AFL Quebec explained

Sport:Australian Football
Founded:2008
Teams:8
Champion:Old Montreal Dockers
Website:http://www.aflquebec.ca/

AFL Quebec is a 9-a-side Australian football competition formerly known as the Eastern Canadian Australian Football League or ECAFL. The league has both a men's and women's division and consists of teams from Montréal and its surrounding areas. Players from the current regular season teams are eligible to play representative 18-a-side football for the men's team the Québec Saints or the women's team the Montréal Angels. The Saints and Angels participate in the United States AFL National Championships Tournament, the Saints having previously participated in the AFL Ontario Division 2 competition from 2008 to 2010.

History

Formation Years: 2008-2010

The creation of the Québec Saints in early 2008 and their participation in the Toronto-based 'Rec' Footy league that same year led to a growing interest in Australian Football in Montréal. To capitalise on the popularity, club founder Luke Anderson launched a locally based 9-a-side competition named the Eastern Canadian Australian Football League or ECAFL. The 9-a-side format of the game is played on reduced size fields (usually rugby or soccer fields). Players from the Québec Saints were drafted into two subsidiary teams, the first match of the newly formed league was played on 4 October 2008 between the Montréal Saints and Laval Bombers at Parc Cartier in Laval.

2009 saw the league schedule seven regular season games and one final and launch the introduction of an invitational Pre-Season tournament. The league also introduced women's football for the first time. The newly formed Montréal Angels (a branch of the Québec Saints), played exhibition games against the Toronto Central Blues and Montréal Shamrocks Gaelic Football team. Players from the 9-a-side competition where eligible to play representative football for the Québec Saints who were competing in the Ontario AFL Division 2.

With increasing player numbers, the 2010 season saw the launch of a third Montréal based team, the Pointe Claire Power. The invitational pre-season cup was contested by a record six teams and for the first time included a women's division. The league established a home field at Parc Cluny in Laval. The season was reduced to five rounds to accommodate the Québec Saints Ontario AFL schedule, the representative 18-a-side team's fixture featuring a marked increase in games in Ottawa and Toronto.

Transition Year: 2011

Club and league founder Luke Anderson departed Montréal in late 2010 and the newly formed committee under the leadership of new president Renaud Carbonell made several changes to the league's structure. Major changes included the Québec Saints withdrawing from the Ontario AFL's Division 2 competition and AFL Québec returning to the original two teams with the folding of the 2010 premiers the Pointe Claire Power. While player participation experienced a drop-off in 2011, Montréal still had a significant football presence with a host of players and coaches participating in 'IC11', the International Cup of Australian Football co-hosted by Melbourne and Sydney, Australia.

Expansion Era: 2012-17

2012 saw a resurgence of Australian Football. The league was rebranded 'AFL Quebec' and expanded to four teams (The Melbourne Demons, Fremantle Dockers and West Coast Eagles) - three of which had official backing from AFL teams, thanks to the initiative of William T. - and Montreal would be represented at the U.S. Nationals football tournament for the first time, albeit as a combine team. The growing interest in Aussie Rules would continue for the next few years before the league officially announced the creation of a women's division for 2014 with the creation of the N.D.G. Giants and Plateau Eagles.

In 2015 the women's league expanded to four teams when Ottawa entered the Carleton Warriors and the Rideau Shamrocks into the competition.

AFL Quebec Premiers

Year Men's Premiers Men's Runner-Up Women's Premiers Women's Runner-Up Pre-Season Champions Women's Tournament Champion
2008 Laval Bombers Montréal Saints N/A N/A N/A N/A
2009 Laval Bombers Montréal Saints N/A N/A N/A
2010 Pointe Claire Power Laval Bombers N/A N/A Ottawa Swans Montréal Angels
2011 Laval Bombers Montréal Saints N/A N/A Ottawa Swans N/A
2012 Laval Bombers Old Montréal Dockers N/A N/A West Island Eagles Montréal Angels
2013 Laval Bombers West Island Eagles N/A N/A Ottawa Swans Ottawa Lady Swans
2014 West Island Wooders Laval Bombers N.D.G. Devils Plateau Eagles Quebec Saints Montréal Angels
2015 West Island Wooders Montréal Demons Carleton Warriors Rideau Shamrocks Québec Saints New York Lady Magpies
2016 Montréal Demons West Island Wooders Carleton Warriors N.D.G. Giants Ottawa Swans (M & W) Montréal Angels
2017 Montréal Demons West Island Wooders Plateau Eagles N.D.G. Giants Quebec Saints / Montreal Angels Montréal Angels
2018 Old Montréal Dockers Montréal Demons Plateau Eagles Montréal City Bluebelles Quebec Saints Ontario Demons
2019 Montréal Demons West Island Wooders N/A N/A N/A New York Lady Magpies
2021 Montreal City Blues XXXX N/A N/A XXXX (M) / Ottawa Swans (W) N/A
2022 Montreal City Blues XXXX N/A N/A XXXX / Quebec Saints (W) Quebec Saints (W)
2023 Montreal City Blues Old Montreal Dockers N.D.G. Giants Montreal City Blues Quebec Saints (M) / Ottawa Swans (W) Quebec Saints (W)

