'Making history:' Women's tackle football expands in northern Ontario, with new teams in Sudbury and North Bay
The Sudbury Spartans Under 19 women’s team won provincial championship title in inaugural season
As Gia Rocca attempts to make a play on the football field at Sudbury's James Jerome Sports Complex, her female teammates cheer her on.
It's a new feeling for the 15-year-old quarterback to be playing with other women football players. Until this year, Rocca's only played against boys, but she now plays for the Sudbury Spartans women's tackle team, after the organization added an Under 16 and an Under 19 team to its football program this spring.
"It's been awesome. The girls are so awesome and the coaching staff, they're always willing to help us," said Rocca.
Rocca started playing tackle football in Grade 8 when she joined the local Joe MacDonald youth league. Although the league is co-ed, Rocca was only one of two girls on her team.
"A lot of girls want to play and they've been looking for an opportunity to play," said Rocca.
"But…it's really hard to play on the boys football teams for school, and it's scary to try to do that because it's really intimidating."
Tackle football has been a staple in Sudbury for decades, with the men's Sudbury Spartans having teams since the 1950s. Over the last few years, there's been a quiet, steady growth of women's tackle football in northern Ontario emerging from the shadows.
The sport is becoming increasingly popular amongst high school girls looking to try something new. Sudbury's St. Benedict's Catholic Secondary School started a women's tackle football team in 2021, the only program of its kind in the city, while other schools continue to have girls flag football.
"High schools had 478 girls playing flag football on 25 teams in Sudbury in the fall. So there's girls that want to play football, and they want to play tackle," said Gord Goddard, who's been coaching the men's Spartans for over 30 years and now coaches the women.
Recognizing the sport's popularity, the Spartans organization created the U16 and U19 women's teams this year, in partnership with the Ontario Women's Football League (OWFL), with over 50 girls between the ages of 12 and 19 suiting up for the Spartans in the inaugural season.
"It was time to have it. It was time to do it," said Goddard.
Goddard said the OWFL currently plays in a 6 vs. 6 format, but is looking to expand to a 9 vs. 9 and then eventually the standard 12 vs. 12 format the men's league and Canadian Football League play.
The Spartans weren't the only new team joining the league. The North Bay Bulldogs also added a U19 team this year after seeing demand rise in that city.
"We're kind of like, paving the way for future generations to be able to play this," said 17-year-old Caileigh Ryan.
"We're making history. Girls tackle football is becoming a lot bigger and I'm happy that it's come to Sudbury too."
Along with playing for the Spartans, Ryan also suits up for the St. Benedict's high school team and the Team Ontario provincial women's tackle team.
She said it's been great to watch the sport expand into northern Ontario and have a lot of fans supporting the girls.
"Really grateful that people actually want to come watch girls tackle. It means a lot actually to have that support," said Ryan.
Fans had a lot to cheer about when watching the women's Spartans play. In the first season, the U16 women's team made it to the league's semi-finals, while the U19's went all the way to win the Tier II Championship title in July.
15-year-old Robin Price is from Sault Ste. Marie and played on the Korah Collegiate junior boys tackle team last year before also joining Team Ontario. She moved mid-school year to Sudbury to play for the Spartans, being billeted by a local family to have the chance to play girls tackle, since her city doesn't have a team.
"I think it's really good for developing more football in the north, because mainly football is down south for females especially, so now North Bay and Sudbury having a team is helpful," said Price.
"It would be nice if the Soo had a team though."
With the early success and more girls eager to play, the door has been left open to having additional teams join the OWFL.
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