. “Recently, the Ontario Varsity Football League (OVFL) and the Ontario Minor Football League (OMFL) announced a partnership between the two leagues that will see the OVFL become the largest football league in Ontario.” Read the full article on Canada Football Chat here. I know a lot of people, especially in Niagara, are trying really hard to sell this as good news, but… I’d like to remind everyone in Niagara that the Storm were recently a part of the OMFL for the past 4-5 years and the reason they chose to go over to the Ontario Football Conference (OFC) is because the...

“A fracture is the separation of an object or material into two, or more, pieces under the action of stress.” With so many rumours and half-truths floating around in what has been an uncomfortable, and at times, unprofessional state of recruitment in the Niagara Regional youth football system, I think it’s important to point out that in spite of the many incredible changes and transformations that have occurred within each of the separate organizations as of late, nothing in terms of the overall perception or status within the community has in fact changed, which is very unfortunate, but...

Ford was asked what was harder—running a football team or working with city council. “These kids listen,” he said. “City council doesn’t.” Okay, I admit it. I’ve never been a big fan of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford (that’s putting it mildly), and not because of any personal feeling towards the way that he actually does his job as mayor, but because quite frankly, the media tells us to dislike Rob Ford—so we do, because we all share the common love of hating on politicians and/or public figures who act imperfectly. It has become our greatest social hobby. Rob Ford has been accused...

Today, I had the distinct pleasure of sitting down with Niagara Storm President, Frank Trivieri, to talk about a few surprising changes to the Storm organization, and to discuss his thoughts on how these changes will now impact youth football throughout the entire Niagara and Hamilton Regions. Enjoy! James Ryan: So Frank, what’s the big announcement? What happened this past weekend? Frank Trivieri: Well, the big announcement is that we have been accepted into the Ontario Football Conference (OFC) whole-heartedly, and it’s now just a matter of being rubber-stamped, which is a formality as we’re...

The talent-rich Niagara Region is officially busting at the seams with many outstanding young athletes. So many in fact, that the Niagara Spears, who as members of the OVFL, and have always been considered to be the elite youth football program in the entire Niagara area, are now sharing this overabundance of talent with another travel youth football organization founded out of Grimsby—the Niagara Storm, who have only been in operation since the 2009 season as a part of the OMFL. According to Frank Trivieri, co-founder of the Niagara Storm, “Centres like Brampton or Mississauga, with a very...

“Respect your fellow human being, treat them fairly, disagree with them honestly, enjoy their friendship, explore your thoughts about one another candidly, work together for a common goal and help one another achieve it.”—Bill Bradley This past weekend’s game between the Niagara Bantam Spears and the Halton Cowboys was indeed an important milestone, not only for the Spears team itself, but for the entire OVFL as well. As a team, the Bantam Spears managed to bring their season record to 3-2, giving the defending OVFL Champions a winning record for the very first time all season long....

“If you get a concussion, they’ve got to take you out of the game. So if you can hide it and conceal it as much as possible, you pay for it the next day, but you’ll be able to … stay in the game.”—Washington Redskins Fullback, Mike Sellers “I would not hide that. That’s not something you hide. That puts you in a terrible position, as well as the team. I think that would be the worst thing you could do in a situation like that. So if I ever got a concussion, I would definitely tell. I don’t know how you could hide a concussion.”—New England...

“Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.”—Napoleon Hill First of all, a thousand apologies for not being able to provide the Play-by-Play analysis from last week’s game against the London Falcons. I guess I was still a little too shaken up over the whole “Twitter Gate” incident (kidding). After a disappointing but hard-fought loss last weekend to the London Falcons, which resulted in the Niagara Bantam Spears allowing for the most points against them in any single game so far this season (38 points), the Spears’ players...

“It is only the enlightened ruler and the wise general who will use the highest intelligence of the army for the purposes of spying, and thereby they achieve great results.”—Sun Tzu, The Art of War After suffering a disappointing, yet hard-fought loss last weekend against the Hamilton Ironmen, the Niagara Bantam Spears (the reigning OVFL Champions) were absolutely determined to win the season home opener on their brand new field against the always dangerous, Brantford Bisons. And win they did. After the game, I was fortunate enough to be able to spend a few minutes on the field with Head...

“Linemen are literally the unsung heroes of the game. Their situation is analogous to the infantry in warfare. They do the hard, bitter fighting for victory. As the generals reap the headlines in war, the backs reap the headlines in football. Yet in their hearts, the generals and backs know that victory and the accolades came to them through the work of the foot-soldiers and linemen.”—Gomer Jones In what turned out to be an action packed season opener, the Niagara Bantam Spears proved that they are definitely going to be a serious force to reckon with throughout the duration of this 2011...