Football: Atlantic Football League has smash debut

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It was an auspicious start for the new club-level Atlantic Football League, as perhaps as many as 2300 fans turned out Saturday night for the first football game in 30 years for the UNB Red Bombers. Alas, they lost 16-14 to the UNBSJ (Saint John) Seawolves thanks to a last-minute field goal by John Phillips.

A huge crowd considering that they were competing for fans with the UNB-McGill hockey game next door at the Aitken University Centre (many who watched from the concourse windows during intermissions), so it could bode well for pent up football mania in Fredericton.

Moncton is the third team in this new loop, which are looking to add other non-CIS football schools like Dalhousie next year. If the crowds keep coming, and corporate sponsors appear, then the return of CIS football to UNB might move from a dream to a possibility.

Related:
Phillips screws up storybook ending (Daily Gleaner)
University football lures 2,300 fans to first game (Telegraph-Journal)
David Kilfoil

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3 comments:

  1. Anonymous9/29/2009 12:19 am

    Wow it's a glorified intramural game . . .

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  2. Aaron M10/02/2009 7:48 am

    Anyone making a comment like that and won't post their name obviously got cut from the team and are a little sour. Well done UNB, Saint John and Moncton. This is a level for those who weren't lucky enough to play on a CIS football team. I was lucky enough to play CIS...but I still think this league has some potential. Look at the CJFL out west. The Regina Rams are a great example of a junior team becoming CIS. Maybe UNB could be next!

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  3. cflsteve1/31/2013 3:54 pm

    In coming back to this article and the start of the Atlantic Football League with Maritme schools as club teams they have come very far very fast. Although only in its 4th year it has 4 solid programs same as the AUS CIS schools.
    The CFL has also recognized them as a real football league as for the first time the league was asked to send players from the league to a prelim camp in Quebec for players to be invited to E-Camp.
    So as many may have seen this as a stepping stone to a CIS program it appears that the league is solid now and staying in the AFL is a better desitination for the smaller Universities then moving to the CIS

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