Archive

TNT Express gearing up for 2013 season

April 11, 2013   ·   0 Comments

Hard work, never quit – it’s not just a motto for the TNT Express football club, it’s a way of life.

The Express are ready to start their 11th season of local gridiron action.

“We’ll have our equipment fittings on April 10,11, and 12, and we will be at the Beeton field the following week,” said club president and coach Bob Hinde.

The Express will field six division teams this year, from the little guys on the Tyke team who are getting their first taste of full tackle football, right up to the seasoned veterans of the Junior Varsity and Varsity squads.

The fact that the club can field six divisions in an area with a relatively small population base says a lot of good things about the Express organization and the dedication of the players.

After all, they will be going up against teams from much larger population bases like Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, and Hamilton.

Coming from one of the smallest towns to enter teams in the Ontario Minor Football League (OMFL) has a tendency to make the squads from larger centres think they will come in and steamroll the ‘’farmers” as they are often called.

Those big teams get a reality check when they discover the level of talent and dedication the Express turn out on the field.

The boys in black and yellow can play against the best teams in Ontario – no matter where they are from.

Probably the best example is the Varsity division champion game between the Express and the Hamilton Steelers at Centennial Stadium in Etobicoke in 2011.

The Steelers, a cocky team who thought they would easily win the cup, went down in flames when the Express defence allowed them only three points for the entire game.

In the final quarter, a Hamilton coach who was incensed that his team was losing, yelled, “We are the city of Hamilton! And we’re losing to a team of 23 hillbillies!”

That comment sure didn’t go unnoticed and besides having the satisfaction of winning the Varsity division championship over a team with a roster of players that was double the size, the Express with tongue in cheek, distributed t-shirts to the players at the end of season banquet that read – “Hamilton 43 – TNT Express: 23 Hillbillies – Cost of seeing the look on Hamilton’s face when they lost – Priceless!”

It was an inside joke for the Express, but it certainly made the statement that they are a club to be reckoned with.

The OMFL is expanding this year with the addition of teams from Port Dover, Markham, Kitchener / Waterloo, Niagara, Vaughan, and Essex.

The league is also partnering with the Ontario Varsity Football League to create the largest Spring football league in the province.

The season will get under way in May.

We’ll announce the new schedule as soon as it becomes available.

By Brian Lockhart

Readers Comments (0)