Blitz set to fight for women’s football tier-two supremacy

The Lachine-based Montreal Blitz women’s football team has come a long way since it came together as an expansion unit six years ago.

The Blitz, who play full-contact football in the Independent Women’s Football League’s (IWFL) tier-two division, were nothing more than a group of pioneering women trying to make a statement in the spring of 2002. A daring movement that said women could perform just as well on the violent gridiron as men.

Under little scrutiny, with only friends and parents to cheer them on, the club took its lumps on the field during those early years, losing almost all of the time. Last season though, things began to change. Under new team owner and quarterback Saadia Ashraf, an Ile Perrot resident who grew up in Pointe Claire and teaches at Lindsay Place High School, and bolstered by several West Island-based flag football converts, it seemed to turn a corner. It began to win a few games.

Everything came together this past regular season. It finished with a 7-1 record before defeating the Carolina Phoenix on June 28 to advance to the tier-two championship game next Saturday in Chicago. They enter the game as the first Canadian team to compete for a women's tackle football title, leading the way in their country for women and girls that aspire to play organized tackle football. "Both of these teams represent the tenacity and heart universal in every tier-two organization,” said IWFL Chief Executive Officer, Laurie Frederick. “As we approach this historic Tier II championship game we can all remember our sports’ roots and celebrate its future in these two teams. They play despite small rosters and small budgets, sometimes seemingly against all odds. They play because they couldn't imagine not playing. This is the common thread in all IWFL players. They never give up and never allow anyone to deny them their dream.”

For more information on the Blitz, go to www.montrealblitz.ca