For over a year, rumours have circulated that McGill Athletics is evaluating its varsity teams with the intention of making cuts to the varsity program. This year, that rumour was confirmed. Fourth-year Women’s Rugby player and Varsity Council member Annette Yu shared in an interview with The Tribune that McGill Athletics has communicated with select Varsity Representatives that a ‘restructuring’ of the varsity program is underway, having started this in September. McGill Athletics will also consider 12 to 15 of McGill’s club teams that are petitioning to gain varsity status, rethinking which teams at the university deserve to wear the varsity ‘M.’
According to Yu, McGill Athletics shared that factors such as a team’s performance, recruitment, funding, alumni support, facilities, eligibility, medical services, and transportation will determine whether they gain, maintain, or lose varsity status. The review is set to be completed on Dec. 1.
This week, The Tribune sat down with athletes from various varsity and club teams to learn about how McGill Athletics’ restructuring may affect them.
Varsity Women’s Rugby
Martlets Rugby players Kate Murphy, U2 Science, Olivia Ford, U3 Arts, Yu, U3 Arts, and Captain Raurie Moffat, U4 Education, shared that in a 2024 meeting with McGill Athletics, the team was given an ultimatum: Win games in the 2025 season, or get cut. Moffat explained Martlets Rugby seemed “set up to fail,” when asked to prove their program growth without the resources to do so.
Because the team plays in the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) and U SPORTS leagues, they are ineligible to compete without varsity status. Furthermore, with greater team fees and administrative duties under club status, the players expect that if Women’s Rugby gets cut from the varsity roster, a formal team will cease to exist at McGill.
Every player spoke to the team’s positive impact. Yu emphasized the sense of community it gave her in her first year, and Ford said that if McGill did not have a team, she would have been deterred from attending McGill.
Moffat explained how the team’s potential cancellation is detrimental to future women in sport at McGill.
“I got my five years, but I think about how I don’t get to give back to the girls who are coming after me,” she stated. “There’s so many girls […] that are so talented. [….] It’s not fair to us, and it’s not fair to the players who are going to come after us.”
Varsity Field Hockey
On behalf of the Martlets Field Hockey team, Assistant Captain Grace Hodges, U3 Arts, explained how the team losing status would not end their competition, as they can still compete in the Ontario University Athletics league, but may be detrimental regardless.
“It would be another round of us just feeling frustrated, neglected, and like we’re not actually given a chance to succeed,” Hodges explained in an interview with The Tribune.
Having faced coaching turmoil, budgeting obstacles, and logistical challenges—such as daily early morning practices, long travel weekends, and self-organized accommodation on the road—there is a sense of a disproportionate lack of support for the Field Hockey team, even with its varsity status and with recent donations to the women’s varsity program at McGill.
“There’s not been a peep about how [those donations are] being allocated,” Hodges stated. “It’s honestly a very confusing and very opaque process.”
Varsity Golf
Varsity Golf team Captain Camden Purboo, U3 Arts, expressed his appreciation that McGill Athletics made the restructuring transparent with Varsity Council after a year of rumours.
Purboo noted McGill Athletics’ contributions during recruitment are crucial for the competitiveness of the Men’s and Women’s Golf program. The team is self-funded through donations, which helps their case for the restructuring, as they are a lesser burden on McGill Athletics’ budgetary constraints.
Purboo spoke on how the varsity program’s designation as club-level would hinder the team’s community feel.
“Whether your team gets cut or not, it’s tough because the varsity teams are pretty close,” he expressed. “When you go to the gym, it’s nice to see the other varsity teams there. I think it’s going to be tough on any team that is restricted in that sense. Hopefully Golf can pull through this.”
As hard as it may be on varsity teams, this restructuring poses a unique opportunity for McGill’s club teams. The Tribune sat down with club teams to discuss their aspirations to break into the varsity scene.
Club Ultimate
McGill’s Ultimate program consists of four teams—Women’s A and B teams, and Open A and B teams—comprising a 100-person roster. Captain of the women’s team and co-president of the Ultimate Team Maia List, U3 Science, said that around 200 people tried out for the team this year, showcasing the clear interest in the sport. The team won the Canadian University Ultimate Championships from Oct. 17-19.
List shared that Ultimate is self-refereed, fostering a unique trust in sport worthy of celebration.
“McGill [Ultimate] is now doing so well. It would mean so much to our team and to the sport of Ultimate to have [the team] be recognized by [McGill] as an important sport,” List explained.
Club Cheerleading
Ariane Alarco, U4 Science, said the McGill Cheerleading team is part of the RSEQ circuit and fully self-funded, with athletes paying their own fees. Yet, cheerleaders are pushing for recognition on the varsity level.
“We […] started the team back up in 2021, so we’re not very competitive with other schools,” Alarco explained. “[We have] limited access to equipment, […] training facilities, and subsidised coaching.”
Alarco detailed the team’s priorities of giving women athletes a chance to take their athletic careers in a different direction at university by trying out a new, popular sport.
“We have a lot of girls that come into the program with a history of gymnastics, and this team would allow them to try a different sport, if given the resources,” she stated.
Club Tennis
Emile Labrunie, U4 Engineering, is captain of McGill’s Club Tennis team, which he reports has been restricted by its club status. Although the club team has had podium success in the Tennis Quebec league, only varsity teams are allowed to travel to nationals, regardless of their season records.
Labrunie says the most important part of being a varsity team would be recognition and media attention. Being posted on McGill Athletics’ Instagram account would spread awareness of the men’s and women’s Tennis teams’ existence, which would be a positive change from the current environment in which “you have to be passionate about tennis to know McGill has a Tennis team.”
Labrunie shared that the McGill Tennis coaches—who are volunteers—have been “tenacious” with their petition to make the club a varsity sport. They email McGill Athletics every month—a reminder of their success and drive to represent McGill more formally.
Labrunie said that being a varsity team would also introduce players to a more connected community than club sports, which rarely hold inter-sport events.
“I feel like every varsity athlete knows each other. They go to each other’s matches, they have a ceremony at the end of the year for awards,” Labrunie pointed out. “[We are] kind of being left out, and we don’t even know why. We have the level, we have the structure, we have the professionalism, we have everything to be varsity. The only thing missing is the title.”
Ultimately, each team interviewed expressed a desire for more transparency, clearer communication, more institutional support, and stronger recognition throughout the process of McGill Athletics’ restructuring.
Despite differing positions within the McGill Athletics’ program, athletes voiced a desire for fairness and community amidst the cuts. With a Town Hall update meeting scheduled for early November, student-athletes across the board hope the discussion will shed more light on McGill Athletics’ decision-making process and provide reassurance that their commitment, performance, and passion will be valued when shaping the future of sport at McGill.
Sports Editor and co-author of this piece Clara Smyrski is captain of the McGill Women’s Field Hockey team. She was not involved in the writing, editing, or publication of the ‘Field Hockey’ section of this article.
