Canada Northwind

NORTHWIND BLOWS FOR FOOTY
Australian Football continues to expand in Canada.

The Canadian Australian Football Association (CAFA) was established in May 1989, starting with two teams then known as the Mississauga Widows and the Toronto Panthers.

On October 12, 1989, during the half-time of an exhibition match between Melbourne and Geelong, football jumpers were presented to the team captains of the Mustangs and Panthers. Two days later, the Panthers defeated the Mustangs by 17 points to win the inaugural Conacher Cup.

In 1990, the league more than doubled in size with the addition of the Scarborough Rebels, the North York Hawks and the Hamilton Wildcats, and in 1992 further progression saw the formation of the Balmy Beach Saints.

The next year the CAFA had its first taste of international competition when the British Australian Football League played a Canadian all-star team, with the Canadians defeating the British by a twelve-goal margin.

In 1999, a Canadian national team, known as the Northwind, travelled to Chicago, Illinois to play the United States' national team, 'the Revolution'. In a close match, the Revolution edged out team Canada.

The Ontario Australia Rules Football League (OAFL) was developed in 2001, along with the formation of the Vancouver Cougars and the Calgary Kangaroos.

That year Northwind participated in the first Atlantic Alliance Cup, playing against teams from England, Ireland, Denmark and the USA. This proved invaluable preparation for the 2002 International Cup, in which the side finished ninth.

Come 2005, the Northwind travelled to Melbourne for the International Cup and improved their International ranking by finishing in seventh place. AFL Canada was subsequently re-energised with new management in an attempt to accelerate the development of the national program.

That year also saw further expansion of the OAFL with the addition of another Toronto team, the Central Blues. Meanwhile in Vancouver, the North Delta Junior Australia Football League (NDJAFL) continued its impressive growth and it now has more than 150 juniors in 12 teams across three age divisions.

From this league Canada now has a national junior Australian Football team known as the Wolfpack. A number of these youngsters have been playing football for more than four years before the age of 18, providing a great feeder system for the Northwind program and potentially clubs in Australia.

In July last year, possibly the most significant event in Canadian football Occurred when the Northwind scored a victory over the USA's Revolution. The game was played in front of 500 people at the UBC Thunderbird stadium in Vancouver. To cap off 2007, AFL legend Kevin Sheedy travelled to Toronto for the coin toss at the OAFL Grand Final, with the Toronto Eagles narrowly defeating the Etobicoke Kangaroos.

This year marks 20 years of football in Canada, with the game continuing to expand and now starting to spread into Ontario's neighbouring province Quebec for the first time.

The revamped national program ensures that the national team Northwind now plays as many as four games annually, and the 2008 Australian Football International Cup should result in Canada's best performance to date.

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