Football-apalooza at IGF this weekend

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This article was published 27/05/2016 (3418 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

While the Winnipeg Blue Bombers are transitioning from their rookie camp to their main CFL training camp this weekend, Investors Group Field will be awash in footballs Saturday.

The day will feature the Elite Blue and Gold Games, the 31st edition, four games presented and hosted by Football Manitoba.

The action will begin at 10 a.m. with a game between the Rural Manitoba All-Star South team versus the Rural Manitoba All-Star North.

The following game, scheduled for a 1 p.m. kickoff, is the Winnipeg High School Football Senior Bowl.

At 4:15, Manitoba’s U-16 provincial team will meet Thunder Bay’s U-16 team, while the 7 p.m. contest pits the Manitoba U-18 team against Thunder Bay’s U-18 squad.

The U-18 game will feature numerous players who will compete in the Canada Cup, scheduled for Winnipeg in July.

Eight teams — Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and two Football Manitoba entries — will compete at IGF and the East Side field July 9-15.

One of Football Manitoba’s Canada Cup teams will include top players from around the province. A few Manitoba players may also find their way onto the other entry, which will have a majority of players from Ontario towns Thunder Bay, Fort Frances and Dryden, which fall under Football Manitoba’s guidance and territory.

Saturday’s Elite Blue and Gold game in the U-16 category will feature 14- and 15-year-old players from across Manitoba against their Thunder Bay counterparts.

Football Manitoba is prepping the best players from this age group for the Prairie Bowl competition coming up in July in Saskatchewan, where Manitoba’s team will travel to Regina for a game July 1 and then travel to meet Saskatchewan’s other entry in this competition in Saskatoon July 4.

This Saturday’s Rural Manitoba Football League all-star game — part of the Elite Blue and Gold Games — will feature the best playerds from the Neepawa Tigers, Swan Valley Tigers, East Parkland Warriors, Dauphin Clippers, Virden Golden Bears, Moosomin Generals, Park West Outlaws and Southwest Sabres.

The RMFL plays nine-man football in its regular season, but Football Manitoba executive director Dale Jacobson said Thursday the rural teams will play 12-man football for their game Saturday.

The league will split its players into north and south teams for the first contest of the Blue and Gold Games day.

Saturday’s Senior Bowl at IGF will feature the seniors of the Winnipeg High School Football League from all divisions.

The Senior Bowl has chosen to honour two local stars whose roots go deep in the community. Former Bisons linebacker and long-time Oak Park coach Gil Bramwell, who has two Vanier Cup titles to his credit, and former Sturgeon Heights, Bisons and Winnipeg Blue Bombers special teams demon Wade Miller, a two-time CFL all-star, have been selected as this year’s honourees.

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Bramwell and Miller will be the head coaches for Team Bramwell and Team Miller for this game.

This is the sixth year with the current Senior Bowl format.

For all games this Saturday, spectators must enter IGF on the University Crescent side at Gate 3. All seating for the Elite Blue and Gold Games will be on the east side of the stadium. Concessions will be open for the games.

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca