The Bayside Sharks top men’s team will most likely be playing in a lower division next season, after finishing the BC Premier Rugby League spring season in last place.
The Sharks dropped their final regular-season game of the year Saturday, 76-5 to Burnaby Lake, and will finish eighth out of eight teams in the circuit, meaning they’ll drop down to first division next season.
The only way the Sharks will stay in the premier league is if the top first-division club – which won’t be determined until mid-May – chooses not to move up to premier.
“We’re not sure yet what’s happening in the league below us, it’s a work in process,” said Bayside head coach Pat Kearney. “But we’re preparing as though we’ll be relegated.
“For us, we don’t consider it a death sentence though, like maybe some clubs would. We have a young team with players who need to play as many games as they can, and it doesn’t matter what league it’s in.”
The Sharks were relegated to first division in 2011, but lasted just one year in the lower tier after winning a first-division title and being pushed back up to the premier level.
“We’re sort of in between divisions right now. We’re not good enough for premier, but when we go down a division, we’re very successful,” Kearney said.
“This season was tough, but the guys always played hard and can hold their heads up high.”
With the 15-a-side team now on a break until the fall, Kearney said most of the team’s young players will stay on the pitch throughout the summer, either playing rugby sevens or in Rugby League – a form of touch rugby that is gaining in popularity.