Western Mustangs vs. Varsity Blues, 9 Oct. 2008

[raclip02]

LOL, at the cheer leaders.

[Udonthani3750]

My father told me about the early 1950s when Varsity Stadium would get 10-20,000 fans to watch the Blues play Western, Queen's and McGill. Perhaps prospective players for Varsity do not feel as 'wanted' as they might be in the U.S., or at a Western or Eastern school. Too bad. York University is now in a similar position. Even Varsity beat them by a huge margin this year.

It will be difficult for Ontario schools to compete with Laval, Saskatchewan and St. Mary's where academics count for less.

[Frostybeek]

After high school I intended to attend Western and visited the campus during the fall of 1990. I attended a football game at old Little Stadium and the attendance and participation of the student body and community was amazing.

Unfortunitaly, I couldn't afford to attend university directly out of high school and so had to attend a community college instead. Years later, I decided to scratch that "university experience" itch and visited Queens, the St. George Campus and Western in 2001.

[Frostybeek]

I was particularly drawn to Queens and Western as opposed to what I saw at U of T. The scholastic feelings at Queens and Western was so much more vibrant and exciting that the obvious disconnect that the big city creates around the U of T. However, with that said, the degree of fan fair and excitement surrounding the Western football game I attended in 2000 was significantly lacking compared to what I saw in 1990.

At the risk of making this too long winded I'll share a couple of theories.

[Frostybeek]

The most obvious obstacle to creating excitement around Canadian university football programs is that there is so much more to distract today's student body. Just as the big TV networks have seen their viewership decline due to the thousand channel universe and internet competition so to have the traditional rallying points of school participation. The variety of school clubs availible today has, I believe, allowed a significant portion of the school community to exist in a vacuum.

[Frostybeek]

There is another obstacle that I've noticed this year as I travelled back to Western to watch their trip to the Vanier Cup. The face of today's university campuses looks far different than even ten years ago. Our campuses have never had a more diverse culture set. Stay with me, I'm not about to pull a Jacques Perezeau. The diversity of cultures has many benefits but it also changes what matters to the community as a whole.

[Frostybeek]

I'm a fan of Canadian football too, so in a way, I hope the Blue get off the mat soon.

[Udonthani3750]

No, you are wrong. Varsity was in the game this day. Western only got 56 points and Varsity, yes, the Varsity Blues, scored 14 points against the vaunted Mustang defence.

Anyway it is good for Varsity fans to see something novel like a touchdown for the home side. It is a rare site in Toronto !!!

[Frostybeek]

What happened to the Varsity football program? Western has suffered through their dry periods as well but nothing to the degree that the U of T has experienced.

At Western, we began to see many of Southwestern Ontario's top high school prospects choose to attend other institutions. Some of it had to do with the increased academic standards of the mid to late 90's. Some of it had to do with the scholarship disparity that the OUA faces when compared to US and out-of-province schools.

[Udonthani3750]

I think all of the factors you mentioned apply to the Varsity football program. Yet this does not explain why Queen's, with academic standards as high as Varsity, can still produce football teams that compete with Western.

Part of it is because students in Toronto do not care about sports whereas Western and Queen's get behind their teams.

My father told me about the early 1950s when Varsity Stadium would get 10-20,000 fans to watch the Blues play Western, Queen's and McGill.

[Frostybeek]

U of T scoring... you have got to be kidding me. Of course, you failed to let your viewers know that Western ran up 60+ that day. Oh well... eye of the beholder... and all that stuff, eh.