Eligibility: Keyano College Basketball-Gallatly

2018-19 Season 

February 7, 2019

Facts:

Blake Gallatly is a student-athlete who recently joined the KC Men’s Basketball team.

Mr. Gallatly enrolled at KC for the Winter 2019 semester. He had previously used a total of three (3) years of CCAA eligibility at a combination of KC and, most recently, Cape Breton University.

At issue is Mr. Gallatly’s participation with the McKinnon Cougars in Australia’s Big V Basketball league during the spring/summer of both 2016 and 2017.

KC sought a determination of Mr. Gallatly’s ACAC eligibility. This written ruling follows my earlier informal confirmation to KC that Mr. Gallatly was eligible as of January 26, 2019.

Ruling:

KC asked for confirmation that Mr. Gallatly’s participation in the Big V league did not result in him consuming ACAC/CCAA eligibility.

The question to be determined is whether the Big V is a professional league.

The relevant portions of the CCAA Operating Code are worded as follows:

12.3 One year of eligibility shall be charged to a professional athlete for each year that the athlete has participated as a professional in a recognized sport of the CCAA. The recognized sports of the CCAA are: badminton, basketball, cross-country running, golf, soccer and volleyball.

12.5 The status of student-athletes shall be governed by the following sport specific considerations:

12.5.2 BASKETBALL (MEN)

The student-athlete shall be considered to be a professional if he participated in any of the following:

(g) The top three divisions of professional competition in any country.

KC provided a letter from the General Manager of the McKinnon Cougars which indicated that the Big V league is semi-professional in nature. In addition, Mr. Gallatly paid a registration fee to play for the team. Further, on the Big V league website (www.bigv.com.au), the league is described as a semi-professional league within the Australian state of Victoria.

There is only one professional basketball league in Australia, the National Basketball League (www.nbl.com.au), which is comprised of only one division. The Big V league has no association with the NBL.

Based on the above, I confirm that Mr. Gallatly did not consume ACAC eligibility in relation to his participation in the Big V league. Therefore, so long as all other ACAC eligibility requirements were met, he was eligible to compete for KC as of January 26, 2019.

Sincerely,

Bill Hendsbee 
ACAC Commissioner