To everyone who cares about field hockey in Canada: on Thursday, March 1, 2012 the UofA field hockey team was informed of the Director of Athletics decision to pull the team from CIS competition and pull the funding. While our team is shocked and grieved by the news, it has larger implications. Pulling our team brings the number of teams in the Canada West conference below the minimum number of teams necessary to qualify for a CIS conference. If Canada West folds, there will not be enough conferences in Canada to qualify field hockey as a CIS league. This could mean the end of university field hockey in Canada. Our team was not informed of the decision until after it had been made. We were not warned, we were not consulted, we were not given an opportunity to argue against the decision or ask to continue competing self-funded. The reasons we were given by the director of Athletics were not the reasons given in the public statement. They propose to "fix" field hockey in Canada by destroying what has already been created over 40 years. We need support, we need help planning, we need action. Every field hockey player, alumni, athlete, friend, and family member needs to act against this blatant disrespect. Please give us your support.

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