Breaking: Grinnell College withdraws its football team from its remaining games, cites injuries and concerns for player safety

Grinnell College has withdrawn from its remaining football games for the 2019 season. Photo by Justin Hayworth/Grinnell College.

By Eva Hill hilleva@grinnell.edu

The Grinnell College Pioneer football team’s fall 2019 season has come to an abrupt end after the College decided to withdraw from their remaining seven games of the season. According to Andy Hamilton ’85, director of athletics, the College made the decision based on the high number of injuries to players and the resulting lack of qualified, uninjured members of the roster.

Out of the team’s 39 players this season, 11 have suffered injuries that disqualified them from play, leaving them with just six players more than the NCAA-required minimum 22-member squad. This made it impossible for the team to have backup players for every position. A press release sent by the College to the S&B emphasized that the decision was made in order to preserve players’ health and safety, stating that “the current state of the football team precludes the College from providing a safe environment”. Hamilton said that the decision was officially codified on Monday morning.

Currently, the team is awaiting a ruling from the National College Athletic Association (NCAA) to find out if they will be allowed to continue practice and training over the period that would have been the regular season. NCAA regulations do not permit teams to practice during the off-season, and, Hamilton said, “we don’t know whether this move has actually triggered the off-season. We’re just waiting on that, and once we know, we’ll proceed accordingly with our players and coaches.”

The team currently stands with zero wins and three losses for the games already played this season. According to Hamilton, team and player stats generated in those games will stand. Additionally, Hamilton said that based on information from the NCAA commissioner, the team’s remaining games will be scored as “no-contest,” rather than forfeitures, meaning that they will not officially count toward win-loss records.