Women's Footy in Canada, at least in western Canada, has grown rapidly and 2008 promises to see the game grow further. This story kindly provided by one of our readers.
Many would be surprised to discover that women's footy is played in Canada at all, let alone that the first game began as a junior girls match between two high schools in British Columbia, St Clements and Bishops Strachan in November 10th, 2004. The mixed junior league, North Delta Junior Football League also began that year.
While women's footy in the USA has been going since 2003 and grown to several senior teams, the first rumblings of senior women's footy in Canada began around 2006 when the Ontario Ravens, headed by a couple of fill ins from men's matches decided to form a club and promote the game.
However it wasn't until 2007 that Canadian women's football got its big break. Canada's start-up clubs were able to field enough players to form a national team - the Eagles - which competed in August's historic first women's international against the USA Freedom (see
US Freedom dominate in first women's international). Some of the women who competed for Canada had learned their junior football through the North Delta league. These clubs have recruited well and the increased exposure from the international match saw the formation of several new clubs and in Western Canada, with the Runge Metro Footy League set to commence for 2008 (Runge is their major sponsor).
The following are key tournament dates for Women's footy in Canada:
Kelowna: Saturday, June 7th
Calgary: Saturday, July 5th (Stampede Cup)
Vancouver: Saturday, July 26th
Among the new clubs are the
Calgary Kookaburras[*1] . The Kookaburras are one of the stronger clubs and are from Calgary, Alberta. They recently sent a squad to the US Nationals in Kentucky and put up a good showing. With plenty of members, the club has plans to begin a small metro league in the Calgary region. The Edmonton North Stars (
Facebook page[*2] ) are a smaller club also from Alberta and currently recruiting players. The Westcoast Wildcats (
Facebook page[*3] ) are also in the Calgary area and will also be competing in the Runge League. Meanwhile the
Ontario Ravens[*4] have been in formation in Toronto for some years now, and are starting to show signs of getting off the ground.
There was talk of the USA and Canada sending a women's combined squad to Australia during the International Cup, however plans for a 2009 tour are instead underway.