Six Montreal Angels have been named to Team Canada’s Aussie Rules
Football squad (called the Northern Lights) to compete against the
United States for the 49th Parallel Cup in Dublin, Ohio on August 4th,
2012. The Cup takes its name from the circle latitude that delineates
the international borders between Canada and the USA and has fast become
the annual North American grudge match. Although the first game played
for the cup was in 1999, it would take 11 years before the 49th Parallel
Cup introduced a women’s competition in 2010.
The inaugural
women’s 49th Parallel Cup in Toronto saw two Montreal Angels represent
Quebec in national colours. Building on that success the following year,
three Angels travelled to Australia to participate in the first ever
women’s International Cup. Angel Aimee Legault was bestowed with the
honour of captaining Team Canada and was eventually named to the World
team for her standout efforts during the tournament.
The Angels
are proud to announce that Lindsay Belzie, Mirabel Eboka, Tara
Cools-Lartigue, Aimee Legault, Kelsey Martin and Margo Legault have all
been chosen to represent Canada in Dublin, Ohio. These players will be
accompanied by Angels head coach Ronan Shaughnessy who has been selected
as one of Team Canada’s assistant coaches. Never travelling without an
entourage, the girls will be well supported as many players from the
Quebec Saints have also been named to the Team Canada’s Under 23 squad
and will be on hand cheering the girls on to victory.
Despite
being a relatively unfamiliar sport to most Canadians, Aussie Rules is
an exciting, up-and-coming fast paced game that offers everything to the
prospective player, even the chance to wear their countries guernsey on
the national stage. The Montreal Angels have been able to build on
these experiences and harness the interest that is created abroad to
develop locally. The combination of playing in a weekly co-ed league in
Montreal and also travelling to Boston, Philadelphia, Ottawa and Toronto
to compete, means that the Angels have gained valuable game experience
throughout the season. Having forged bonds with teams in the East and in
Ontario, the Angels will already know many of their Team Canada
teammates, but will also face the prospect of competing against players
from New York and Boston with which the team has formed a close bond
with this year.
The Montreal Angels would like to wish all of the players good luck for the 49th Parallel Cup.
