Touch football, while informally played earlier amongst friends, was spawned in Burlington in the late 1960’s. Thanks to the leadership of people like Frank Bolla, Barry Frieday, Al Breeze, Ray Delegarde, Rick Maffey, Marty Hemmingway, Rick Kay, Rick Little, & Dave Nelson, the Burlington Men’s Touch Football League (BMTFL) became a reality, and was a thriving league with as many as 16 teams throughout the 1970’s. Teams were scheduled to referee other games when they weren’t playing, and in the late 1970’s our relationship with the Lakeshore Football Officials was established. We have since had a very good, long term arrangement with them to referee all games in each of our leagues.

While providing players an outlet to play recreational touch football, it was also quite competitive, as the Burlington League Champion qualified directly for, and was the only team eligible to compete in the Canadian Touch Bowl Championships.

In 1980, with the growth of touch football rapidly increasing, the Golden Horseshoe Touch Football Association was formed to replace the BTMFL, to allow a wider geographical base of players, with more teams, which enabled various divisions based on appropriate caliber to be formed. Additionally, it provided opportunities for women’s, and master’s (over 35) leagues to be formed and fall under the umbrella of the GHTFA. Having all adult leagues administrated by one association had it’s advantages in working with the City of Burlington for facility rentals, as our sheer size made us one of the primary users of football fields in Burlington.

In the early 1980’s, the GHTFA executive met several times with the Burlington Minor Football Association (BMFA) to assist in the creation of a kids touch football league (ages 6 to 17) which is still a strong feeder program for the GHTFA today.

A very dedicated group of people have been responsible in making the GHTFA one of the premier touch associations in Canada. This list of key volunteers includes Pano Tournidis, Rick Little, Dave Nelson, Bill Fournier, Bill Potts, and Don Gerry. This group, along with many others, have also assisted in hosting numerous touch football tournaments and events over the years in Burlington. These include the annual Labatt’s Early Bird Tournament which first was played in 1978 and is still a feature event to kick off the touch football season each year on the first weekend in May; the Cougar Shoes Tournament held in August (1979 – 1996); the Central Ontario Regional Championships (1980,81,82 & 83); the Ontario "Bud Bowl" Championships (1984, 85 & 86), and later renamed the Ontario "Trillium Cup" (1999 & 2001); and for international flavor, we have hosted the Australian National Touch Teams (men’s, women’s, master’s & mixed), and USA Men’s teams from Cleveland for the "Kangaroo Cup" (blended hybrid of Canadian Touch & Aussie Touch Rugby) in 1987, 1989 & 1991. Further, a contingent of GHTFA players (men & women) traveled to the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia in 1988 for the inaugural "World Touch Championships" put on by the Federation of International Touch (F.I.T.). Our GHTFA players have also made their presence on numerous occasions @ the U.S.F.T.A. (United States Flag & Touch Association) championships, as well as tournaments they host across the USA.

All of these events have been extremely successful, and the GHTFA is proud to be a leader in hosting first class touch football tournaments, as well as supporting other events in Canada, and around the world.

The future looks bright for touch football in Burlington with a strong base of kids playing in the BMFA, and there are a number of teams in the GHTFA which boast rosters with father and sons playing on the same team.

In 2003, our Association will field 38 teams, with approximately 780 players. The Men’s teams were divided into different Leagues ranging from highly competitive to purely recreational, AA League (4 Teams), A League (8 Teams), B League (8 Teams), C League (8 Teams). Also our Association ran a Masters League (6 Teams), and a Women’s League (4 Teams)

Saturday, May 05, 2007 10:18:05 AM