Jamie Nye: Thom football demise is sad and worrisome

I couldn’t imagine how devastating it is for a proud school like Regina’s Thom Collegiate to lose its football program for at least this season.

The Thom Trojans were taken off the schedule last week as they couldn’t field the mandatory roster of 24 players, nor fulfil the required practice hours due to the low participation.

Players have already been practising with and invited to play for Winston Knoll this season.

But Thom has a tradition of football, from Alan Ford teaching there to Jim Hopson, Stu Foord, Neal Hughes and Dan Clark being among the alumni of the football program.

Many people are theorizing the problem, from families choosing to go to a different school due to more successful football programs to football safety to disinterest in the game to video games and even expense.

While it could be a combination of all those things or something else entirely, for those who love the game of football and want to see it thrive, this is a blow.

And it’s a growing trend in North America of football programs forced to extinction with decreasing registration.