(Submitted/Screenshot of protest video)

By Julia Lovett-Squires

Rustlers Protest

‘No King, no ring’: Rustlers basketball community holds protest

Feb 5, 2025 | 5:13 PM

In fridged temperatures, the repeated chant of “No King, no ring” roughly 30 voices strong was shouted at the closed doors of Lakeland College.

The protest, held on Tuesday, was in support of the women’s basketball team, whose coach, Chris King, was fired last December after 17 years following a complaint made by a former player.

“Our numbers weren’t as high as we had hoped,” said Chris Thiele, team parent.

He explained upon arrival, the group had gone to the back doors, which were open and when he asked the school administration if they would be allowed entry but were told no.

“They said, ‘You have a space out there [by the front doors], that looks like a safe space’ and I asked well, I said, ‘Would you consider minus 30 a safe way to do this?’”

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Upon confirmation that they would not be allowed entry, the group walked around to the front of the school and set up camp by the doors.

According to Mark Kosak, CEO of the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference, he was aware of the protest.

“Obviously it’s free speech and so there’s every entitlement, I don’t know how the protest went,” said Kosak.

“I don’t know what exactly was accomplished. There’s nothing much we can do in terms of reinstatement, it’s not really an ACAC decision.”

Kosak explained that the staffing personnel is under the colleges’ purview and completely independent of the league.

Thiele said while there were people coming and going from the college, the people they wanted to address were absent.

“No one from the school came out to listen,” he said.

There was also a convocation ceremony for some of the programs taking place at the time though Thiele says that was most likely a coincidence.

“I don’t think anyone planned knowing that,” he said.

According to Kosak, the forfeiture of the college came with the maximum financial penalty as they had been denied the Manifest Hardship.

“It affects the season, it affects other teams, it affects our conference and then there’s some follow up decisions of how the standings are impacted and how the statistics can remain in place,” he said.

According to the ACAC website, Manifest Hardship is only granted when an act of God or something out of a college’s control takes place. The last time it was granted was in 2013 when a sports team found itself with only four players remaining following the majority involved in a drug trafficking operation.

“Frankly, I don’t even know the outcome of the investigation, all I knew was the outcome,” he said.

“Whatever they discovered during that investigation, it’s been very confidential, and we only react to what they’ve told us, which is that they’ve replaced their coach, they’re withdrawing from the season because the athletes have chosen not to continue.”

Given the weather, the protest wasn’t long but there were some in attendance who spoke and Thiele was among them.

“I asked specifically for the college to redo their investigation and have a new investigation done of how that all went,” he said.

“There’s a lot of people feel that it wasn’t conducted appropriately or fairly.”

The dad started off by telling the crowd how proud he was of the players and of the organizers.

“I think it’s important that we don’t just go quietly and let this die out,” he said.

“I think that’s what the school is hoping that you know, things are going to die down and people will forget and stop talking about it.”

It’s more than just the players and team affected, he explained. Lloydminster youth took part in training camps and sports clubs at Golden Ticket Sports and the Hoop Factory, and are mentored by co-owner King, his staff and players.

“They are being very vocal,” he said.

Moving forward, Thiele said he doesn’t have much hope things will improve or change, but he is thankful to everyone who has been supportive of all involved.

“This has been very tough on them from going to being on track to winning the ACAC, you know, they were undefeated already halfway through the year and it’s been tough,” he said.

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julia.lovettsquires@pattsisonmedia.com

On BlueSky: juleslovett.bsky.social