Frank Hurt Secondary’s football team has been spiked for the rest of the current season, due to a numbers crunch and mounting injuries.
The Surrey school’s Hornets, a AA Varsity squad, won’t play their final two regular-season games, which have been cancelled. They include one at Abbotsford’s Robert Bateman school on Friday (Oct. 19) and a home game against Langley on Oct. 27.
Frank Hurt players were told the news Friday, according to head coach Daniel Lobelsohn, and a message went to the league on Monday.
“It’s numbers, and injuries,” he said.
With great sadness and regret, we must prematurely say goodbye to the 2018 season and be hopeful for 2019. pic.twitter.com/30Yrk64COf
— Frank Hurt Football (@FrankHurtBall) October 13, 2018
No game this week as @FrankHurtBall has folded for the season. We wish them all the best in getting things sorted out for the 2019 season. @BCHSFB @BenLypka @htsumura @AbbyNews
— Bateman Football (@BatemanFootball) October 16, 2018
High school teams have a mandatory minimum of 18 rostered players, Lobelsohn noted.
The Frank Hurt team had 24 players at the start of the season and was down to 16 “consistently,” he said.
“I refuse to be the kind of person that will dress two or three players just to make our mandatory minimum, because the reality of the sport is, it’s hard playing both ways, and injuries occur, along with fatigue and sickness. I was decimated by that cold/flu in our last week.”
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Lobelsohn has coached football for eight years at Frank Hurt, where he’s a special-ed teacher.
“I’m working on reviving (football) for spring, and we’ll run a spring campaign so we can start building interest in the sport,” he said. “I’m banking on the fact we’ll have a 2019 fall season.… My Grade 11s are talking about the rebuilding process here, and obviously it’s going to be tough for the Grade 12s. We’re looking to promote the future.”
A fear of concussions has led to a drop in football participation in recent years, with movies and documentaries made about the subject, but Lobelsohn said the game is safe to play.
“Injuries will happen,” he said. “We’re trying to make the game safer, and we’ve done things like reducing the number of full-contact practices allowed in a given week.
“Football has a lot to offer kids in terms of life lessons,” he added. “We know sports keep kids accountable and out of trouble.”
This season, the Hornets were winless in two games, including a 58-7 loss to G.W. Graham on Oct. 5 and a 15-0 setback to Samuel Roberts Technical on Oct. 13. In exhibition play, the team lost 42-0 to Westsyde and 40-6 to Samuel Roberts.
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