Red Bombers go into Year 2 with more to kick about

Published Wednesday August 25th, 2010 by David Ritchie

More teams, more games and a more concerted promotional plan marks the beginning of Year 2 in the second coming of Red Bombers football at the University of New Brunswick.

New teams based out of Dalhousie University and Holland College in Charlottetown gives the Atlantic Football League five teams for the upcoming season.

That means a little more variety for the charter members including the defending champion Red Bombers, the UNB in Saint John Seawolves and a club team out of the Moncton area which will be known as the Junior Mustangs this time around. They were the Raiders in Year 1.

In case you missed it, the Bombers edged the Seawolves 3-1 in the inaugural AFL championship game played in the muck and grime of Saint John’s Millidgeville Field.

Yeah, it sounds more like a baseball score than a football result. The weather was lousy, and the late date, Nov. 22, isn’t exactly conducive to the Greatest Show on Turf with our climate.

So maybe the final won’t go down in the annals of amateur football as one of the classics of all time.

But you know, the most important thing about last year was that there was a game to be played on that day, regardless of the weather.

It showed that when determined people with a passion for the game of football want to make something happen, it can be done, even when the obstacles seem prohibitive. They found the time, the energy, the money, the facilities and enough of a support staff to put together a three-team league.

These guys, and we’ll make mention of the respective managers, Barry Ogden in Saint John, Dan Fougere in Moncton and Larry Wisniewski in Fredericton, saw a void for kids graduating out of the extensive high school football system in the province and who, for whatever reasons, weren’t about to pursue the game at the CIS level.

Some might not have been talented enough to get a recruiting sniff from a CIS school. Some might have lacked the prototypical football body and didn’t feel it was physically in their best interests to play at a higher level.

Some simply didn’t want the hassles of committing to a rigorous CIS program, or leaving their hometown to play at that level. Others might have already made a commitment, saw the reality wasn’t what it was cracked up to be, and desire to play the sport at a less intense level.

Still others weren’t ready to begin their post-secondary educational pursuits, or didn’t feel equipped to do so, but yearned to keep playing a game they had come to love in their minor and secondary school years.

Ogden, Wiz, Fougere and countless others in on the planning at some point deemed there were enough of these players around, guys capable of playing a good enough brand of football that people would be willing to pay to see.

Thus, the AFL, a league geared for footballers between the ages of 18-24 and involving mostly university-based players with others from the community at large, became a reality.

How successful was it?

Enough that there’s two more teams on board so Year 2 is going to be even better. Guaranteed.

Are you ready for some football?

It had been 30 years since the UNB Red Bombers last ran onto the field at College Field to play a football game.

Watching the Red Bombers play their rivals from around the Atlantic Conference was the thing to do on a fall Saturday afternoon. You’d bring the wine skin, find a cozy spot in the bleachers, and get to watch quality players such as Donny Davis, Mike Washburn, Stewart Fraser, Chris Skinner, Terry Cripotos, Steve Corscadden, Chuck Proudfoot, etc., do their thing wearing Red Bombers jerseys on the gridiron at College Field.

For incoming students, there was no better way to “orientate” yourself with your new school than to spend Saturday afternoons at College Field. Orientation was as convenient as a walk down the hill. Football was first up, and people who live here all know about how great the climate is in September and October in these parts.

For any number of reasons, the UNB administration of the day saw fit to end that annual rite of fall. And football died a quiet death at the university level in this city.

When Wiz and a former Red Bomber, Mike Dollimore, decided to take the lead with the Fredericton entry into this new AFL venture, they were looking to tap into those memories with the resurrection of the UNB Red Bombers.

They were up front about what this league was all about…that it was a club team operating in a junior league with players from not only UNB but St. Thomas University, New Brunswick Community College and the city at large. And that was the mix head coach Dollimore, who returns, and his coaching staff worked with from the outset of training camp.

The hope and wish was that when those players rushed onto the turf at Chapman Field further up the hill (than College Field), the only thing that would resonate was the Red Bombers were alive and kicking, and that football for university-age youngsters was once again a going concern in this town.

So just imagine the rush for Wiz and Dolly – and all those behind-the-scene football enthusiasts who with their support, financial or otherwise, wanted to see the black and red of Red Bombers football again – when over 2,000 folks gathered under the lights for opening night.

