“Hit her hard!”
A fierce voice rings out across the field at Griffiths Stadium. It’s followed by whoops and hollers from the bench.
These players are here to play football. No holds barred; the hits are real and they’re hard. And the women on the field love it.
It’s the season-opener of the WWCFL, the Western Women’s Canadian Football League. (It has teams in Calgary, Edmonton, Lethbridge and Winnipeg.) The home team Saskatoon Valkyries are playing the Regina Riot.
The newly-formed league had its first four-game season last May and June. So far so good. The Valkyries went undefeated last year and won the league championship game by 28 points.
The players come from a variety of athletic backgrounds. Many play rugby, some are university athletes in basketball, hockey and track. Their shared passion is football and all are proud to play in Saskatchewan’s first women’s tackle football league.
It’s a growing sport, thanks in part to women’s rugby in high school. Football Saskatchewan executive director Jeff Yausie says five years from now, women’s high school football will be as popular as rugby. He says football appeals to athletes from all backgrounds. The sport is ideal for developing skills that can transfer to other sports.
“Football is a game for all shapes, sizes and attributes. It requires skills you can utilize in other sports.”
Women’s football has a notorious side as well, thanks to the LFL, the American-based Lingerie Football League. The Regina Rage and Saskatoon Sirens are scheduled to start their LFL seasons in September.
The LFL uniform consists of a hockey helmet, knee and elbow pads and modified shoulder pads. Players wear a bra, panties and garter belt, and must sign a contract covering “accidental nudity” during game play. The lack of protective equipment and the playing field (indoor arenas where the boards are left up) worries some. Jessie Buydens, president of the Saskatoon Valkyries, says safety should be an issue for the women.
“If you’re getting slammed into the boards (in that equipment) that means all of your organs are exposed. If you get a low hit by someone wearing a hockey helmet it’s probably going to hurt really bad because you’ve got no padding down there.”
In October 2011, the Toronto Star reported that the LFL is a voluntary league — players must pay a $45 fee to participate. Players’ primary insurance policy is used to cover any injuries sustained during league play or practice. They can opt to pay $250 (U.S.) for a league policy that covers injury up to $10,000.
“People will say it’s not exploitation; it’s empowerment. And I mean, it’s their choice if they want to do it,” says Buydens. “But there’s other ways that you can be naked and make money. When you look at the cost benefit analysis, I don’t see any benefits for the girls that are playing.”
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The first time Buydens tried out for football it was Team Canada, competing internationally for the world championship in 2011. Buydens and Julie Paetsch, longtime rugby players, loved the sport so much that they decided to start a team here.
“There was about 13 girls at the start that worked really, really hard. There was a lot of interest. This got really big, really fast,” says Buydens. She now plays both offensive and defensive line for the Valkyries. Sixty players showed up for the first training camp; 30 had been expected.
Yausie agreed to be head coach. He enlisted a strong coaching staff for each position on the team. All are past Huskies football or Hilltops players. They coach the Valkyries os volunteers.
“We have the number of girls to make it successful and the coaches to make it successful. A lot of the other teams in the league have two or three coaches. We have 10,” says Buydens.
As the opening game this year showed, there’s no doubting the team’s altheticism. On one touchdown, Katie Miyazaki ran the ball 30 yards through heart of the Riot team, dashing nimbly around defenders.
For Yausie, who also coaches the Hilltops, the Valkyries has offered up new challenges. Women learn faster, he’s found. They ask more questions.
“It causes us to think about what we’re doing. The girls ask ‘why?’ They really soak it up.”
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Buydens grew up in a sports-loving family. Her brother Hubert played hockey, football and rugby. He now plays national level rugby. He played football for the Hilltops and Huskies, and was drafted by the BC Lions.
Megan is a nationally ranked wrestler and has travelled the world representing Canada. Buydens has played contact sports her entire life and says it’s one of those things where the first time you get hit you either love it or you hate it.
“I don’t love being hit but I do love hitting people. It’s a bit of a stress reliever and I think it’s good fun.”
Buydens also plays rugby for the Wild Oats and coaches two rugby teams. In addition to practices and games, she works out regularly at a crossfit gym in the city’s north end where she’s been known to dead lift over 136 kg.
Buydens is competitive in her career as well. She’s an attorney at a small general practice in Saskatoon. She loves the challenge of court. She’s also a sessional lecturer at the U of S, teaching classes on the sociology of law and women in the law.
Buydens has always had to fight for what she wanted. She gave birth to her son William Jacklin-Watt at the age of 16. Dropping out of school was never an option. In fact, she missed only three days.
“I had friends who had babies before I did and the ones that had dropped out never came back. That wasn’t something I was interested in doing. I don’t know that I always wanted to go to university but I definitely didn’t want to work at Wal Mart beyond high school.”
By the time she was ready for law school, William had homework of his own so the two would study together every evening. He’s now 17, taking advanced placement classes and enrolled in French Immersion at Holy Cross. Like his mom, his uncle and his aunt, he’s a star athlete. He’s on the Under-17 national rugby team. He also volunteers and supports rugby initiatives for youth in the city.
Back at the home-opener, Saskatoon ends up winning 36 to 6 against an improving Regina team (last year’s score was 56 to 6). Coach Yausie’s plan is coming together.
“Once I saw how passionate these women were, I wanted to make sure it was a good football experience. I wanted to make sure it was run properly,” he says.
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The next Valkyries home game is June 3 at Griffiths Stadium against the Winnipeg Fearless. The WWCFL Championship will be held on July 14 in Saskatoon.
EXTRA POINT:
A Valkyrie is a female figure in Norse mythology. She decides who dies in battle. The word comes from the Old Norse word, valkyrja. The North Germanic language was used during the Viking Age until about 1300.
Photographs by: Andrew Spearin
