Provincial football overhauled
Minor football in Ontario will enter a new era next spring when the sport’s provincial overseer institutes a new tiering system.
The Ontario Football Alliance — the sports organization recognized by both the Government of Ontario and Football Canada as the voice of the game in the province — decided at its board meeting on Wednesday night to institute three levels of competition, something the sport has resisted before.
When play resumes in May, amateur football will look somewhat like that in other youth sports in the province, with “AAA,” “AA” and “A” levels.
“There’s a matrix involved, but the tiering levels are based on the population of the city,” says Don Edwards, president of the Ontario Football Alliance.
“Teams will apply to play, then they will be put into a tier.”
There had been some suggestions that only an elite amateur football league be formed in each age group, with the best programs taking part, but the Alliance took it one step further, and decided to set up a three-level system.
“Take the example of a Hamilton team taking a bus up to North Bay and beating them badly,” Edwards said. “That bus trip isn’t worth it for either team. North Bay would be much better off playing teams from similar-sized centres.”
There are two minor football organizations in Hamilton: the Ironmen, who play an Ontario Varsity Football League schedule, and the Hamilton Football Association whose teams play an Ontario Football League schedule. In both cases, all member organizations were lumped into the same league.
The HFA had multiple teams in a couple of age groups but now they can, for instance, direct their best players into AAA football to play against the other biggest and best organizations, and also have another team at A or AA.
Theoretically, teams from both Hamilton organizations could be in the same tier, but Edwards said that would depend on “the depth and infrastructure” in the organizations. The more depth and infrastructure, the higher the tier.
“The Ontario Football Alliance made the decision to do what is the best thing for Ontario football,” says Jennifer Silvestri, who represents the OFC junior division (in which the Hamilton Hurricanes play) on the Alliance board but is also with the Hamilton Football Association.
The changes will be in effect for next spring, and organizations are now beginning to apply for tiering designation. Both Edwards and Silvestri say that local organizations can apply to move up or down tiers from year to year, depending upon their projected strength and depth.
The province’s Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport has made it a priority for funding purposes that each sport in Ontario has only one voice speaking for it. For that reason, the traditional five administrative sections in Ontario figure skating were recently directed to amalgamate into a single organizational body. And lateral tiering, rather than having two separate league structures, helps amateur football present a unified front.
“This move is somewhat in response to our mandate from the ministry,” Edwards says. “But largely we did it because we want to create a level playing field for football in Ontario.”