And how exciting it was when the PA announcer first screamed: First down, Red Bombers!!! Touchdown, Red Bombers!!!

Are you ready for some football?

Red Bombers return to UNB today

Published Saturday September 26th, 2009 by Chris Fox of the Daily Gleaner

Larry Wisniewski is the man bringing football back to the University of New Brunswick.

Wisniewski, a sociology professor at the school, is the general manager of the new UNB Red Bombers club football team, which begins play tonight.

Though not the varsity Red Bombers of the 1980s, Wisniewski has high hopes for this 2009 incarnation.

He recently chatted with reporter Chris Fox about the team, his excitement level for the coming season and the newly created Atlantic Football League, in which the Red Bombers will play.

***

Q: What was the last movie you saw and the last concert you went to?

A: Oh, I don’t even know. I am much more inclined to do neither of the above. What I am inclined to do is to go to my garden and work there or to go out with the dogs for a long walk.

I read books, walk dogs, garden, but do not get to movies or go to concerts.

***

Q: What is the excitement level like right now?

A: Right now, I couldn’t really tell you.

I am so busy running around doing a thousand little things and anticipating what the next catastrophe will be, but it does seem to be growing.

There are two sides to me – the side which is eternally optimistic and looking forward to a fine turnout Saturday, and the side which is saying let’s wait and see.

One of the most interesting things I think will be in finding a way to blend the enthusiasm and the initial energy about what is happening into a season-long commitment.

Nothing would make me happier than to sit at Chapman Field and see the stands filled and the players having a great time.

***

Q: Are you hoping to capture some of that old Red Bombers mystique?

A: Yes. Some of them (former UNB football players) are coming, and we hope quite a few.

That is important. I am hoping the new players will see them and understand what it meant to those players of the past to be part of a football program at university and that they will see the possibilities of continuing their support of football at UNB in order to achieve that.

I am also hopeful that the fans and the people at the game – young and old – will get a sense of how much can be gained by coming on campus at UNB, enjoying the fall and participating in the university community and in sports at UNB.

***

Q: What is this team going to mean to the developmental and high school football programs locally?

A: We hope it fills sort of a missing gap for them.

We have really strong programs that have been growing over the years at the pee wee, mosquito and minor levels and our junior varsity and high school programs have grown as well.

We have three high school programs that are doing very well indeed, and we just want this to be the missing piece in that football chain which will give them an opportunity after high school to stay play football while going to university.

***

Q: How did this league come about?

A: It started in part because of the efforts to organize a movement to CIS (Canadian Interuniversity Sport) admission with a group from Ottawa that failed to materialize.

The university just wasn’t prepared last summer to engage in that kind of activity for any of a number of reasons.

When that did not work, a number of people sat down and said, “What do we do now?” and to everyone’s credit at the table, the thought of club football came up and we began sitting down, having meetings and talking about how it might work.

That lead to the development of a league, a constitution, a set of by laws and a financial budget, which, earlier this summer, gave us the foundation in which we began the organizational challenges of each community coming up with the resources and the organizational structure they needed.

That took a fair bit of a time, especially the financial part, and we did not get it resolved until the end of August when we had three weeks to get everything up and going.

***

Q: Any players in particular people will be excited to see on the Chapman Field turf?

A: I think it is going to be fun to see how it all works.

It is going to be a little bit disorganized, a little bit fractured and we in particular have only had two or three weeks of practice time, so it will take the league three or four games to hit its stride and for the players to sort of emerge.

***

Q: Is this a trial run towards CIS (varsity level) football at UNB?

A: Yes, that might be a long-term objective, but I am not focused on that at all.

My focus is on creating opportunities athletically for students at UNB.

It was part of what my experience was at university, it was part of what I thought was an important part of the university experience along with a library of guest speakers and academic programs, and I thought it would be useful, especially at UNB where we have had difficulty getting student participation and enthusiasm generated for all our sports, to create more opportunities.

Down the road if we can improve some facilities and generate enough interest in terms of community participation, and, most importantly, student participation, we can look again to see where we are and where we want to go.

Reporter Chris Fox is a journalism graduate of St. Thomas University. Q&A appears each Saturday.

Important Stuff

Support the Bombers by joining the Facebook Fan Page.

If you are interested in playing fill out this form.

To make a donation to the team email Larry Wisniewski.