The Quinte Skyhawks will be expanding onto the national football landscape next fall.
The local grassroots football organization has been awarded a Canadian Junior Football League franchise and will join the 18 team coast-to-coast league, starting play in fall 2021.
The Skyhawks would play their regular season games against opponents from the Ontario Football Conference, with potential playoff opponents coming out of the British Columbia Football Conference and the Prairie Football Conference.
Skyhawks President Peter Gabriel tells Quinte News that while the sport has strong roots in the area and has been growing substantially in recent years, this new team will be unlike anything football fans here have experienced before.
“It’s not too often you get a national league coming into a smaller market community. We have teams in the Prairie Conference that could play at the university level very easily. What we’re trying to do in Ontario and this area is build a next-level club that really intrigues athletes from all over to be a part of this.”
Quinte Skyhawks President Peter Gabriel announces the organization’s entry into the Canadian Junior Football League, at Mary Anne Sills Park in Belleville, on September 27, 2020. (Photo: David Foot / Quinte News)
The CJFL allows players aged 18-to-22 to continue their football careers after high school and also gives an opportunity to further their development, with a chance to move on to play at the university or professional level.
With that in mind, Gabriel has brought on Warren Goldie as the U22 Skyhawks’ first head coach.
Goldie has decades of experience as a player and coach, spending time on the sidelines at Queen’s University and St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia, and more recently runs a football academy targeted towards quarterbacks.
He says he’s looking forward to the unique experience of building a franchise from the ground up, attracting players from across the province and beyond.
“If you’re a football coach, to have the chance to be a head coach of something that’s grass roots and put your thumbprint on a lot of parts of it, I think that’s the dream for most. You really get to build the culture and do things the way you want to do it. We’ll see how it works out, but I’ve got some control over it, so it’s exciting.”
As an added recruitment tool, the Skyhawks have partnered with Loyalist College, to offer players a chance to continue their studies while they play.
Goldie says that’s a key in bringing in better players who are looking to develop themselves both on and off the field.
“Eighty percent of the kids on most high school teams don’t have the opportunity to play again. They don’t have to go to school, but I love student athletes. So if we can give them the opportunity to continue their post-secondary education and post-secondary football, I think that’s the core of the team that’s going to allow us to build the culture we want. I think that really gives us a chance to come out of the gates pretty fast.”
Quinte Skyhawks U22 Head Coach Warren Goldie speaks to a crowd during the announcement of the team’s entry into the Canadian Junior Football League, at Mary Anne Sills Park, on September 27, 2020. (Photo: David Foot / Quinte Newes)
Like the other minor football teams, the U22 squad will play out of Mary Anne Sills Park, but with a step up in leagues and competition, comes a step up in facilities as well.
Mayor Mitch Panciuk told a crowd at the team’s official announcement on Sunday that City Council will do everything it can to support an expansion of the turf field facility.
“We’re looking at something here that we can use for more than just the football program, because this is a wonderful facility. Mary Anne Sills Park is a great facility, we just have to now make it more friendly for spectators. We’re working through our Parks Master Plan and this is a big part of that, it’s going to be the future of recreation facilities in Belleville.”
While the stadium upgrade is in the early stages, Panciuk says the hope would be to include bleachers, a press box and locker room facilities to serve both the turf field, and the adjacent track and field facilities.
The Skyhawks will have to fill a full 65 player roster and hope to be able to sign some players before the start of the June 1 preseason signing period and Goldie says he’s already working on his recruiting.
The coach says he’s hoping to have a few players on the roster and potentially begin working out with them in the spring, but of course, COVID-19 could change all of the current timelines.
The Skyhawks will be propped up by a significant number of local sponsors including Rick Little Cooling and Heating, which has committed $25,000 to the team over the next five years as the primary sponsor and will be showcased on the U22 Skyhawks’ jerseys for home and away games.
You can click here to learn more about the Canadian Junior Football League and get more info on the Quinte Skyhawks by clicking here.
Quinte Skyhawks Mascot Rocky. (Photo: David Foot / Quinte News)
