Football

Crowds, cheers and student spirit

Local Journalism Initiative / The Link / January 2, 2025 / Alice Martin, Concordia Stingers, Football

An enthusiastic fan holds up a “Go Stingers Go” sign during the 2024 football home opener on Aug. 24. Photo Alice Martin

Alice Martin,
Local Journalism Initiative

Concordia students play a role in empowering Stingers teams and swaying scores

With the Stingers fall teams beginning their seasons in late August, coaches and players say a strong audience in the bleachers has a vital role in bringing the home team to victory.

Football fever

The football team always manages to garner some of the biggest crowds of all Stingers teams. Head coach Brad Collinson says the energy of the crowd is something they feed off of as a team.

“It’s always fun to pack the stadium and make sure that there’s a lot of people here cheering on the guys,” he says. “When you come to a game, there’s a lot of things going on, and we always put up a good show.”

He believes attending games gives students a chance to bond with the larger Concordia community. He notes the Homecoming game on Sep. 21 against McGill as a perfect example of sports games colliding with student life.

Last year, the Homecoming game against the Université Laval Rouge et Or hosted 1,892 fans. It represents a decline from 3,312 fans the previous year when they played the Homecoming game against their crosstown rivals, the McGill Redbirds.

“[Homecoming] is always a big event and there’s going to be things happening all day because of the 50th anniversary of Concordia,” he says. “There are ample opportunities to come here and support the guys. Coming to a game, being out in the sun, supporting fellow students; it’s always a good time.”

According to Concordia Athletics, the football team averaged 1,400 attendees per game during the 2023-2024 academic year. They also sold out a game and nearly sold out another.

Despite a loss in the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec semifinals last year, the Stingers still garnered important momentum at the latter end of their season.

Their playoff loss was heartbreaking, says fifth-year star quarterback Olivier Roy. Playing at Université Laval’s stadium, they almost managed to overcome the second-seeded team but were defeated in overtime.

The team also won its last three regular season games, including a major upset against the Université de Montréal Carabins, to finish the season with a strong 5-3 record.

Roy says the team will use the playoffs as a launching pad into the new season.

“We’re not trying to think too much about the past and previous years, but most of the guys were there last year, and they experienced the whole thing,” Roy says. “So, we’re trying to learn from the negative and build on the positive from last year.”

Roy and Collinson both say they are excited about the enormous class of veteran players returning.

“We feel that we have a good team on our hands,” Roy says. “We just want to be able to compete at the same level that we finished last year.”

The revenge story of the veteran team will be one to follow this season for football fans. It even convinced Roy, who was hesitant about playing a fifth year, to return.

“I didn’t like the way our season ended last year, so that was obviously a big factor,” he says. “But, just the fact that we have a team that is mature and ready to win right now, it guided me a lot towards coming back this year.”

*The Stingers drew 1,232 fans to their first football game of the 2024 season. Photo Alice Martin*

Soccer spirit

While football gets the boost from the crowd, the soccer teams say they are looking to attract more fans to the field this season. Head coach Greg Sutton says crowds empower teams and add energy on the field.

“When things are going well for teams, then the crowd gets on behind them and pushes them onto even further things,” he says. “Vice versa, when things are challenging for the team, there’s that encouragement sometimes to push you to get through some tough times.”

Sutton says one of their challenges has been attracting fans to the field, but that their team appreciates any level of support.

“I don’t think that the student body really understands how important they can play a role in our varsity teams,” he says. “Their support would be an opportunity for us to take our gains to another level. In our teams, we’re very mindful of that support.”

In Sutton’s opinion, soccer brings a more intimate fan experience, especially at the university, where peers support peers.

“So, for students out there, what’s in it for them?” he asks. “It’s helping create an opportunity for our university and being a part of the success of our university soccer teams.”

Sutton says both teams are in good hands leadership-wise and that they are training together quite well. Women’s soccer’s Dayne Lebans and Lauren Curran will head the women’s team once again this year, while men’s soccer’s Razvan Colici will take the helm after John Cevik graduated last year.

“I think this year seems a little bit different. We seem a little bit more connected on both teams and have a drive that’s a little bit more evident than in years past,” Sutton says. “We’re in a good position where I think now we can really do something special with both teams.”

*Stingers fans celebrate a first down. Photo Alice Martin*

The Swarm

One Concordia student club, Concordia Swarm, actively tries to get students interested in attending varsity games to create a more involved student body.

Swarm president Kinu’Kai McCalla says they are starting their operations back up after a dormant few seasons.

“The whole purpose of Swarm was about bringing a great atmosphere to games, bringing more of the student body, get them more encouraged to not only go to games, but be a fan of the game,” McCalla says,”[to] embody the Concordia student culture and bring it to life at these games.”

Swarm is currently building its new team and encouraging students to get involved with the club. However, recruitment efforts have been difficult so far. She says fewer students are involved in clubs than in previous years.

“The club’s been around for over a decade, actually, and I saw from their old photos how involved all the students were,” she says. “I just want to bring it back to what it looked like 10 years ago, where every single student was either talking about the games or talking about a sport in the school and just having fun.”

McCalla herself had been compelled to join the club when she attended one of the football team’s highly-anticipated Homecoming games.

“I really enjoyed the atmosphere and I wanted to somehow get involved with the school, since I wasn’t as involved as I wanted to be, and sports just interested me,” says McCalla, who encourages any student who would want to be a part of Swarm to get in contact with them.

