Southern Box Lacrosse has opened the player draft ahead of the 2023 Winter Box League taking place across four competition days in December and January.
Prospective men’s and women’s players have until 9pm on Sunday 12 November to register for the draft by completing the registration form and paying the £90 entry fee on the Southern Box Lacrosse website; the entry fee covers the match fees for the four-game season.
The minimum age for the men’s competition is 18 while the minimum age for the women’s tournament is 16 and all players must hold a valid England Lacrosse membership and not be serving any domestic competition suspension over the period of the Winter Box League season.
Once the registration period closes, the draft will take place during the week commencing Monday 13 November where players will be distributed between the four men’s and two women’s teams.
Reigning champions, London Knights, led by England men’s box lacrosse team captain, Tom Roche, will be looking to continue where they left off at the end of the 2022 Winter Box League season but they face stiff competition from last year’s runners-up, Steelheads, as well as Heaton Hornets and brand new team for 2023, SBL Capitals who replace Thundercats in the four-team format.
For the first time, the SBL Winter Box League is hosting a women’s competition featuring two teams, SBL Ravens and B-Oxford, offering the chance for more women than ever to get involved in box lacrosse ahead of next year’s 2024 World Lacrosse Box Championships.
SBL Winter Box League Draft | How does it work?
Team coaches may draft up to 25 players per team.
Team coaches may protect up to seven players from their team squad from last season.
A player may decline protection and enter the draft as a free agent.
A team coach or team manager who was a player for a different team last season may be one of the seven protected players for the team they are coaching or managing this season.
In the men’s competition, SBL Capitals replace Thundercats in the draft order and can protect Thundercats players from last season.
The men’s competition draft will use a sequential draft with the pick order as per last year’s results (Hornets 1st, 5th, 9th picks. Capitals 2nd, 6th, etc. Steelheads the 3rd, 7th, etc. Knights the 4th, 8th, etc.).
The women’s competition draft will follow an alternate pick with a coin toss deciding which team has the first pick.
Players not drafted will receive a full entry fee refund.
The maximum size of a game day squad is 18 runners and up to two goalies.
Drafted players who are available for a game but not selected in a game day squad will receive a pro-rata refund of £22.50 for that game.
Drafted players who are not available for a game do not receive a pro-rata refund.
Drafted players who withdraw from the league do not receive a refund.
Refunds will be paid after the conclusion of the season (w/c 15th January).
The SBL exec reserves the right to consider exceptional circumstances to the above rules.
The 2023 Winter Box League takes places at Oxford Academy School, Oxford, on 10 December, 17 December, 7 January, and 14 January with games commencing at 12:30pm, 2:30pm, and 4:30pm.