On September 25, the Division II intramural league champions proved that a year hasn’t dulled their abilities. On St. George’s Back Campus, the understaffed UTM women beat Victoria College 13–0 in the first game of their season.

The two-time defending champions aspire to set their mark as U of T Division I champions in 2011, and to finally receive the respect they failed to get during their championship runs. Relaxed, instructive practices late on Wednesday evenings are where the girls learn the fundamentals of football, as well as their specific and group roles for the flag game.
Erin Doane along with two others makes her way into practice. Doane, an Art History major, is the only fourth-year member of the team and the team’s leader. She’s the “deep” on defence, a wing on offense, and plays centre. She arrives sporting a bright smile, visibly tired from just finishing soccer practice. She anchors the 11-member football team, and practice formally commences. During her time on the team, the flag footballers, once underdogs, have become repeat champions, but it has been a difficult process.

“We’ve come a long way in two years. The year before I started playing, we lost,” said Doane. “We had to re-apply and we didn’t get in, so we had to wait for a team to drop out. And we weren’t actually in the league until later in the year, so we didn’t play any league games, just final games.”

Unlike an intercollegiate team, the girls do not have a full-time head coach. Cameron Walker, program coordinator at UTM, does what he can to assist. Recognition is a major issue for Doane and her teammate, Christine Law, who acknowledges UTM’s limited focus on intramural sports. Law cites fear as the motivation that drives the girls to win championships.
“We already [want to] win the game…that’s why we’re playing the sport. But not only do [that], we want to keep ourselves from being eliminated,” Law said. “Nobody wants to be cut, so we’re in a position where either [we] win, or were done; in Varsity, it’s a mentality of ‘win or lose, we’ll have another season’.

“For us, if we lose, that’s it. People apply themselves more when there’s a threat.”