compensation Act."
The AFL posted on their Facebook page on Thursday that after reviewing evidence and hearing the team's rebuttals, the league council had voted unanimously that the Cold Lake Fighter Jets were guilty of the allegations against them.
According to a post released by the Cold Lake football team, it's alleged that two players had been given financial assistance by another player to pay for their flights to Alberta, which goes against the rules of the AFL.
Fighter Jets' team president Damen Schaub said the team, staff, volunteers, and board weren't aware of the situation.
"We didn't know anything about it until 48 hours prior to the meeting that they were having a discussion about this new evidence presented," Schaub detailed.
He said the information had been given to the AFL months before it was brought forward, leaving the team wondering why their decision was made now so close to playoffs.
"We're taken a bit off-side from it," expressed Schaub. "We're trying to figure out why now? Why not then?"
The Fighter Jets plan on exploring their options on how to get the AFL's decision retracted in order to "keep the boys playing and punish the ones accused, not the entire team."
"Whether that's stripping wins... The games they didn't participate in, we still won those games. If they consider it that way, then we would still be playoff-eligible, but just in a lower seeding, and we would still be able to participate in the playoffs, just not being able to host all games due to the stripped wins and our lower win-loss ratio. We're just trying to figure that out and are waiting for the council's decision."
Schaub confirmed the two players accused are suspended into the 2020 season.
The remaining players "are pretty broken up about it," he explained.
"They want to play. We're ready to play, even if it's on short notice," stressed Schaub.
The Fighter Jets are hopeful the AFL council will make a decision on their playoff participation sooner than later, so if it works out in the team's favour, they have time to hit the road.
"A decision tomorrow afternoon is still not acceptable. There's no way we could get to Calgary in under three hours. If they do place us in a lower seed, we would go to Red Deer or Calgary," added Schaub. "There's a lot of scenarios that could still play out."
"At this point, they're still standing their ground on their decision," Schaub said, meaning playoffs will go ahead as scheduled with the Airdrie Irish taking the fourth spot.
Schaub took a moment to thank their fans for their sympathy, and was grateful for the support the city and community has shown so far this season.
"The players are still ready to play, we just hope this comes to an end soon so we can get some closure and carry on, whether that be in playoffs or next year."
