Gridiron groundbreaker honoured Backlund first female player to be inducted into Football Manitoba Hall of Fame By: Joshua Frey-Sam Posted: 5:45 PM CDT Thursday, May. 16, 2024

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Andrea Backlund has always been a trailblazer on the gridiron, but not once did she feel out of place.

Backlund spent 15 years as a leader in women’s football in Manitoba and has since been a role model for females taking up the sport.

Despite starting tackle football during a time when few opportunities existed for young women, it never occurred to Backlund she was pushing the envelope.

“It always felt like I was where I needed to belong,” she said Thursday.

Backlund will pioneer another chapter of women’s football in the province in August when she becomes the first female player to be inducted into the Football Manitoba Hall of Fame. She joins Ashley Prest, Jenn Romanoff and Laura Shea who were inducted previously.

She will be enshrined on Aug. 21 at Princess Auto Stadium.

Backlund, along with the eight other individuals and one team, were formally announced as the Class of 2024 at an event at Sport Manitoba.

Other inductees are: Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ former star running back Andrew Harris; CFL referee Al Bradbury; long-time high school coach Brian Marks; touch football star Corey Hanssen; Dr. Ed Pilat, a leader in sports medicine; high school coach Neville Scarlett; long-time Manitoba Bisons volunteer coach Rich Urbanovich; former pro Ted Milian; and the 2011-2014 St. Paul’s Crusaders.

Raised in Regina, Backlund was born into a football family. She would often follow her brother and dad, who coached, to practice.

“I very quickly fell in love, and my dad kind of saw that,” she said.

“I excelled on the field, everyone accepted me, being the only girl didn’t hinder me in any way and it didn’t feel any different.”–Andrea Backlund

So, when her dad asked if she’d like to strap on the pads, Backlund accepted without hesitation.

Backlund, who later moved to Winnipeg, played alongside boys for six years at the club level, beginning at age 12. Aside from the ponytail that hung out from the back of her helmet, she looked every bit of the part.

“I excelled on the field, everyone accepted me, being the only girl didn’t hinder me in any way and it didn’t feel any different,” Backlund said. “I was just able to lean on my skills and abilities, teammates, coaches, those around me, and just catapult my career and do things that I never thought would be possible.”

Backlund thought her football career was over after graduating from the U18 level. A few years later, in 2008, the Manitoba Fearless were created and joined the Western Women’s Canadian Football League.

Backlund played centre and instantly became a leader on the team until she retired in 2022. During her career in women’s football, Backlund was selected to help represent Canada at two World Championships, including the country’s inaugural team in 2010 (also in 2022).

“It was incredible to see just how many other women were so in love with the game of football who just never had the opportunity — or didn’t think they had the opportunity — to get started,” she said of her start with the Fearless.

“It’s incredible to see where women’s football has come since 2008, to where we are now. It’s just been incredible growth and it’s gonna be really cool to see where we’re gonna go from here.”

Today, 125 girls are registered for the Manitoba Girl’s Football Association (a girls-only tackle football league) while another 400 females of all ages are registered for flag football across the province.

Backlund’s impact has been felt off the field in recent years, helping develop the St. Vital Mustangs’ First Down program, which helps young children develop fundamental movement skills necessary to play sports, and coaching boys and girls football in the Manitoba Minor Football Association and Manitoba Girls Football Association.

“It’s very honouring to be the first female player inducted,” she said, “but I’m more happy to know that I won’t be the last.”

Marks planned to be the head coach at St. John’s High School for only a short time when he took over in 1992.

Three decades later, he has hundreds of reasons why he stayed.

“After a few years of coaching, I suddenly realized that the kids that were in the school needed that outlet and I started to find that those inner-city guys were quite fantastic to coach, I really loved them,” Marks said. “And then I started to see myself as a person that wouldn’t coach anywhere else.”

Marks, who stepped down to assistant coach in 2015, shared a story about one evening when he went to close the locker room. He peered around the corner to find six of the team’s offensive linemen sitting on a bench talking.

“I said, ‘Guys, it’s late, it’s eight o’clock,’ and one kid says, ‘Coach, we don’t have anywhere else to go.’

“I realized, this is their place.”

He told the custodian to give them another couple of hours before locking up.

“This was their place of belonging, this is the place they felt comfortable, and I realized that without the team they didn’t have anywhere else to go. I think that tells you how much the team means to a lot of kids.”

Along with his contributions as a coach, Marks was the deputy commissioner of the WHSFL from 2014-2023 and is the former president of Football Manitoba.

He said he plans to remain in football in some capacity at least until the WHSFL celebrates its centennial anniversary in 2033, when he’ll be well into his 70s.

joshua.frey-sam@freepress.mb.ca

X: @jfreysam

 

Football Manitoba Hall of Fame Class of 2024

Al Bradbury – official
Bradbury officiated six Grey Cups across his 22-year career in the Canadian Football League.

Andrea Backlund – player/coach
Backlund was a trailblazer in tackle football across a 22-year career. She becomes the first female player to be inducted into the Football Manitoba Hall of Fame.

Andrew Harris – player
Harris is a Manitoba football icon. A standout with the Oak Park Raiders, Harris went on to win four Grey Cups — including two in Winnipeg (2019, 2021) and become the CFL’s all-time Canadian rushing leader with 10,380 yards.

 

Brian Marks – coach/builder
Marks is a longtime coach with the St. John’s Tigers and has helped keep the program alive since 1992, providing a place of belonging for hundreds of inner-city teenagers.

Corey Hanssen – player/coach
Hanssen is the only player in the history of the Ultimate Touch Football League to win back-to-back Most Valuable Player awards. He’s the first non-contact football player to be inducted to the hall of fame.

Dr. Ed Pilat – builder
Dr. Pilat has been a staple for excellence in sports medicine in the province’s football community for decades. He’s worked as the head doctor for the Winnipeg Rifles, Manitoba Bisons and Winnipeg women’s league games.

Neville Scarlett – coach/builder
Scarlett, who died in 2020 due to complications with his kidney, left a lasting mark on high school football in Winnipeg. Also a coach at Sturgeon Heights and with the Winnipeg Rifles, Scarlette was instrumental in bringing a football program to West Kildonan Collegiate.

Rich Urbanovich – coach
Urbanovich began coaching community football in the 80s and later settled as a volunteer coach with the Manitoba Bisons, a position he held for 32 years.

Ted Millian – player
Millian is the only Manitoba-born player to ever win five Grey Cups. Millian played six seasons as an offensive lineman in the CFL, winning the Grey Cup in five consecutive years to begin his career, all with the dynasty in Edmonton from 1978-82.

St. Paul’s Crusaders 2011-2014
The varsity Crusaders won 39 consecutive games between 2011-2014 (including three consecutive championships), breaking the previous Winnipeg High School Football League record set in the late 1960s.