Fall Football

Welcome to LMF Fall Football.  LMF runs both a 9-Man and a 12-Man Canadian rules football program that starts practicing in July, and playing games in September through to the Provincial finals in December.

12 – Man League

Although we call this our 12-Man league this mainly refers to the older player divisions.  This league as all our leagues is open to both boys and girls however typically, as players reach their teenage years, disparities between the physical development and aggressiveness of boys and girls emerge. This may cause many girls to stop playing co-ed football. However, these differences typically are not present at the younger age levels.

Kids do not have to have any prior experience and can start playing football at any age. LMF will supply the equipment (with a deposit) and players will only need to supply cleats.  Games are mostly Sundays and each team will be scheduled for five home games and five away games where possible.

The divisions and styles of play are as follows:

Flag

Our fall football program starts off with the youngest player division of flag football where kids 5-7 years old play a 5 on 5 game in accordance to Spring Flag rules and regulations. The emphasis here is teaching kids team concepts and basic football fundamentals, all the while producing a fun environment and positive experience for the kids.

Atom

This is the first level where the full contact tackle style is implemented.  However to minimize the learning curve we remain a 9 on 9 football game with the field now 110 yards but only 50 yards wide.  This division is for 8 and 9 year olds.  The concept here is to educate players in safety of tackling and being tackled properly and use of gear correctly.  As well continue on building football game fundamentals.

Peewee

Here the players move up to the full 12 man football game on a full sized field with standard Canadian football rules.  This division is for 10 and 11 years and is played on the full Canadian football field of 110 yards by 63 yards.  Players at this level start to learn greater details of how to play the game of football and learn more detailed techniques.  This is also one of the biggest divisions with many associations having multiple teams at this level.

Junior Bantam

As with Peewee this division and the remaining divisions all play 12 on 12 full field football. Players in this level are 12 and 13.  Here the passing game begins to develop along with the learning of schemes and bigger playbooks. In recent years this has become one of the most competitive divisions in football.

Bantam

For players 14 and 15 this is the division where you would play.  Most associations only have one team at this level.  Players here will learn all there is to know about the game and will be challenged by their coaches to see how much they can learn.

Midget

The final division in Community Football is for the 16, 17 and 18 year olds.  Each team is limited to how many 18 year old players they can have on their roster but for most associations that is not an issue.  By allowing the senior players a chance to stay in community football it gives these kids a break where they can look at future involvement at either the Junior or College level.  The Midget level has produce some of the most exciting football including many of the last VMFL finals and Provincial games.

 9 – Man League

A few years ago the VMFL started a 9-Man league in an effort to allow more kids to participate and learn the game of football as well as allow smaller associations to develop and expand their football program.

One of the driving concepts behind 9-man ball is getting kids playing time.  By having fewer players on the team the participating teams have found that players are getting more time per game on the field and therefore are developing faster and gain more confidence in themselves.  As well this provides a mechanism for associations to grow and still maintain a competitive environment.

There are very few differences in rules from 9-man versus 12-man other then the size of the field changes to 110 yards by 50 yards.  To date the VMFL has run both Peewee and Junior Bantam divisions and as of late have expanded to include the Bantam divisions.

As with 12-man there are VMFL championships as well as Provincial championships and players from 9-man are also selected to the Starbowl.