May 2008
Sudbury Spartans gave us a reason
to cheer and feel proud
Conway Fraser, Northern Life
 I always loved this time of year as a child growing up in Sudbury.
I was getting excited for Saturday nights down at Queen's Athletic Field - to watch the Sudbury Spartans Football Club - then head down to Gus' Restaurant for a burger and root beer after the game. But, I fear I won't be able to share that experience with my sons.
Earlier this month, the Spartans announced the team wouldn't take the field for the second year in a row because of a lack of player interest. I'm not sure what the solution is and what it says about our community, if anything.
I do know that, when it conies to sports, Sudbury is known primarily as a hockey town - and if the Sudbury Wolves were folding or moving, it would be front page news every day There would be rallies, protests, and lobbying of government officials to find a way to save the team.
So, why isn't that happening with the Spartans - after all, the team has been a part of this city for more than 50 years? They've won 18 league championships. During some rough and lean years in the city with mining strikes and rock-bottom nickel prices, the Spartans gave us reasons to cheer and be proud of our city. I know, as a child who grew up in Sudbury in the 70s and '80s, I felt that pride and fell in love with the game at an early age. There was something about football and the Sudbury Spartans that just captured my imagination. Perhaps it was the organized chaos of it all - what looked like complete pandemonium, to spectators, was actually a well-thought outplay, practised hundreds, if not thousands, of times.
And, in the case of the Sudbury Spartans, the field general behind those plays was the late Coach Sid Forster. I remember seeing him on the sidelines at Queen's — his trademark. Colt cigarette gripped between his teeth. Sid was a straight shooter who demanded an ultimate work ethic from his players.
You see, during those winning years, the Spartans often didn't have the biggest players in the league and, with few exceptions, didn't have the fastest players in the league. But Sid always had the hardest-working, most-disciplined players in the league: men like Alex Fex, Sam Cuomo, Paul Gauthier, Dave St. Amour, Mike Staffen, Jim Young, Junior Labrosse, and Kevin White. To say these guys were devoted is an understatement - most of them worked all day at their jobs or went to school all day, then practised four nights a week and played games on Saturdays. That often meant driving to Toronto, playing a game, and driving back in one day All of this for no pay and no hopes of a professional contract like Junior Hockey - the Spartans played for nothing more than the love of the game, Sudbury's pride, and to hear the sounds of cheering fans hi the stands.
Unfortunately, there will be no cheering down at Queen's Athletic Field for the second year in a row. I find it a bit ironic that the team that flourished through Sudbury's leaner times is at risk of dying during what might be the city's most prosperous time in history. And, it's not for lack of trying. I know the people involved with the team's executive and a core group of players have worked very hard all winter practising indoors and trying to drum up interest through the media.
I wonder if it's too much to rest the entire future of this historic team
on the shoulders of a small group of volunteers when this is a community team. If this had happened back in the '60s, '70s, or '80s, the entire community would have come together to save the team - from regular folks volunteering to political and business leaders. I'm not sure why that's not happening now.
I do cross my fingers and wish the Spartans the best. Hopefully, by writing this column, I've helped in some small way Regardless of what happens, this is my way of saying thank you for all the memories and giving me and other Sudburians reasons to cheer and feel proud at times when things seemed bleak in this city in the past.
Sooner or later, as mining cycles go, things might not be as prosperous as they are right now - and it'd sure be a shame if we didn't have the Spartans around to give us a reason to cheer and feel proud again.
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