SFU cancels football program — and alumni are furious

The Simon Fraser University Red Leafs’ football alumni are furious about the school dropping the team on Tuesday. 

SFU had announced Feb. 1 that the upcoming 2023 season would be its last in the Texas-based Lone Star Conference, since the league wasn’t renewing the Red Leafs’ affiliation agreement after that. The news release explained that the football program was “exploring options.”

Tuesday saw another news release. It had the title “SFU’s varsity football program comes to an end.” 

SFU football was founded in 1965 and has produced countless players familiar to CFL fans, including Lui Passaglia, Glen Suitor, Angus Reid, Sean Millington, Orville Lee, Rick Klassen, Glen Jackson, Nick Hebeler, Dave Cutler, Giulio Caravatta and Doug Brown.

“The question I have is this: Did you do everything possible to make sure that football could still exist at SFU?” Reid, 46, the former B.C. Lions’ offensive lineman, said. “Did you go over everything that could be done to help make this happen or did you take the first reason it shouldn’t happen? Did you look for the solutions or did you take the first convenient out?