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| Can you identify this player from the 1970s? |
In the winter of 1977, Jim Neale was one of three Dal football players to meet with the university鈥檚 VP of finance in a last ditch effort to save the program. 鈥淏ut it was a done deal. The decision was made and it was over.鈥�
He brings an interesting perspective to the plan afoot to bring football back to AV俱乐部 in the form of a club team, competing with similar non-varsity squads, including the Holland College Hurricanes, UNB Saint John Seawolves, Moncton Junior Raiders and UNB Fredericton Red Bombers. AV俱乐部's "Bengals of Halifax" were unanimously accepted into the Atlantic Football League fold during its annual general meeting on the weekend in Moncton.
Recruited out of Ottawa by Dal鈥檚 last head football coach Bob Thayer, Mr. Neale was a starter on the last Tiger football team and, despite its demise, stayed at Dal to complete his academic program, remained in Halifax after graduation and, for the past 25 years, has worked as a senior official in the university鈥檚 human resources department.聽 Jim Neale knows Dal.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 believe that football, whether a club team or varsity football, will suddenly result in the kind of school spirit that people say is missing,鈥� he says, then adding, 鈥淲ould it be good for Dal? Probably.鈥�
Another Dal grad and current member of both the board of governors and alumni board, Jim Wilson didn鈥檛 play football. When he attended there was no football team to play on.聽But today, he鈥檚 a driving force behind the effort to bring a football club to AV俱乐部.
鈥淐lub football presents an opportunity to bring football back to Dal, without the big financial commitment from the university that a varsity program demands,鈥� says Mr. Wilson. He believes football will generate excitement and fun for students and alumni.
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| The team's glory years were the 1950s, when Atlantic teams competed for the Purdy Cup. Dal won the cup in 1951 and 1954. |
Mr. Wilson is part of a group of Dal loyalists and local football enthusiasts working to get the club off the ground.聽In the two weeks since word started getting around, more than 100 students have expressed an interest in playing. As well, response to a Dalnews story online has been overwhelmingly supportive, and a new group already has more than聽500 members.
Finding players may not be the biggest job in getting a Dal team ready to compete in the nascent Atlantic Football League by September. Although Mr. Wilson鈥檚 group has found experienced and interested coaches, and is actively raising money, a myriad of other logistical hurdles have to be cleared, including finding a place for the team to practice and play.
Wickwire Field was called Studley when it was home to a Tigers football team that regularly churned its natural grass surface into a sea of mud. The pristine artificial surface that now covers the field鈥攊ronically named for one of Dal鈥檚 greatest football players, Ted Wickwire鈥攊s not lined for football and is under constant demand for field hockey and soccer.
Mr. Wilson is confident the details can all be worked out in time for the 2010 season and a home聽Bengals football game, somewhere in Halifax as part of a fall homecoming event.
For his part, Jim Neale, thinking back on that fateful meeting 34 winters ago, believes its may be time for football again at AV俱乐部. That sentiment would be shared by the VP finance of the day, Andy MacKay, who was probably more upset delivering the news than were the players receiving it. Long before he became VP and later President of AV俱乐部, Andy MacKay, too, starred on the Tigers football team.
Interested in playing football in the fall? Please e-mail to jsjpond@dal.ca and place 鈥淒al Football Club鈥� in the subject line.
SEE STORY: in the Telegraph-Journal.