Starkey is having a riot playing WWCFL football
Versatile running back will have a shot at a third championship this weekend
Initially, Mallory Starkey wasn’t certain that her association with the Regina Riot would last for more than a day. Seven years later ...
“It’s an incredible program to be a part of,” she says.
The fuse was lit, quite by accident, in 2011. While walking through the halls of the University of Regina, Starkey happened to see a poster that advertised the Riot’s fall camp.
“The camp was a full day,” she recalls. “By lunchtime, I was like, ‘This is where I want to be! I love this team and this opportunity!’ “
The following spring, Starkey made her debut with the Riot in the Western Women’s Canadian Football League team’s second season of existence. She quickly became a key member of the club and is now considered a mainstay, having helped the Riot win two league titles.
This weekend, Starkey — a versatile running back who hails from the family farm near Sexsmith, Alta. — will have an opportunity to win a third WWCFL championship. The Riot is to play the archrival Saskatoon Valkyries in the league final Sunday, 3 p.m., at Mosaic Stadium.
“We’ve worked for this all year as a team,” Starkey says. “It’s pretty awesome to get an opportunity to play in the final — and to play at home in the final.”
Regina previously won WWCFL championships in 2015 (when the final was played in Winnipeg) and 2017 (Saskatoon). The Riot will now go for the hat trick while enjoying home-field advantage, which also worked in their favour this past Sunday when Regina defeated the Edmonton Storm 45-9 in a semifinal.
Starkey was named the Riot’s player of the game after scoring three touchdowns — two through the air and one along the ground. And she did so while battling the flu.
“Those touchdowns were not just my successes,” she emphasizes. “They were team successes, and I was really happy to be a part ofit.”
Especially since she had never envisioned playing tackle football beyond high school.
Starkey was introduced to the gridiron at age 11, having developed an affinity for football while watching her three older brothers (Farrel, Karson and Kaylon) play the sport.
“I remember going to their games and thinking, ‘I’m going to do that one day,’ ” Starkey says.
Timing was on her side. She entered Grade 8 at Sexsmith Secondary School at a time when female football was flourishing in the northern Alberta high school ranks.
The Sexsmith Sabres lost only one game during Starkey’s five seasons with the team.
After that, though, she figured that her football days were over. She moved to Regina to attend the U of R and, fortuitously, saw the poster that changed everything.
“I would never have imagined when I was 11 that I’d still be playing football at 25,” marvels Starkey, who played for Team Canada in 2013 and 2017.
“When I was 16, I never thought I’d play beyond high school. When I was 18 and I first came to Regina, I never thought I’d be able to represent the province, let alone the country, while playing football.
“I never thought women’s football would get to this point. I am very blessed to be a part of it. It has been amazing.”
So amazing, in fact, that Starkey continues to play for the Riot despite other obligations and interests.
Not long after the league final, she will return to Sexsmith to help out on the family farm. She is also working toward a master’s degree in marriage and family therapy at Briercrest Seminary in Caronport.
“My family has been a huge support,” says Starkey, whose sister Burdeen is a former Riot teammate. “It makes it a lot easier to be away, knowing that they believe in the dream that I have.”
Richard Starkey, Mallory’s father, is to be at Sunday’s game while his wife, Donna, tends to matters on the farm. Mallory will also enjoy time with her extended family — her teammates — this weekend.
“I’m so thankful to be part of a team with such great teammates, coaches and staff,” she says. “I can’t imagine playing football with a different group of people.
“As much as I love football, I love playing football with the Regina Riot.”