said he hopes to hire a coach in the next few weeks.
In May, Friends of Canton Football said they would field a club team this fall on the junior varsity level and move up the varsity level in 2007. Grabowski said he hopes to play five or six games this fall.
There were 31 boys in grades 8-11 that signed up to play football next fall. Each boy will play a fee of $165. Grabowski expects that number to increase to around 40 by the time practice begins in September.
A five-person committee is conducting interviews for the position. Canton High athletic director Nancy Grace, Board of Education chairman Lou Daniels,
Grabowski and and two other members of Friends of Canton Football, Bill Plourd and A.J. Zukowski, comprise the interview committee. Anyone interested in the position should call Grabowski at 693-9518 or Grace at the high school at 693-7713.
Once a coach is hired, Friends of Canton Football will turn its attention toward purchasing equipment and securing a practice field.
Grabowski said the town Board of Selectmen has given the group permission to use Bicentennial Field, near the sewage treatment plant on River Road across the street from police department headquarters, as a practice field. All the games will be on the road.
Friends of Canton Football has raised $42,000 and expects to spend $30,000 this year to get the program off the ground. The organization has filed form 501.3 with the Internal Revenue Service to become a tax-exempt organization, which will help some interested donors in getting matching gifts from their employers.
Grabowski said he is working closely with the high school administration to ensure that the program follows all CIAC rules so the transition will be smooth when the school takes over the administration and funding of the team.
Grabowski said Friends of Canton Football remains committed to fund the program. "Our proposal was to fund it as long as it was needed," he said. "We said we could be a sustaining organization and have the ability to fund it until the town and Board of Education feel comfortable in funding the program."
While there has been talk of a co-op program, Grabowski said Canton will be building its program on its own, at least for now. Granby's drive to field a team isn't as far along as Canton at this point.
Lewis Mills, which joined a co-op program with St. Paul and Goodwin Tech in 2005, will play again this fall with St. Paul and Goodwin Tech. But after that, the future is unknown. If a school has at least 37 players, they cannot participate in a co-op program.
Grabowski said if the numbers allow it, they would be interesting in talking with Mills or Granby about a potential co-op situation. But for now, his group is committed to a Canton club team this fall.
"This is all about opportunity," Grabowski said. "There is a real need. If there is a demand, then why shouldn't it happen."
"It will be real exciting to see the kids out there playing football," he said.
Canton fielded varsity football teams from 1934-62 and 1964 before dropping it for a lack of participants, primarily because Avon and Lewis Mills opened their own high schools in 1960.
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