The Winnipeg Rifles of the Prairie Junior Football Conference have officially announced they will not be taking to the gridiron in 2020 because of the lingering effects of the coronavirus.
“Through guidance from government and public health officials and consultation with the Prairie Football Conference and the Canadian Junior Football League (CJFL), the Winnipeg Rifles have decided that we will not compete on the gridiron this season,” the Rifles said in an official statement.
“The safety challenges created by COVID-19 place our football athletes, coaches and staff at an unacceptable level of risk this summer and fall.
“With careful and thorough consideration, this decision has been made with the best interests of the health, safety, and well-being of our team. We remain united and strive to use the remainder of 2020 in preparation towards a Canadian Bowl championship in the 2021 CJFL season. ”
Rifles head coach Geordie Wilson said bi-monthly Zoom and video conference calls have been taking place right across the country pretty much since the start of the pandemic and Aug. 1 had pretty much been ear-marked as a drop dead date to make a call one way or the other.
Wilson said the decision was made at the conference and then national level, all within about a one-hour span Wednesday Night.
“You hold out hope that something will go. It’s like something on life support. You know it’s happening, but you don’t want it to happen,” said Wilson, who was going into what would have been his fifth season. “But the day comes and it happens. You feel empty today. It’s not as big a shock, but it still hurts.”
Wilson said what cuts even deeper is the finality of it all for the fifth-year players who were rookies when he joined the program himself.
Even if the expected occurs and a rule is implemented to allow those players to suit up on an overage basis, Wilson said not all of them will be in a situation to take advantage of that because it will be time to move on with their lives.
“It breaks your heart because the reality is that there are 22 year olds on our team that will never play again.They might begin school, they may be apprenticing and get a promotion, whatever. They’ve now played their last game of football.”
Wilson said the decision to cancel the season has a far greater impact beyond the actual games.
“We were training with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in their facility under the guidance of (head athletic therapist) Al Couture and (assistant athletic therapist) Brayden Miller this winter until COVID hit,” said Wilson, who is a former career education coordinator at Tec Voc High School.
“You’re around these kids all year and they become your family. Especially those fifth-year guys who you’ve built a great bond with, and they’ve done yeoman’s work for you. You want these kids to finish the game they love the way they should — on the field.”
Wilson says this will be the first year he has not been directly involved in a football season since he was in Grade 5. That’s a span of 44 years and he’s not sure what he’ll do with his “unwanted” spare time.
“Like everyone, I’m going to have to find a new hobby. It’s going to be very strange not to have that anxiety, that knot in your stomach that you get on game day. You don’t get that doing anything else.”
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