Bisons changing football leagues
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The Brantford Bisons are on the move.
After spending the past few seasons in the Ontario Football Conference, the Bisons will play in the premier divisions of the Ontario Provincial Football League this spring and the Ontario Football League in the fall. Both leagues are provincially sanctioned by the Ontario Football Alliance.
“The biggest driving factor in this move is us, as a board, wanting to keep both our spring and fall programs alive, vibrant and sanctioned,” said Jason Nagy, president of the Brant and District Football Club (Bisons).
“Not many centres in the province have both a spring and a fall program like we do. We see our fall programs as our feeder to the spring. For us to maintain both of those programs, we needed to be sanctioned.
“We’re the only provincially sanctioned football program in Brant, Haldimand and Norfolk.”
The OPFL is similar to the Ontario Varsity Football League, in which the Bisons bantam, junior varsity and varsity teams played for almost two decades. In fact, Nagy said that when the varsity league folded, the provincial one began.
The varsity Bisons will compete in the west with Cambridge, Essex, Hamilton, London, Niagara and Waterloo, which left the OFC last fall.
The Toronto Jr. Argonauts, who Nagy said have been dormant, also joined the OPFL last fall, while the Scarborough Thunder entered the league at about the same time as Brantford.
Nagy said the response from parents to the move has been positive.
“There are always going to be some concerns about the unknown,” he said. “It’s a new league with new teams you’re competing with in new centres.
“If you want to be the best or better your team competitively, you have to play against the best competition in the province and that’s what we feel the OPFL can give us.”
The Bisons are in the midst of registrations, which are going well, said Nagy.
“We’re very pleased with the amount of interested kids in football.”
A registration session will be held Wednesday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Access Storage Sports and Entertainment Centre, 101 Wayne Gretzky Pkwy., Brantford,
The Bisons spring teams begin practising, weather permitting, in April at the Bisons Alumni North Park Sports Complex. The nine-week season runs from mid-May until the end of July with each team receiving a bye week. The season culminates with a three-week playoff.
Coaches for spring teams are: Kelly Ireland (bantam — Grades 7 and 8), Norm Kelly (junior varsity — Grades 9 and 10) and Jim Jeavons (varsity — Grades 11 and 12, as well as fifth-year high school players).
The Bisons also have a peewee team playing this spring, which will be run by the Ontario Football League but such as program isn’t offered by the OPFL.
Last season, Brantford’s varsity squad captured the OFC championship, the city’s first title in that division since the Bisons program was resurrected more than two decades ago.
Nagy said Brantford’s entries will make a strong showing in the OPFL.
“It’s impossible to predict wins and losses before you get anywhere near the field but I expect Bisons football will be highly competitive at all ages.”
Visit www.opftb.ca or www.bisonsfootball.ca for more information.
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