Spears still hoping for season
The Niagara Spears travel football organization has yet to concede the 2020 season to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Everybody is on hold right now because of city orders and fields being closed and stuff like that, but we are still hoping to have some sort of season depending on when things loosen up a bit,” Spears president Rick Tofano said. “If we can get started practising by the beginning of June, we’re looking at maybe a four-game season and an abbreviated playoff schedule which would finish in the middle of August.”
If the pandemic restrictions continue into June, the Ontario Provincial Football League’s teams, including the Spears, would compete in a playoff jamboree-style tournament.
“We have a few different scenarios, basically a best-case scenario, a worst-case scenario; and a worst-worst-case scenario,” Tofano said. “We are trying to do all we can to avoid losing a 2020 season.”
The drop dead date for having a season of any kind is around the third week of June. For player safety, three weeks of practising, conditioning and contact drills are required before a season would start. That would allow the league to start up in the second week of July.
“Unlike some other sports, we can’t just throw them on the field and say, ‘Let’s play.’ There’s a lot of preparation and conditioning with football that kids have to get in prior to us starting any type of contact and in-game situations,” he said.
Typically, teams practice four days a week which would allow for 12 practices before games started up.
The Spears has been working closely with the City of St. Catharines to make sure fields will be available if and when the season starts.
“They have thrown out some worst cases scenarios but they have been telling us if things get lifted sooner, they will be able to be ready sooner,” Tofano said.
If the season is lost, there are no plans to allow graduating players an extra year of eligibility. Football Canada is slowly implementing a plan to lower the top tier age group for minor football by 2022. Typically, there are very few players in the OPFL varsity league who are competing in their final year of age eligibility because they are getting ready for their university seasons. Tofano estimates there are only 24 players league-wide who would be competing in their final year of age eligibility.
This season, the Spears had planned to compete at the OPFL level at the bantam, junior varsity and varsity level.
“Our coaching staffs are really having a hard time. They are hurting a little bit,” Tofano said. “This year, between bantam, JV and varsity, our coaching staff is probably the best we’ve had in a number of years in all three age groups.”
The organization was excited about the potential of its three squads with most of Niagara’s best players committed to the program.
“We were honestly anticipating really, really good seasons for the Spears at all levels,” he said. “They were very, well prepared and the coaches are really beat down.”
The Spears had 63 varsity players and 48 junior varsity players start indoor workouts in January and in normal times the teams would have started outdoor workouts at Kiwanis Field on April 2.
“Some of our coaches are doing on-line coaching with the kids and keeping them more mentally prepared,” Tofano said.
The league is planning on staging a Madden NFL 20 Invitational tournament some time in May to keep football in the minds of its players.
Regardless of what happens this season, the Spears organization has no worries about its viability moving forward. There are no paid employees to worry about and its volunteer base is strong.
“It is one of those things that it wasn’t expected but when you don’t have the expenses of a full season, the cost is less and it is still sustainable for the organization,” Tofano said.
BPSN and the COVID-19 pandemic
Like all small businesses dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, BPSN is not sure what the business landscape will look like when things return to normal. Our website is financed primarily through advertising revenues and partnership agreements with many local sports and educational organizations in Niagara. Our goal is to continue providing our readers with the extensive local sports coverage you have come to expect from our site. Since our inception, we have written more than 2,800 stories on our local athletes and teams. Many of our readers have given us one-time donations or send us monthly contributions to help offset our costs. We would be eternally grateful if others would consider doing the same by using the Support Us button located on the right-hand side of our home page below the mosaic.
Thank you for your continued support.
Bill and Bernie.
