Woodstock minor football program ramping up for 2025 season

Coach Joe Brown (centre) is seen with some Woodstock Wolverines players at a game last summer at the organization’s field in the city. (Contributed Photo)

Lee Griffi, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

It may be the best kept secret on the Friendly City sports scene, but the Woodstock Wolverines football program is celebrating its 20th anniversary and at the same time experiencing solid growth.

Joe Brown, the organization’s general manager, said it hasn’t been easy the last number of years as they were devastated during COVID.

“We had a travel program but unfortunately didn’t have enough coaches to sustain our house league program before the pandemic. When it hit, we were wiped out. In 2022, a few of the parents and some of the coaches involved with the travel teams said hey, can we get this going again as it was so beneficial to their kids.”

Brown said those interested got together and decided to bring the program back to life after the pandemic.

“That first spring season, we only had about 60 kids out. We got them trained on how to play football and we had a great time doing it. The next year we doubled in size and this year we are looking at about 150 kids getting involved. We are super excited about it because we are getting back to the level we had prior to COVID.”

The Wolverines have also added a flag football league this fall to get younger kids involved in the hope they’ll move their way up the program.

“The kids will be playing at our field at Cowan Park from September to November,” added Brown.

There are some challenges in getting kids to sign up for football, but the group has taken a proactive approach to increasing enrolment including sitting down with high school coaches in the county.

“We’ve put together an Oxford County committee or organization that involves all the high schools. We talked about how we can help each other out. There have been ups and downs with high schools for years. I’m an older fella and I played in the early 90s and when we played football there were about 60 or 70 kids who came to try out for the team.”

Brown, who played at Arthur Voaden in St. Thomas, said half the town came out to watch the home games on a Friday night.

“We would play under the lights at Pinafore Park and there would be thousands of people coming out to watch us play. It was an awesome experience and I still talk to a lot of the guys I played with in high school today. They’re good friends of mine and we have grown up and gone our separate ways but we’ve stayed in contact.”

Brown added that is the type of comradery he’d love to see in the Wolverines program.

“That’s where I want to see football in Oxford County grow again like it used to be. We’ve been able to reach out to guys like Ryan Stafford at College Avenue Secondary School who has been an outstanding person to work with and has helped us see what’s going on in the high schools.”

He added the Wolverines have developed financing, equipment and recruiting strategies to try and get more kids involved at the high school level and then benefit from being a better football player.

“In today’s economy, not a lot of people can afford to send their kids to university. But, if a kid has a great skill set, great character, and all of a sudden he’s a great football player, universities come knocking and there are some subsidies available for them to go on and get a university education.”

Brown said football can help young men scholastically but also in life.

“You learn about teamwork, about pushing yourself and how far you can go. It teaches discipline and dealing with adversity. It’s such an outstanding game and it brings so much to the kids.”

The Wolverines have also announced a U18 travel team will hit the field this season. Dan Fitzgerald has been selected as the head coach and the team will play in the Ontario Summer Football League.

“I am extremely excited to be joining the Woodstock Wolverines and the Woodstock football community as it’s enriched with a culture like no other,” said Fitzgerald.

The team will play in the league’s West Division against centres like London, Peek, Sarnia, Etobicoke and Chatham-Kent.

Canadian football players are gaining more attention these days as noted by the naming of Wilfred Laurier star quarterback Tyler Elgersma to the roster of the American Senior Bowl being held in Mobile, Alabama on Feb. 1. He will be the first Canadian quarterback to play in the game and just the third player ever from north of the border.

Brown said the club’s affiliation with the National Football League is also something he’s looking forward to this coming season.

“We’re working on bringing some NFL players to Woodstock to show the local kids that this kid from a small town made it. How did he do that? Well, he worked really hard, he was disciplined, he is a good person with good character and he did what it took to get to that level. I fully believe there isn’t a kid who puts the work in and has that discipline can make it.”

Brown’s passion for the game, the association and the kids are obvious, particularly since his position is completely volunteer-based. He has been around for 20 years and said he just wants to see the participants have fun and grow as people.

“It’s what it does for the kids. We have a couple of kids playing at the University of Guelph right now who got full rides and that was because we had the Guelph coach here one day and he watched our house league kids. He was impressed with what we were doing here, on and off the field.”

One of those kids is Woodstock’s Curtis Ball, a 6 foot 4, 315-pound offensive lineman in his third year studying family studies and human development.

“Once he’s done school he comes back and helps us out with the little guys. That’s the cool thing about it, they give back and turn into incredible young men.”

For more information on the program, visit https://www.woodstockwolverines.ca/woodstockwolverinesfootball/Home.