World Footy News

Australian Football in British Columbia, Canada, has long been the smaller cousin to the impressive league in Ontario. In recent years we've closely followed the emergence of junior footy in North Delta, Vancouver. Along with other promotion, the result is a growing pool of players which has allowed an expansion of the local league. From really just one Vancouver side a few years ago, the 2009 season of BCFooty sees five clubs: Vancouver Cougars, Burnaby Eagles (the early season leaders), West Coast Saints, Delta Bay Hawks and the Irish Harps.

WFN spoke with Mike McFarlane, former AFL Canada President and now with new side the Bay Hawks.

The Bay Hawks is one of the new clubs and is providing some of the young North Delta Junior AFL graduates with their own senior local club. International Cup star Scott Fleming (pictured for Canada at IC08) is back in Canada and will lead the way. McFarlane explained, "Scott is back here for a few months playing for the new Delta Bay Hawks. Our prize recruit, to help lead our young team. I haven't seen any of the games yet as I have been tied up with the junior program. He is starting a little slow as there is a lot of pressure on him to lead and it can take some time to adjust to that level of responsibility but he will come good".

"Yes the league has added two teams this year. Our new squad the Bay Hawks which we felt was the next necessary step for our association to take. The boys are enjoying and taking some ownership of their team. The Harps are based from the Gaelic club here in Vancouver. The Cougars had developed a strong relationship with them and they felt they could support a team themselves, so they have gone out on their own with support from the Cougars.

"The WC Saints are the team that split from the Cougars last year. They are on their own this season and the Bay Hawks have sistered up with them for training and player help. The games are all 18 a-side and for games against the Bay Hawks and the Harps it is 50/50 Australian/non-Australian ratio".

One side that faded away a few years ago was the Victoria Lions, based on Vancouver Island, so a ferry trip away from the mainland. Numbers were low and the trip wasn't easy. It's hoped that one day they may return. "I have heard nothing about the Lions. The rumor is that they have some players but not enough for a full team yet".

"Our league is going really good. We of course have added the Bay Hawks for the senior men and now we are starting the WC Wildcats as our senior women's team. I think this may qualify us as the first full service club with pathways for juniors into both men's and women's footy outside of Australia. We are also raising some money for the Healesville FC to help out after the bushfires. We are working with the council for a full sized field to help us keep expanding. It is progressing along but at least a year away.

"We have also registered our first hearing impaired kids into our U12 group. We have 3 boys that have signed up and we are trying to make things work for them. It is the first time they have been accepted into a league for hearing kids. They are just hoping to be treated as one of the players in our league and have as normal an experience as they can. We have gotten some info on footy specific signs from Deaf Sports Recreation Victoria to help us communicate with the boys better. We are also going to teach our umpires so they can explain to the boys the calls being made.

"We are having kids that we are now training to umpire the majority of the U12 and U14 games. We think this will be a huge help to us down the road. We have all new uniforms as well that are very original".

Matches are spread out irregularly, so after Round 4 the number of games played across the 5 teams varies from 2 to 4 macthes. The Burnaby Eagles are sitting pretty 4 wins without a loss, while the new boys the Bay Hawks are still looking for their first win after 3 starts.

Fast forward six years and who knows, maybe there will be ten or more team full field leagues operating in both Ontario and BC, centred around Toronto and Vancouver respectively. For solid, weekly football competition, that would put Canada on a par with present-day powerhouses New Zealand and PNG.

World Footy News is looking for a volunteer writer to help cover Canada, especially the BC and Alberta regions. It's a growing area with men's, women's and junior leagues and deserves attention, so if anyone is interested, please contact us to discuss what is involved. Anymore interested in helping out with other regions can also visit here.