Chris Foley is back on his feet after surgery kept him laid up for an extended period of time, so he’s ready to see Corner Brook youth throwing around a football.
An avid football fan who plays touch football in the city, Foley has been trying to get a youth tackle football program going on the west coast for a number of years.
Foley said the plan is to continue on with the league as a flag football setup until funding and sponsorships can be put in place to cover the cost of purchasing the proper equipment for the tackle version of the sport.
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Football was offered in the city during the fall months, but the numbers weren’t great so Foley figured a change was necessary if he was going to see some growth.
“We think it’s best for us to run more of a summer league instead of trying to compete with hockey in the fall,” Foley said Wednesday afternoon.
Foley is hoping to get football fans who play in the local men’s league and some of the parents to play a helping hand in getting it going. He has scheduled a general meeting for next Wednesday (venue still to be determined) with the hopes of forming an executive so there are more people involved in shaping the direction of the sport and to ensure he’s not the only one having a say in what happens.
He’s hoping that players will hit the field in early June and the length of the program will depend on both registration and volunteer numbers, but it’s his hope that it will run until October.
Meanwhile, Foley is excited about touch football on the adult side with the possibility of a provincial touch football championship being staged in St. John’s this summer.
Foley said he has been in contact with Corner Brook’s Mark Hynes, president of the St. John’s touch football league, about the possibility of St. John’s hosting the event and it appears there is interest on both sides of the province.
Foley said he’s been talking to a number of touch football players who like the idea and he has discussed his vision with Corner Brook touch football president Ryan Barry who gave the concept a thumbs up.
He said one of the five teams in the local league has expressed a desire to enter their own team and there is the strong possibility that somebody else will want to recruit players from other teams to have a second entry from Corner Brook.
Foley believes the provincial tournament would be interesting with a couple of club teams from St. John’s tangling with west coast teams for bragging rights.
Foley is hoping to hold a meeting over the next week to gauge interest from the local touch football league and he expects the league will be on board for a provincial tournament.
