About Waterloo Region Minor Football

About Waterloo Region Minor Football

Overview

Waterloo Region Minor Football Association (formerley Twin Cities Minor Tackle Football Association) is a non-profit organization affiliated with the cities of Kitchener and Waterloo. Our players come from all over Waterloo Region, including St. Jacobs, Elmira, Wellesley, Baden, Breslau, Palmerston, New Hamburg, Breslau, St. Clements, Drayton and Maryhill. Our objectives are to demonstrate and inspire integrity, character, fair play and sportsmanship among our young players. WRMFA works hard to provide athletes, ages 19 and under in our region the opportunity to play football where they can develop their skills and fitness. Our emphasis is on teaching football fundamentals and understanding fair play while competing at the highest levels.

History

WRMFA was founded in 1996 by Mark LaRonde. Our first ever team had humble beginnings with 23 young players taking to the field for the first time in the fall with equipment borrowed from Cambridge. The team was called the Warhawks, honouring our local football roots, by combining the names of our two university teams - The University of Waterloo Warriors and Wilfrid Laurier University Golden Hawks.

Beth Hughes became our first president the next year with two Warhawks teams and our first ever Pee Wee team called the Screamin’ Eagles as each age group team was given its own separate name at the time. TCMTFA started to purchase our own equipment and it was kept in the garage of our President.

Growth continued as in 1998 we had five teams. In addition to the Warhawks and Screamin’ Eagles, we added our first team of Mytes/Tykes called the Talons and our Bantam team played in the fall as the Predators. All of our teams competed at the house league level with the Southwestern Ontario Football Association of Leagues (SOFAL).

In 1999, the Ontario Varsity Football League started and we moved our Predators into the league for the Spring and Summer season at the Junior Varsity level. Over the years we continued to grow and add teams at every age level and in every program with our next major change occurring in 2007 when the Ontario Football Conference was formed by TCMTFA along with other centers including Burlington, Toronto Jr. Argos, Sudbury and York Simcoe. By 2008, all of our teams joined the OFC and were all known as the Predators, recognized for our reputation of excellence. In fact, our Senior Varsity Team won the championship in 2009, 2011 and 2012.

In 2010, WRMFA decided to go from individual team names to all teams called Warhawks, a tribute to our history and a testament to how far we had come. We started with only 23 players and now our registrations total over 600 in our various programs!  From borrowed helmets and shoulder pads stored in a garage we have now host an equipment lock-up filled with over a quarter of a million dollars’ worth of personal and field level gear. From one team to seventeen teams, WRMFA is making sure that every local athlete that wants to learn and play football, can!

In 2019  Waterloo Region Football joined the Ontario Provincial Football League (OPFL), placing the Junior and Varsity teams in the Premier Division and the Bantam in the Regional Rep division.  Peewee and Atom teams play in the Ontario Football League. (OFL)