AFL Quebec Individual Awards

Year League MVP (Men) League MVP (Women) Leading Goalkicker (Men) Leading Goalkicker (Women)
2008 D.Barker (Bombers)/J.Lavoie (Saints) N/A Jeff Lavoie - Saints (5) N/A
2009 Cam Stark (Bombers) Aimee Legault (Angels) Cam Stark - Bombers (28) N/A
2010 D.Haverhoek (Bombers)/S.Heath (Saints) Aimee Legault (Angels) Cam Beaman - Power (19) N/A
2011 Paul Fairbrother (Bombers) N/A Christopher Micheletti - Saints (22) N/A
2012 Ronan Shaughnessy (Dockers) N/A Paul Fairbrother - Bombers (22) N/A
2013 Bogdan Rotaru (Bombers) Margo Legault (Angels & Eagles) Toby Campaign - Dockers (27) N/A
2014 Phil Manassa (Wooders) Elaine Gilmore (Eagles) Fabio Petosa - Wooders (36) Aimee Legault - Giants (24)
2015 Daniel Robinson (Wooders) Valérie Moreau (Giants) Todd Rogers - Bombers (37) Valérie Moreau - Giants (27)
2016 Morgan Whyte (Demons) Valérie Moreau (Giants) Fabio Petosa - Wooders Belinda Wozniak - Warriors
2017 Phil Manassa (Wooders) Aimee Legault (Eagles) Simon Auger - Bombers Aimee Legault - Eagles (9)
2018 Pat Eefting (Blues) Roxanne Besner (Bluebelles) Pat Eefting - Blues (31) Dale Bradley - Eagles (10)
2019 Alex Bresse (Demons) Aimee Legault (Giants) Kyle Graham - Demons (30) Aimee Legault - Giants (20)
2021 Yacine Baouche (Blues) Isabelle Senécal (N/A) N/A N/A
2022 Nick Curtis (Blues) Iliana Loupessis (N/A) Bogdan Rotaru - Blues (XX) N/A
2023 Phil Manassa (Blues) & Bogdan Rotaru (Dockers) Caroline Leduc (Blues) Bogdan Rotaru - Blues (15) Caroline Leduc - Blues (11)

Current AFL Quebec Teams

Men's Teams

ColoursTeam Active Premierships Pre-season Premierships
2012- 3
2018-
2012- 1

Women's Teams

ColoursTeam Active Premierships Pre-season Premierships
Notre-Dame-de-Grace Giants (formerly Devils) 2014- 2
Montréal City Blues (formerly Bluebelles) 2018-

Former Clubs

Men's Clubs

ColoursTeamCityActivePremiershipsPre-season Premierships
2008-2018 5
2008-2011
2009-2010 1
West Island Wooders (formerly Eagles) 2012-2018 2 1

Women's Clubs

ColoursTeamCityActivePremiershipsPre-season Premierships
Carleton Warriors 2015-16 2
Ottawa Lady Swans 2017
2014- 2
Rideau Shamrocks 2015-16

References

Anderson, Luke.A. L'Histoire des bleus et blancs: An Aussie Rules Journey Through Canada. Blurb Publishing, 2011.

AFL Quebec, Official Website (https://www.aflquebec.ca)

AFL Quebec Sporting Pulse Page (https://maps.sportingpulse.com/assoc_page.cgi?c=0-7995-0-0-0)

Montreal Angels Website - no longer in use (http://www.montrealangels.ca/)

AFL Quebec Facebook page

West Island Wooders / Eagles Facebook page

NDG Giants Facebook page

Montreal City Blues Facebook page

Old Montreal Dockers Facebook page

Montreal Demons Facebook page

Plateau Eagles Facebook page

AFL Canada, Official Website (https://aflcanada.com/find-a-club/afl-quebec/)