The conference intends to pursue both regular season competition and championships in 2021-22

(HALIFAX, N.S.) Atlantic University Sport is announcing a long-anticipated return to sport in the fall 2021. Following the cancellation of 2020-21 regular season competition and championship caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the conference intends to pursue a full season in 2021-22.

"We couldn't be happier to announce our intention to return to sport this fall," said AUS executive director Phil Currie. "This will obviously be contingent upon the most up-to-date public health directives, but we are optimistic that things will continue to go in the right direction, and that our student-athletes will be back on the field of play this fall."

Regular season competition and any exhibition play will begin in the month of September with AUS football, soccer, rugby and cross country competition getting underway. The conference's football schedule will be modified to facilitate a September start, while the soccer, rugby and cross country schedules will not require modifications and will follow a similar format to past seasons. Winter sports are also anticipated to follow similar formats and timelines to previous seasons.

The conference intends to release the 2021-22 schedules and fall and winter championship dates and hosts next week.

"While we acknowledge this season likely won't look identical to pre-pandemic years, we all hope 2021-22 will look a lot more like the 2019-20 season than 2020-21," said UNB director of athletics John Richard—AUS president and chair of the AUS return to play committee.

"With university sport being such a key piece of the fabric of our university institutions, and a vital aspect of our communities, we all stand ready and united to do whatever is required to achieve our return."

Plans for a fall 2021 return to sport were unanimously supported at a recent meeting of the AUS board of directors, which is comprised of the presidents of each of its 11 member universities.

The conference's management council then attended virtual annual general meetings earlier this month where much progress was made on the finalizing of 2021-22 schedules, and plans for updating the AUS return-to-play framework were finalized.

Last fall, AUS announced the formation of a committee dedicated to exploring possible return-to-play options for January 2021 and beyond.

The Return-to-Play Committee was comprised of an athletic director from each of the four Atlantic provinces, along with two representatives from the AUS conference office. Its mandate was to develop a framework which would allow for a safe and viable return to competition.

The committee developed a comprehensive framework which includes guidelines for participants and facilities, travel considerations, risk mitigation strategies and contingency plans and possible approaches to sport programming. This framework, which was reviewed by public health in the four Atlantic provinces, as well as the AUS board of directors, is now in the process of being updated and will be pivotal to the conference's return to play in the 2021-22 season.

What remains fundamental to the framework is the principle that the most current public health directives will always determine the approach and that any and all planned competition may be altered or cancelled in the event of a new or worsening outbreak of the COVID-19 virus in any relevant region.

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