It means contending with the elements in addition to the opposing team, but U of T's women keep coming out to play flag football in the snow.

By Daniel Sellers • Photos by Corbin Smith

Sports coverage tends to focus on major league teams, but every day in Toronto people make fun (and sometimes wacky) activities an important part of their lives. Sporting Goods looks at some of these.

Tiffany Russell (second from left) and the rest of the U of T veterans' defensive line await the snap.

When the University of Toronto’s powderpuff football teams practice on the open field between Hoskin Avenue and University College, passersby stop to watch.

“We’ve had people take pictures and bring out video cameras,” says Tiffany Russell, one of the captains of U of T’s defence. “Here’s these girls, and it’s freezing outside, and we’re playing football.”

That such a practice would be considered a novelty by some is perhaps unsurprising. After all, this town’s most prominent women’s football team plays games in their underwear.

But powderpuff football is no sideshow. And, despite its name, it is certainly not soft. It is four-down flag football for women, with 10 players on either side of the ball. While tackling is not allowed, blocking is, so there’s plenty of contact. There’s no punting, but teams are allowed to attempt field goals. And it’s played outside during the winter, often in the snow.

Alarmingly, though the games tend to get physical and are frequently played on icy surfaces, players don’t wear helmets or pads of any kind. There has been talk amongst the coaches—members of U of T’s Varsity Blues men’s team—of outfitting the women with scrum caps, like those worn in rugby, but Russell isn’t convinced that will come to fruition.

The risk of injury doesn’t seem to be a significant deterrent. In just its second year, the U of T team is now large enough to support two separate squads: the veterans, who were part of the team last year, and this year’s rookies. Russell says many other schools now field two teams as well.

But because the province’s governing body for interuniversity sport—Ontario University Athletics—doesn’t touch powderpuff football, teams don’t get the chance to play a whole lot of games.

“I think there’s talk about, eventually, maybe in the next couple years, trying to turn it into an OUA sport [and] get some varsity status,” Russell says. “Because it is starting to pick up with more girls being interested in it.”

In addition to a large annual tournament at Laurier, featuring some 25 teams from all over the province, Russell says there is one each year at McMaster, and one at Queen’s. On January 21, for the first time, U of T held a tournament of its own and played host to two teams each from York and UOIT in Oshawa.

Near the end of that day, with darkness on the rapid approach and the tournament winding down, Russell and her teammates lost in the finals to the rookie team from York. The ground, once covered with a thin layer of snow, had long since been churned into mud. Because of the lateness of the hour, the teams only had time for an abbreviated finals game on the unlit field.

If U of T gets its way, there will be a rematch against the York rookies, when darkness will not be a factor. “We’re going to see if we can play a full-fledged game, if (York) will be up for doing that,” says Russell.

But either way, the fact remains that two girls who came to the U of T tournament walked away with concussions. If Russell is right, and the popularity of the sport is growing, teams will need access to proper equipment sooner rather than later, and they’ll also need a structure within which to play each other outside of the occasional tournament.

Perhaps it’s time for OUA to get onside. They could start by giving the sport a more fitting name.

The U of T powderpuff football team‘s upcoming tournaments are February 3-4 at McMaster University in Hamilton, and February 10-13 at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo.