Wolverines worried as Otters move into their territory
The Peterborough Wolverines are preparing for the challenge posed by the Peterborough Otters.
The rep football programs won’t meet on the field, being in different leagues, but each will affect the success of the other.
The Otters were granted an Ontario Provincial Football League franchise for 2021 on Tuesday. The Wolverines are preparing for a 10th season in the Ontario Football Conference.
The Otters already claim commitments from a number of former Wolverines for its junior varsity and senior varsity teams. The Wolverines had 15 players sign up for senior varsity when they held their first registration session on the weekend.
Wolverines president Ken Butcher said they usually get about 20 registrations that weekend so they’re not concerned yet about g etting enough players but he’s disappointed the OPFL put a team in OFC territory. Butcher presented the OPFL expansion committee with a letter voicing the Wolverines’ opinion that Peterborough can’t sustain two teams.
“I don’t know how we’re going to manage two organizations in the city,” he said. “Our plan is to move ahead like we’re having a season like every other year. I’ve been in touch with the OFC and the season is on as far as they’re concerned.”
It didn’t look good for the Wolverines when their 2020 coaches, who had their season cancelled by the pandemic, decided not to return in 2021. Bantam coach Christian Vesnaver and JV coach Rick Thompson resigned for family reasons. SV coach Gabe Robinson said he wouldn’t commit if there were two teams in town because he didn’t think the city could sustain two quality programs.
Butcher said a number of quality coaches have stepped forward in the last two weeks to apply for Wolverines positions. They include some well-known names in local football circles, said Butcher. Their board of directors will meet Thursday where Butcher hopes to finalize their head coaches before making names public.
“If it all comes together the coaches we have for varsity will help draw kids,” said Butcher.
His bigger concern is filling out staffs.
“As the Wolverines we’d have 10 to 12 coaches on the field and get a lot of one-on-one positional coaching with the kids. There are only so many football coaches in the city so if you split them you’re maybe down to six or seven coaches per team and the training for both teams may not be what it used to be,” he said.
The Etobicoke Eagles defected to the OPFL but Butcher said the OFC still has 10 to 12 teams per age group.
The Wolverines have created a new social media presence as Butcher admits the Otters have forced them to examine their operations and up their game.
“They’re definitely marketing it very well. I’ll give them that,” said Butcher. “We were the only team in town before so people automatically came to us. We were looking at doing Instagram anyways but this has forced our hand to get into social media quicker and get some things out there on what’s going on with our organization.”
Butcher’s biggest disappointment is that some families who have been with them for years joined the Otters.
“it’s the advertising that’s got them. The shiny new team that’s helped attract them,” he said.
Robinson, a former Toronto Argonaut, wanted to coach senior varsity until a second team came on the scene. He hoped the teams might get together and avoid competing with each other.
“This is the fight I was hoping to avo i d ,” said Robinson, “where we have a battle of attrition for already scarce resources.
“I’m not ruling out any involvement on either side but I’m so far from considering it while there’s this likelihood that two teams are going to slug it out and do each other a fair amount of damage,” said Robinson.