Return to Football: Small population a ‘fortune’ for Football PEI

By Mike Still

When COVID-19 cases began circulating in Canada in the spring, all football related activities were put on hold. While larger provinces struggled at times to contain the virus, Prince Edward Island benefitted from its small population and geography.

“We shut the province down basically in the spring, and that paid dividends in terms of case numbers and community spread, or lack thereof and death of course,” said Football PEI Executive Director Glen Flood.

“It was one of those times where we were fortunate to be small.”

Phase two of public health measures were bumped up by a month, ending on May 31. This resulted in flag football being moved from the fall to early summer.

“We were actually looking at starting flag football in August/September, and then our cases in the province became pretty much null and void for a good month or so,” noted Flood. “Our provincial health group in the province, they moved phases up a bit, and therefore we moved flag up to July. We got the ball running then and haven’t slowed down.”

Flood was part of a task force that work diligently to ensure all health and safety protocols were followed for the summer season.

“I was with a couple of executive members. We shovelled our way through the early stages of COVID, just in terms of how we were going to survive and where football would be. We leaned heavily on Football Canada and some of their return to play guidelines. Like most provinces from what I understand, they wanted the whole contact tracing, they wanted hand sanitizing. We’ve kept the focus on the kids, coaches and refs. We remained firm in following the Chief Public Health Office’s (CPHO) guidelines. That’s just how it is right now.”

The season was an immense success, with age groups ranging all the way from U10 to U20.

“Flag has been growing in this province for a number of years, both community and school-wise. There’s some exciting things, with hosting flag nationals in 2021, fingers crossed, and the U16 Eastern Championships as well,” added Flood.

“We ended up getting more tackle kids involved. We ran it in the summer versus long-steady soccer and baseball dominant summer sports in the province, and still came out with 60 percent of our membership coming back out to play. It was great. We had females refereeing in the games, and they came out and got certified, and we had an all-Aboriginal flag football team. The pros outweighed the cons.”

Even more impressive is the fact that Football PEI incorporated a number of new board members in June.

“Full marks for them in jumping in and wanting to get involved during a scary financial and sport time,” said Flood.

“Myself and the board and the flag committee, we were active. Thirty to 80 percent of us were at Friday night games or Sunday games. We just went to make sure it was running well, and it did.”

One of Football PEI’s new additions was Aaron MacIsaac, who took over as President in May. With over two decades of coaching experience, including eight with StFX at the U SPORTS level, his well-rounded skill set has been invaluable.

“Glen and I’s conversations have been great. A lot of it has been around the technical side of the game. With my playing career over the last 25 years, and 20 years in coaching with the last eight at the U SPORTS level, I was able to help bolster our plan and why we could do it safely. It’s been really good that way, just feeding off of each other. We’re both in it for the same reason, that being how can we progress football in a little province such as ours?”

Along with flag, MacIsaac’s expertise has been greatly appreciated on the tackle side of things. Prince Edward Island kicked off their tackle league at the beginning of October, with MacIsaac aiding in the decision-making process surrounding formations and other nitty gritty details.

With a limit of 50 people for sporting events, each age division from varsity to atom is being played with six-a-side. The four clubs in the province had a scrimmage at the end of September, which was a success.

“We don’t have yardsticks on the field this year. We’re trying to keep our numbers down and that was part of the plan that we proposed to the CPHO,” said MacIsaac.

“They were using beanbags as a hybrid model from flag, so the refs were keeping track that way. It was good contact, guys respected the whistle. The refs were very complimentary and coaches were just happy to get back on the field.

We’ve done well to get to our path, but we also have the strength of the Atlantic bubble behind us. Football is a grind. It’s a grind on the field throughout my playing years and coaching years and now my administrative years we’ll call it. Just keep the focus. It’s all about building football in your province.”

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