OTOWA TO DECIDE FATE OF 
CO-ED COMPETITIONS IN ONTARIO

     The 2003 season in Ontario featured three co-ed tug-of-war competitions as the main event.  Although not fully sanctioned by the Ontario Tug-of-War Association, the division was given the opportunity to demonstrate just how significant it would be for participants and spectators at a few established venues during the season.

     This style of pulling is not new to tug-of-war.  Around the world many countries such as Belgium, England, Sweden and the U.S.A. have incorporated co-ed competitions for a variety of reasons but mainly to introduce women competitors to the sport when their numbers were less than the minimum of 8 required to field a team.  Once established, the program has proven to be very popular among participants and spectators.

     The co-ed configuration consists of four men and four women on a squad.  Although team members usually stagger themselves according to sex, there is no hard and fast rule about doing this. Substitutions may occur but the replacement must be of the same sex as the person leaving the match.  All other association rules apply as for male and female divisions.

      TWIF (Tug-of-War International Federation) has not endorsed co-ed competitions mainly because of the time factor.   The existing program of weight classes at world events already fills the four day tournaments and introducing co-ed could only be accomplished by dropping an established division.  Since the existing program is presently popular among competitors, it is highly unlikely that the co-ed class will be accepted in the near future.

      Because of a desire by some European clubs to establish a "Co-ed Championship Tournament", the Tug-of-War Federation of Great Britain is holding the First Open Co-Ed World Championships on Saturday the 7th of August 2004.  The event will be hosted by Holland TOWC at Burton on Trent, Staffordshire and will be pulled at two weights;  600K & 640K.

      Wayne Messecar, 2003 secretary and coordinator of events for OTOWA, was responsible for organizing the late summer tournaments at the fairs in Wellesley, Mitchell and New Hamburg.  Teams that participated were Bluewater, Nissouri, South Easthope and Zorra.  Wayne reported that the organizers and spectators were "very positive" about the competitions.  He pointed out that this style of pull "elevated the skills and working habits of the ladies and showed ladies teams like Zorra how to win, and how it feels to win."   He went on to say that another benefit was allowing ladies to compete when less than 8 show up. According to Messecar, the only negative aspect of co-ed competitions was that clubs like Ellice who didn't field a ladies team were left out.  When asked if he would recommend continuation of the co-ed tournaments in the 2004 season, he replied "Definitely yes!"

      Some other association members are not as certain about continuing with this year's pilot program.  Ron Totten, official master of ceremonies at OTOWA events, felt that the calibre of competition in co-ed events was not as good as we get at most events featuring the traditional men's and women's divisions.  " I think some of the teams just got put together at the competition and it showed in the pulling," said Totten.  He went on to say that although it gave some of the ladies a chance to pull and was a good fill-in competition at 2 to 3 events, some of the pullers seemed not too enthused about pulling co-ed.  When asked about introducing this division at the major events, Totten replied, "Co-ed could be a problem at a big competition with many teams and a short time allowance."

      Jim Connolly, National Coach for the Canadian Amateur Tug-of-War Association pointed out that the co-ed configuration is an excellent way of keeping clubs alive at times when membership in either the men's or women's teams is less than eight.  He also suggested that down the way it may be a selling point to establish tug-of-war at an Olympic event by including both sexes in the competition.

      The matter will be discussed and a decision made by the council at the annual meeting of the Ontario Tug-of-War Association on April 4, 2004 in Embro, Ontario.

      The following chart summarizes the statistics for the 2003 season in the Ontario co-ed division.

CO-ED CWT DIVISION

STATISTICAL SUMMARY

TEAM VS. TEAM ANALYSIS

© copyright 2003-2004
Editor: M. L. Monteith
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Last modified: May 17, 2004