Just Added: 1988 Bootleggers Game Summaries

Four newspaper articles have been added to the Bootleggers page, including the one below, all recapping games from the 1988 season. There have been one or two very brief ones (as they tended to be at the time, frustratingly) added for the 1992 season as well.

Coincidentally, they are all against one of two teams; either the Binghamton Jets or the Watertown Red & Black. Not surprisingly, I think all but one mentions a significant contribution by receiver Jamie Straw. 😉

Just Added: 1988 Ottawa Bootleggers Playoff Game Summaries

This was the result of finding out that the Northern Football Conference had cancelled their 2021 season already. From memory, I thought they started later in the year so I hadn't really taken the time to check until yesterday but sure enough, they made the announcement in late March, on Facebook.

Too bad, but understandable at this point. Hopefully they manage to return next year.

In the meantime, I copied the semi-pro Sooners results from 2018 but with that level of football on the brain, I tracked down the two Bootleggers playoff victories from 1988, their inaugural season.  

Strangely, the first game received better coverage than the second. Never mind that their contest  against Syracuse could put them in the league's championship game in their first season, it was a much more closely fought battle than the previous one and a come-from-behind victory with a last-second finish. 

The Bootleggers lost to Scranton the following weekend.

Since we were talking about the NFC's season cancellation earlier, the league has yet to make anything public as far as I can see, but the Jr. Riders have stated that the Quebec Major Junior Football League have also pulled the plug on the 2021 season. 

That one worries me. It had only five clubs, three of which were well established (Ottawa, Chateauguay, South Shore) and two that had only entered the league in 2019.

I can't help but question the league's viability at this point. They've played with four clubs several times before, and as recently as 2018, so I wonder if perhaps they had already determined that they weren't going to be able to reach that number for 2021.

The season normally only starts in mid-August.  Its cancellation more four months before its usual scheduled start, with no apparent attempt to delay or shorten it, is a little worrisome to me. I've seen it the timing questioned on social media without response.

I very much hope to see them back in 2022 or failing that, that the Jr Riders are able to join the Ontario Football Conference and resume their in-town rivalry with the Sooners.