DIDSBURY - After a couple of weeks of trying to put together enough players to run a team, the Didsbury Dragons football team has folded. The Dragons played 9-man football in the Mountain View Football Conference.
Head coach Dave Cramer said even with the addition of players from Bowden, it was too much of a struggle to get enough players out to practice.
"We were getting like seven kids out," said Cramer. "You can't even do install (the offence) or anything like that. There's no point in keeping it going. The kids just didn't come out. I don't know what the deal was."
Cramer, who lives in Airdrie, said it was a long drive for him to come out to Didsbury to coach seven or eight kids.
"That's how it rolls," he said.
Cramer said he wasn't sure where the remaining players would play.
"Those kids will go to either Carstairs or Innisfail and play there for the season," he said. "I don't know what they'll do next year. I don't know what they're thinking. I've pretty much committed to a high school team in Calgary for next year. We'll see how it goes."
Cramer said it's unfortunate that Didsbury doesn't have a football team when other similar sized communities like Innisfail and Carstairs are able to field teams.
He is hoping the Dragons are able to start recruitment earlier in the season next year in the spring and get more players involved.
"With 5,000 people in the town you should be able to get 20 kids out to play," he said.
Wade Grimm, coach of the Carstairs-Crossfield Tigers and a member of the league executive, told the Gazette that it's sad to see the Didsbury team fold.
"It was unfortunate that they folded like that," said Grimm. "It is what it is. Hopefully, they can rebuild and come back next year. It created some chaos with the schedule. We're trying to re-book the schedule but it's not going so well."
Grimm said the league schedule will remain the same with any games scheduled against Didsbury counting as 1-0 forfeit wins.
Grimm said the Tigers team has picked up some of the former Dragon players.
"That was welcomed," he said. "Our numbers were a little low too. With the addition of those players we have about 16 showing up regularly to practice."
The Sundre Bison team reportedly folded on Sept. 29.
