The labour dispute between the B.C. Teachers Federation and provincial government has claimed at least one major casualty on the North Shore as the Buchanan Bowl, scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 6, was postponed with no replacement date set.
The highly anticipated annual football grudge match between North Vancouver rivals Carson Graham and Handsworth has been played every season for the past 27 years. The game is usually an early-year highlight for both schools with fans from each filling the stands at Confederation Field, one side coloured Carson red and the other packed full of Handsworth blue and gold.
Many high school football teams around the province have been practising despite the strike and several games are still listed on the B.C. High School Football Association’s schedule for this weekend, including Sentinel at West Van Sept. 6 at 1:30 p.m. Handsworth has changed plans and will go on the road to take on Frank Hurt Sept. 6 at 1:30 p.m.
“In August our overseeing body, B.C. School Sports, issued a statement that would allow the continuation of extra-curricular activities this fall in the event of a labour disruption,” said B.C. High School Football Association vice-president Kris Pechet in a release. “We see no reason to take away the choice that BCSS is making available to individual member schools. In the event that any member schools choose not to play, we will respect those decisions, and those schools will not be penalized. In addition, we also plan to respect all formal picket lines.”
The North Shore’s six senior football teams — Handsworth, Carson, West Van, Sentinel, Argyle and Windsor — are all scheduled to play games on the Sept. 12-13 weekend but the schedule could change at a moment’s notice depending on the continuation of the labour dispute and the availability of the teams.
The North Shore Secondary Schools’ Athletics Association will not schedule any of its fall sports, including boys soccer and girls volleyball and field hockey, until the labour dispute is resolved.
