Sports

Simcoe Express football recruiting players for next season

September 28, 2023   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

A new start-up football team is recruiting players to form a team and be part of the Northern Football Conference (NFC), a semi-pro football league based in Ontario.

The Simcoe Express is looking for players ages 18 and up who want to continue playing football past the high school level.

The NFC has 10 teams in Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, North Bay, Oakville, Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, Tri-City – Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, and Sarnia.

The Simcoe Express is an off-shoot of the TNT Express – a local minor football league that’s had a lot of success over recent years.

Most players give up the sport after high school as there are no higher-level leagues in the region.

But the Simcoe Express wants to change that.

The league hopes to field a team in the NFC for the 2024 season. Team coaches and executives are all associated as executives or former players with the TNT Express.

The NFC has a long history. It formed in 1954 as the Northern Ontario Rugby Football Union. It consisted of four teams: The Kirkland Lake Alouettes, North Bay Roughriders, Sudbury Hardrocks, Tri-Town Cobalt, Haileybury, and New Liskeard Raiders. It is estimated that over 6,700 players have suited up in the league.

The NFC has provided a playing field for players looking to prepare for the Canadian college ranks and for those university players looking to continue playing football after graduation.

“The team is for players 18 and up,” explained Defensive Coordinator Taylor Barclay. “Right now, there is no team from Toronto all the way to North Bay. There’s a massive gap, so we’re trying to fill that with guys from Orillia, Barrie, Orangeville, and New Tecumseth. It’s quite a large area. We’re looking at former high school players, former university players – guys who have just graduated and want to continue playing. We’ve had a couple of meet-and-greets with players and we had a small practice last weekend. Over the winter, we’ll probably really get going in February, and we’ve started booking the Alliston field house for practice.”

The NFC is a summer league that gets underway in June. The schedule has six regular season games and three levels of playoffs.

The Simcoe Express is looking at the field at the Barrie Sports Complex as a home venue.

The Club is looking for players to come out for a try-out. The team is being organized by Taylor, TNT Express president Bob Hinde, and former player and coach Josh Macrae.

“We want to create a competitive team right off the bat,” Taylor said. “We’re looking at some of the guys who are interested – we have a lot of talent.”

If you are interested in playing, you can check out the team on Facebook or contact them via e-mail at Simcoeexpress@outlook.com.

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