The Western Women's Canadian Football League (WWCFL) is a full-contact women's

Canadian football Canadian football () is a sport played in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's scoring area ( ...

league which began play in the spring of 2011. The league plays an annual season in the spring or summer, and with eight teams it is the largest women's football league in Canada. The teams play 12-woman tackle football games using the

Football Canada Football Canada is the governing body for amateur gridiron football in Canada headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario. Football Canada focuses primarily its own Canadian form of the sport, and is currently the world's only national governing body for ...

rules, somewhat similar to those of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a c ...

. The league has teams in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta (the

Prairie Provinces The Canadian Prairies (usually referred to as simply the Prairies in Canada) is a region in Western Canada. It includes the Canadian portion of the Great Plains and the Prairie Provinces, namely Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. These provin ...

League history

Katrina Krawec wrote, "The WWCFL is a

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

sport organization that provides women with opportunities to play football", and "The distribution of power in the WWCFL is decentralized and democratic", with each team having one representative on the league board alongside elected members. Mosaic Stadium Interior

The first season of play, 2011, ended with a championship game which was played in the city of

Lethbridge, Alberta Lethbridge ( ) is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. With a population of 101,482 in its 2019 municipal census, Lethbridge became the fourth Alberta city to surpass 100,000 people. The nearby Canadian Rocky Mountains contribute to t ...

. The game was played between the Edmonton Storm and the

Saskatoon Valkyries The Saskatoon Valkyries are a women's football team in the Western Women's Canadian Football League's (WWCFL) Prairie Conference. The team is based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. They are the most successful WWCFL team, winning eight of the leagues ...

. The Valkyries became the first WWCFL Champions, with a final score of 35–7. The WWCFL's second year (2012) saw the same seven teams compete. The championship game was held in

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Yellowhead Highway, and has served as ...

, with the

defending their title by defeating the

Lethbridge Steel The Lethbridge Steel are a women's football team in the Western Women's Canadian Football League's (WWCFL) Western Conference. The team is based in Lethbridge, Alberta. Team history The Steel were founded in 2010 and joined the Edmonton Storm ( ...

64–21. Two new teams joined the league in 2013. The Northern Anarchy was based in

Grande Prairie Grande Prairie is a city in northwest Alberta, Canada within the southern portion of an area known as Peace River Country. It is located at the intersection of Highway 43 (part of the CANAMEX Corridor) and Highway 40 (the Bighorn Highway), a ...

, Alberta."Grande Prairie getting gridiron gals"
'' Daily Herald Tribune'', Grande Prairie, September 27, 2012. Retrieved on December 11, 2012 and the Okotoks Lady Outlawz in

Okotoks Okotoks (, originally ) is a town in the Calgary Region of Alberta, Canada. It is on the Sheep River, approximately south of Calgary. Okotoks has emerged as a bedroom community of Calgary. According to the 2016 Census, the town has a population ...

, Alberta. Talks involved the league going as high as 11 teams for 2013, including expansion into

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, for ...

, but it never occurred. In 2014, the Okotoks Lady Outlawz did not field a team for WWCFL play, and suspended operations. The Northern Anarchy took a break in 2015, although practice sessions continued, and the Anarchy returned to the field in the 2016 season. On March 29, 2020, the league cancelled its season because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. The 2021 season was also cancelled, for the same reason. The WWCFL returned to action in the 2022 season, for the first time since 2019.

Teams

Western Conference

Prairie Conference

Suspended operations

WWCFL Championship results

External links

"Shaping and Being Shaped: Examining Women's Tackle Football in Canada", by Katrina Krawec
–

University of Windsor , mottoeng = Goodness, Discipline and Knowledge , established = , academic_affiliations = CARL, COU, Universities Canada , former_names = Assumption College (1857-1956)Assumption University of Windsor (1956-1963) , type = Public universi ...

, 2014

References

{{Sports leagues of Canada 2011 establishments in Canada Canadian football Canadian football leagues Professional sports leagues in Canada Sport in Western Canada Sports leagues established in 2011 Women's American football leagues Women's sports in Canada