Football At the Calgary Flames Sports Bank

Calgary Stampeders, Toronto Argonauts, Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo Bills, no matter which team you cheer for or if you prefer the CFL over the NFL, football has a long history in Calgary.

Back in 1945 the Calgary Stampeders were founded in the city, and professional Football was born in Calgary, although there were clubs operating in Calgary since the 1890s. Since their inception the Stampeders have won 8 CFL Grey Cup championships.

Prior to the formation of the Stampeders in 1945, football in Calgary can be dated back as early as 1891, when Edmonton defeated Calgary 6–5 in the Alberta Total-point Challenge Series. A team from Edmonton (the outlying community of Fort Saskatchewan) had defeated a Calgary team in Calgary, declaring themselves Champions of Alberta.

While McMahon Stadium has been the Stampeders home since 1960, they previously played games at Mewata Stadium. Mewata Stadium was eventually closed and demolished in 1999 and replaced with Shaw Millennium Park, including greenspace and skateboard park.

Now that you know a little history of football in Calgary, you’re probably asking what does all that mean for the Calgary Flames Sports Bank.

Over the last dozen years, the Calgary Flames Sports Bank has been proud to help hundreds of local players play the game of football here in Calgary. From helping with registration fees, to assisting with no cost equipment, we have been able to help kids get off the sidelines and into the game.

One such story comes to mind when looking back at our history.

A single mom didn’t have any financial support. Her son had wanted to play football since he could talk! He joined the Mavericks Atom program in 2009 and that’s where it all began! They accessed KidSport for about 3 years. At that time, she had become a big part of the football community. She started volunteering as the team management, that way the team covered her son’s costs, so they were able to free up the funds for KidSport to assist another deserving family. If it wasn’t for KidSport she couldn’t have financially given her son, the opportunity to start his journey. Her son played with the Mavericks for 11 seasons, team Calgary in the 2016 Alberta summer games, St. Francis high school (winning the 2019 provincials), U16 Team Alberta in 2017 (giving the opportunity to play and win at the AT&T stadium), U18 team Alberta playing in the Canada Cup, U18 Team Canada and U19 Team Canada. He got a full academic scholarship to U of A. Playing 4 seasons. During USports he won CanWest Allstars twice, first and second USport Allstars. In 2024 her son was drafted 3rd round in the CFL draft. This landed him a position on the Toronto Argonauts, playing and earning himself a Grey Cup in his rookie year. Who is this player you ask? Tyshon

Blackburn Defensive Back still playing for the Argonauts.  

As for her, football has not only formed my son’s life, but mine as well. Needless to say, without assistance from KidSport at the beginning of our journey, neither her son nor her would be where we are today. 

This is just one of several stories we have heard about during our time at KidSport and the Calgary Flames Sports Bank.

Now how can you be involved in helping the next Grey Cup or NFL Champion?

1.      Donate new or gently used Equipment or funds directly to the Calgary Flames Sports Bank.

2.      Are your child(ren) playing, have their teams host equipment drives or bottle drives.

3.      Donate any year end team funds to KidSport or the Calgary Flames Sports Bank. 

These are just a few ways you can get involved and help more children than ever before play the game they love, who knows your donation could help a child play professional football in their future.

#SoAllKidsCanPlay