The Ed Laverty Tournament is very important to the region for a bunch of reasons. It honours Ed Laverty who is the Ottawa Legend through which all non-contact football in Ottawa, Ontario and basically Canada originated. This tournament is put on by TFONT (touch football ontario but rebranding to touch flag ontario). TFONT is the absolute leader in senior men's and women's touch football. It has been around for 50 years and where many Ottawa residents have played the highest level non-contact football for many many years. TFONT is now ready to offer youth flag at the Ed Laverty tournament. It will offer youth flag at all tour stops across Ontario next year. Please see the document below for full details. It doesn't say so yet but U12 divisions are also being offered.

Provincials August 10, 11 Georgetown   

U12, U14, U16, U18, 18, Senior, male and female

Nationals August 23- 25 Brampton 

U14, U16, U18, 18, male and female 

full information here

https://footballontario.net/2024/06/04/football-ontario-announces-2024-club-flag-provincial-championships/

Above right are the schedules for the boys and girls seasons. The first two weeks are set. Some divisions have more of the season set out than others. This is because we are attempting to tier teams according to strength as the season goes on. Many of our divisions are very large and demanding some tiering. It is hard to know the strength of a team until it plays a game or two. You can take note of the locations and rough times of play for the later weeks. 

The boys championship is June 22 at Twin Elm Rugby Park, Bob Stephen and Quinn's Point (Minto Rec Complex).

The girls championship will have some GU16 and GU20 games at Quinn's Point from 5 pm onward on Saturday June 22 while the rest of the girls games are on Sunday June 23 at Twin Elm Rugby Park. 

Flag football is a new game to Ottawa. Every player, coach and referee is getting used to this game. We have many experienced refs and a bunch of new younger refs. We have worked hard in training these new refs but this is not a 2 week process. From my experience as a coach, Bell Warrior administrator and director of the NCAFA Flag Football league I can state with great confidence that the referees know the rules better than most coaches, players and parents in terms of being able to call a game. They are by no means perfect. They are learning and growing each week with more flag football refereeing experience. Another factor is that we only have 1 ref per field. This makes for a very challenging referee situation. I hope to have more 2 referee games. With the energy ramping up each week I would like to set some guidelines for referee interactions over the next few weeks. 

1. Talk respectfully to the referee. 

2. Choose an appropriate time to talk to the referee.

3. Respect the referee's decision. 

If players and coaches do not follow the above guidelines I have instructed the referees to issue warnings, penalties and / or ejections at their discretion depending on the incident.  

Please talk to your son or daughter about respectful interactions between players and referees. 

Please remember that parent behaviour can also influence the behaviour of the players. It is instinctive to react to referee calls that you don't agree with especially as the intensity of competition increases. However intense and prolonged outbursts are hurtful and intimidating to our referees and affect the enjoyment of the game for everyone. Refereeing is a very difficult job and we need to promote the work they do, not tear them down. 

Respectfully 

Rodney Moors

NCAFA VP (Flag Football)

New Registration Process for Ottawa Teams.

Compile player info in spreadsheet, name, dob, address etc. . Include at least one parent name and email address. Have coach contact info on sheet as well. Send to rodmoors12@gmail.com

Parents will be emailed a waiver that needs to be signed and returned . 

Payment to NCAFA will take place at a later date when tournament is confirmed (enough entries in a division). 

Do you have an OU10 team interested in attending this tournament? I know this age division isn't mentioned but let me know if you are interested and if we get enough interest we can set up this division.

Cumberland Panthers and Bell Warriors will be entering teams.  Open boundaries, more clubs probably will follow. See pdf below for tournament dates and other info.