The Sudbury Spartans are an amateur

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team based in the city of

Greater Sudbury Sudbury, officially the City of Greater Sudbury is the largest city in Northern Ontario by population, with a population of 166,004 at the 2021 Canadian Census. By land area, it is the largest in Ontario and the List of the largest cities and to ...

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. Established in 1952, it is the longest continuously operating sports organization in Sudbury. The Spartans have won more

Northern Football Conference The Northern Football Conference (NFC) is a semi-professional Canadian football league with franchises based primarily in Ontario, Canada. The league consists of eight teams and runs from May until mid-August. It's the oldest running senior amat ...

Championships (18) than any other team in the league.

Range

The team plays in the Northern Football Conference, which also includes current teams from Hamilton, Oakville, Tri City, North Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, Ottawa, Sarnia, and 2 from Toronto.

History

The Spartans began play in 1954 as Charter Members of the

Northern Ontario Rugby-Football Union Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a r ...

(predecessor to the NFC) Originally named "Hardrocks" to reflect the Sudbury's predominant

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industry, the moniker was changed to "Spartans" in 1967 by then rookie head coach Sid Forster. Forster, a member of the 1953 team who was inducted in the

Canadian Football Hall of Fame The Canadian Football Hall of Fame (CFHOF) is a not-for-profit corporation, located in Hamilton, Ontario, that celebrates great achievements in Canadian football. It is maintained by the Canadian Football League (CFL). It includes displays about t ...

in 2001, felt the old name sounded more like a

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than a football team.

Suspension of operations

Following the death of Forster in 1994, the team struggled to remain competitive. It faced several winless seasons in which it could not finish above .500. During this period, it fielded teams as small as 20 men. On May 14, 2007, the Spartans suspended operations due to an insufficient number of players to safely field a team. The team entered into a two-year "leave of absence" from the NFC and were hoping to return to NFC action by 2010, however there is no indication of a leader ready to take ownership of the organization.

Rebirth

In the Fall of 2010, football had become a major sport in City of Greater Sudbury. It had become the most popular participation sport in local high schools. The Joe Macdonald Youth Football league was flourishing, the high school league bursting at the seams and the Sudbury Gladiators of the Ontario Football Conference had enjoyed a few seasons of success on the gridiron. This resulted in a number of graduated Gladiator players looking to continue playing summer football. The Sudbury Spartan executive were approached by this group and after challenging the football players in Sudbury to commit to playing summer ball by pre-registering for the 2011 NFC season- an abundance of players answered the call and signed up and paid their team fees to play for the Spartans during the upcoming 2011 NFC season. Having answered the call to commit- Spartan President and former head coach Gord Goddard brought together a new Spartan Team Executive and began the process of re-entry into the NFC as a member club. The Sudbury Spartans have been welcomed back into the Northern Football Conference. On Saturday November 20, 2010, the member clubs of the NFC gave the Spartans conditional acceptance back into the league. Official approval will come January 22, 2011 at the NFC Annual General Meeting in Ottawa.

New Era Begins

On January 22, 2011, the Sudbury Spartans were granted official and full membership back into the Northern Football Conference. After a 4-year leave of absence – the Spartans return to the gridiron for the first time since 2006. The 2011 team will feature a number of Spartan legends returning to the gridiron. The offence will be led by NFC Hall of Famer Dave St Amour, joining St Amour on offence will be returning veterans Brandon Dougan, Al Kawa, Steve Gravel, Walter Wilson, Jordan Cecchetto and Phil Gleason. The defense will be led by NFC Hall of Famer Junior Labrosse alongside veterans Christian Lorenz, Bruno Rocca, Kyle Henri, Yves Filliatrault and Tommy Dube Some exciting new faces to the mix include former North Bay Bulldog Dustin Crowder, Paul Javor, Brett McKnight, Matt Beaulieu, Alex Balloway and Eric Breau. The team has signed 42 players for the 2011 Season already and still looking for more. The 2011 season started with a bang. Sudbury visited its long time southern rivals the Oakville Longhorns and won. When the Spartans returned to their real home, Queens Field, they took another victory against the Toronto Raiders.

External links and sources

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New Owner, Dario Zulich 2017

cybersudbury.com
Sidney 'Sid' Forster
at the

Spartans poised to stage comeback; Recruiting, fundraising to begin this fall for next season

Sudbury Star ''The Sudbury Star'' is a Canadian daily regional newspaper published in Sudbury, Ontario. It is owned by the media company, Postmedia. It is the largest daily paper in Northeastern Ontario by circulation. History The ''Sudbury Star'' began as ...

. August 15, 2007. Accessed August 20, 2007. thesudburystar.com {{Ontario Sports Sports clubs and teams in Greater Sudbury Canadian football teams in Ontario 1953 establishments in Ontario Sports clubs and teams established in 1953