AFL Ontario

AFL Ontario is the largest Australian football league in North America. It is currently composed of teams from the Greater Toronto Area, Southwestern Ontario and the National Capital Region, who play off for the Conacher Cup (named after Lionel Conacher), presently awarded to the winner of the annual AFL Ontario Grand Final.

AFL Ontario
SportAustralian football
Founded1989
No. of teams8 Men's 5 Women's
Country Canada
Most recent
champion(s)		Division 1: Ottawa Swans Women: Etobicoke Kangaroos
Official websiteAFL Ontario

AFL Ontario, along with the North West Pacific Football League is a member of AFL Canada, the governing body for the sport in Canada.

In 2006, AFL Ontario had around 330 senior players consisting of over 170 Canadian nationals.[1] With the rapid increase in awareness and interest in Australian football in Ontario, this has increased in 2012 with almost 650 senior men and women members.

History

AFL Ontario which was originally known as the Canadian Australian Football League (CAFA) and more recently as the Ontario Australian Football League (OAFL), was established in 1989. Two teams were formed that year - the Toronto Panthers and the Mississauga Mustangs, with a draft of interested players prior to a three-game season and Grand Final. The coaches of those inaugural teams — John Pearson (Toronto Panthers) and Terence Wallis (Mississauga Mustangs) brought a significant amount of experience from playing at a high level in Australia. An interesting fact is that the first Grand Final was attended by a number of AFL executives including Ron Barrassi and members of the Geelong Cats and Melbourne Demons.

Founding members of the original competition include: Kingsley Ellis (ex-Fitzroy VFL - lead central Umpire, founder of the Hamilton Tigers), Terence Wallis (founded & coached the Mississauga then Toronto Dingos), Bill Frampton (Mississauga then founded the Brampton Bulldogs), Sandro Mancino (Toronto Eagles, Scarborough Rebels and then founded the Balmy Beach Saints). These pioneers set the foundation for the current competition. During the early years CAFA played a number of International games against visiting teams from Australia (Balmain FC, Golden Oldies touring team) as well as the team representing the Australian Rules league in England. The Canadian team narrowly missed beating the touring Australian teams over the years, but soundly defeated England on the four occasions that it played them (1990–1996) culminating in a strong win by the touring Canadian team in London (1996) coached by Terence Wallis.

In 2011, with the increased interest in women's football, AFL Ontario established their Women's League with great success. With the help of the Ontario Trillium Foundation, 2011 also saw the development of AFL Ontario's junior competition. 2012 saw the women's division double in size to 6 teams competing, and the junior competition continued over the summer holidays.

Division 2

In 2009, AFL Ontario launched a second division originally consisting of six founding teams. London (Ontario) AFC withdrew before the official start to the season and the team's players were absorbed into the Quebec Saints. Along with the Saints, the Toronto Central Blues, Broadview Hawks, Etobicoke 'Old Boys' Roos and Toronto Eagles made up the founding five teams of the new OAFL Division 2 competition. In honour of the first Canadian to ever play in the AFL the competition's premiership cup was named the Mike Pyke Cup (named after Mike Pyke).

The OAFL Division 2 season was traditionally shorter than that of the OAFL. In 2009 due to teams playing different numbers of matches the ladder was determined by 'Match Ratio' rather than premiership points. In 2010 all teams competed in 8 rounds and thus the ladder reverted to determining positions by premiership points.

2010 also saw the introduction of hybrid teams. New team the Toronto Rebel Dogs (a partnership between the Toronto Downtown Dingos and the Toronto Rebels) and the 'DevilRoos' (a partnership between the Etobicoke Roos and High Park Demons). The Toronto Eagles withdrew their team from the 2010 season.

Clubs

Current clubs
ClubCityFormedMen's Division 1 PremiershipsWomen's Premierships
Central BluesToronto20061-
Etobicoke KangaroosEtobicoke200344
Grand River GargoylesGuelph2001–-
Hamilton WildcatsHamilton1990–1
High Park DemonsToronto198912
Ottawa SwansOttawa200721
Toronto DingosToronto19964-
Toronto EaglesToronto1989121
Toronto RebelsToronto19904-

Past Men's clubs
ClubCity
London Magpies (2003–2005)London
Windsor Mariners (2002–2005)Windsor
Brampton Wolverines (1993–1999)Brampton
Balmy Beach Saints (1992–1997)Toronto
Quebec Saints (2009–2010)Montreal
Broadview Hawks (1989–2017)Toronto
Etobicoke Kangaroos (2003-2018)Etobicoke

Past champions
YearPremierRunner-up
1989 Toronto PanthersMississauga Mustangs
1990 Toronto PanthersMississauga Mustangs
1991 Toronto PanthersScarborough Rebels
1992 Scarborough RebelsMississauga Mustangs
1993 Lawrence Park RebelsToronto Panthers
1994 Mississauga MustangsLawrence Park Rebels
1995 Toronto EaglesBroadview Hawks
1996 Toronto EaglesHamilton Wildcats
1997 Toronto EaglesLawrence Park Rebels
1998 Toronto EaglesLawrence Park Rebels
1999 Toronto EaglesBroadview Hawks
2000 Toronto DingosToronto Eagles
2001 Lakeshore RebelsToronto Eagles
2002 Toronto EaglesToronto Dingos
2003 Toronto DingosEtobicoke Kangaroos
2004 Toronto DingosToronto Eagles
2005 Toronto DingosLakeshore Rebels
2006 Toronto EaglesBroadview Hawks
2007 Toronto EaglesEtobicoke Kangaroos
2008 Etobicoke KangaroosToronto Eagles
YearPremierRunner-upDivision 2 PremierDivision 2 Runner-upWomen's LeagueWomen's League Runner-up
2009 Toronto EaglesEtobicoke KangaroosQuebec SaintsBroadview Hawks Not contested
2010 Central BluesToronto DingosQuebec SaintsCentral Blues
2011 Etobicoke KangaroosHigh Park DemonsEtobicoke KangaroosBroadview HawksToronto EaglesEtobicoke Lady Roos
2012 Etobicoke KangaroosBroadview HawksBroadview HawksHigh Park DemonsHigh Park DemonsHamilton Wildcats
2013 Broadview HawksToronto DingosToronto DingosBroadview HawksHigh Park DemonsHamilton Wildcats
2014 Broadview HawksCentral BluesToronto RebelsToronto DingosOttawa SwansHamilton Wildcats
2015 Etobicoke KangaroosToronto EaglesToronto DingosToronto RebelsEtobicoke KangaroosHamilton Wildcats
2016 Toronto RebelsOttawa SwansNot contestedEtobicoke KangaroosHamilton Wildcats
2017 Toronto EaglesToronto RebelsEtobicoke KangaroosCentral Blues
2018 Ottawa SwansToronto EaglesEtobicoke KangaroosOttawa Swans
2019 Ottawa SwansHamilton WildcatsHamilton WildcatsEtobicoke Kangaroos

Principal venues
  • Margaret Green Park, Guelph: Grand River Gargoyles
  • Mohawk Sports Park, Hamilton: Hamilton Wildcats
  • Manotick Polo Club, Ottawa: Ottawa Swans
  • Humber College South, Toronto: Etobicoke Kangaroos, Toronto Dingos, High Park Demons, Toronto Rebels, Toronto Eagles and Central Blues

See also

References
  1. League Annual Report
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