“It’s always fun to pack the stadium and make sure that there’s a lot of people here cheering on the guys.”— Stingers head football coach Brad Collinson

How to support the Stingers

The Stingers football team’s home opener against the Université de Laval Rouge et Or attracted a good crowd of 1,232 fans on Aug. 24. However, Rouge et Or supporters came en masse to support the away team, occupying numerous bleachers and making themselves heard.

Despite the Stingers fan base diligently cheering on the home side, the Stingers fell 36-11 against the Rouge et Or.

For anyone looking to take part in the fun, the Stingers’ game schedule and ticketing platform can be found on their website. Discounts are offered to students.

This article originally appeared in Volume 45, Issue 1, published September 3, 2024.

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Stingers fueled by $100,000 alumnus donation

Local Journalism Initiative / The Link / October 2, 2024 / Al Fiumidinisi, Alice Martin, Football, Jared Lackman-Mincoff, Montreal, Stingers

Stingers quarterback Olivier Roy loads up for a pass during the Stingers football home opener against the Laval Rouge et Or. Photo Alice Martin

Jared Lackman-Mincoff,
Local Journalism Initiative

Former Concordia football player sets up student-athlete scholarship

When Al Fiumidinisi played for the Stingers football team in 1985, he faced a reality much different from his comfortable CEGEP life.

Playing football for Champlain Lennoxville in CEGEP, Fiumidinisi and all of his teammates lived on campus. They had a practical daily routine that allowed them to do everything they needed to on a given day.

“Classes would finish at 4 p.m. We’d have our practices from 5 p.m. until about 6:30 p.m., 7 p.m. Afterwards, we’d go to the cafeteria to eat and study, and go to bed,” Fiumidinisi said. “It was the perfect scenario.”

Not to mention that he was playing for one of the best CEGEP teams in the country at the time.

But once he arrived at Concordia, all of that changed.

He realized that, like himself, most of his teammates lived off-campus. He lived on Montreal’s North Shore and had to commute roughly three hours per day to and from the Loyola Campus, where his games and practices took place.

“It was taking me about an hour to an hour-and-a-half to get to school. And then I would go to my practices,” he said. “[B]y the time I got home, it would be 11:30 p.m., 12 a.m. I was exhausted.”

He really wanted to continue playing football, but quit after one year.

“I just couldn’t do all the travelling,” he said.

In June, almost 40 years after his time at Concordia, he donated $100,000 to the university, designated as a scholarship for student-athletes. For the next 10 years, one member of the Stingers football team and one member of a Stingers women’s team will each receive a $5,000 scholarship.

Fiumidinisi—currently a senior portfolio manager at the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce—majored in finance and minored in accounting at Concordia. As such, he also instructed that the scholarships be awarded to student-athletes enrolled in a John Molson School of Business program.

Fiumidinisi remembers the difficulties of balancing his studies and sports, and wanted to help those who are going through the same struggles.

“Some people just like to build their bank account and get as much as they can. That’s not my game,” he said. “My kids are well taken care of, and everybody’s good. I think it’s good karma to give back.”

Fiumidinisi took out student loans to pay his tuition. He is hoping that the scholarship will help alleviate the recipients’ financial stress, and perhaps allow them to afford slightly higher rent.

“Instead of paying $1,000 [for] someplace really far away, maybe they could spend $2,000 and be much closer to campus and be able to do the sports they need to do,” he said.

The Stingers are used to receiving small, recurring donations from their alumni. Receiving large sums of money all at once usually only happens once a year on Giving Tuesday, an annual and well-known November tradition where the university encourages students, staff, and alumni to donate to its various departments.

“It’s always uplifting when we see alumni giving back based on the importance that they found and derived from the non-academic aspect of their time at Concordia,” Recreation and Athletics director D’Arcy Ryan said.

Ryan says that the new scholarship also holds practical value for the department.

“If we’re using it on the front end and deciding beforehand what team will get it on the women’s side, it can be used as a strong recruiting tool,” he said.

This is the single largest donation the Stingers have received since late 2022, according to Ryan, when Montreal-based Power Corporation of Canada donated $1.3 million to Concordia Stingers athletics. It aimed for the department to develop resources in women’s sports for nutrition, mental health and mentorship.

One member of the Stingers women’s hockey coaching staff, Devon Thompson, was able to hone her coaching skills and leadership abilities thanks to the donation.

In late 2021, former Stingers basketball player George Lengvari donated $1 million each to Concordia and McGill basketball programs.

“I’m kind of hoping [Fiumidinisi’s donation] has trickle-down effects with regards to other alumni looking to do something in a similar vein,” Ryan said.

The Stingers football coach will make a recommendation to the Concordia financial aid and awards office each year, while the women’s scholarship recipient will be decided by the Athletics department.

“These kids work hard. They spend 35 hours a week just doing football and they go to school,” said head football coach Brad Collinson. “Some of them have part-time jobs, so anytime we can relieve some financial stress from them, it’s important.”

The Stingers football team is allowed to hand out a maximum of 33 scholarships per academic year. This new scholarship does not add to that total, but it gives the team another one to work with.

Nevertheless, Collinson hopes that the winners will be inspired to pay it forward when their time comes.

“The winner of that will be very happy and very appreciative of what an alumnus did for them,” Collinson said. “And hopefully moving forward when they graduate, they’ll do the same.”

Fiumidinisi shares the same wish. He believes that everybody—not just Concordia alumni—should do their part in helping others.

“If everybody gave back, I think we’d live in a better place,” Fiumidinisi said.

This article originally appeared in Volume 45, Issue 1, published September 3, 2024.

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