Winnipeg Falcons

The Winnipeg Football Club was founded in 1921 and would go on to join the WFU in 1927. The team was originally formed under Métis Professor Christophe Adams from Riel University. His son, Louis Adams, would be one of the first star players on the team. They would play their first several seasons at a smaller field near the Manitoba Legislature, but eventually, after the team won their first championship in 1929, Adams was able to pull enough strings to get a stadium built at Riel University named Provencher Park. The stadium would be shared with the school’s college team. In the first couple of seasons in the new stadium, a peregrine falcon nest was discovered within the roof of the stadium. The fans took to the falcons during the difficult great depression, and the team would be renamed the Winnipeg Falcons. The newly named Falcons would capture back-to-back championships in 1936 and 1937. 

Post-WW2, Christophe Adams would slowly pass over the ownership of the team to his son and former player, Louis Adams. Unfortunately, the Adams family was not able to keep up with the financial requirements that the team needed and would eventually sell the team to businessman, Howard Baker, in 1953. The team would go on to win a championship in 1954 under Baker. However, over the next 5 seasons, Baker became disinterested in running the team and decided to sell the team in 1958. At that point, Ed Morrissette would purchase the team. With the purchase by Morrissette, the team returns to its origins, with Morrissette being from the St. Boniface area, where Riel University is located, and being of Métis descent just like Christophe Adams. Since Morrissette took over, the owner has been a steady hand in the organization and the WFU, taking on a level of leadership with his kind and compassionate nature. Winnipeg captured its 6th title in 1960, but the team has struggled to keep up with the juggernauts of Vancouver and Edmonton since then. 

The Team
Jay Nielson leads this team on the field. Nielson was brought in to coach the team just a season ago. He coached for a while at the high school level, winning several provincial titles in Manitoba. He eventually moved up to the Riel University’s Offensive coordinator, where Morrissette decided to pluck him from and put him in charge of the Falcons. Winnipeg has been in need of some direction on the field, as they have some talent, like star WR Terry Upshaw and backfield weapon RB Joe Rivers. They also have a couple of younger pieces like WR Juwan Sylvester and WR Elijah Skinner. Defensively, the team isn’t as strong with only one real star at the moment in LB Claude Clarke. DB Kyle Ellerbee and DL Quinton Hextal are also both solid options, but nothing special. They do have some younger talent in Claude’s brother, Eric on the D-line and LB Kyrell Warner. While the offence does have the stronger set of pieces, the team is not as confident at QB. The team just went through now Wheat Kings’ starter Rusty Lamb and was turning to former Riel QB, Emerson Thompson. Emerson has shown some flashes of solid play but is still sometimes a little off the mark with accuracy, but he’s still young so the team has room to grow with him.

Brand
The Falcons got a light refresh with the Patterson Athletics partnership, mainly just sharpening up the logo and jersey elements.

Logos: The team's logo features a red “W” over top of the overhead shot of a falcon that is in navy. The team had been using something similar up until the update, however, the falcon image was a little sloppier, so Morrissette was glad to have it adjusted. 

Uniforms: The jerseys are pretty simple for Winnipeg. The home is primarily navy with a red falcon on the sleeves. The roads are pretty much the same with just red numbers and blue trim. 

Stadium and Field: As mentioned before, the Falcons share a stadium with Riel University. Provencher Park is on the older side, being built in the 1930s and only seats 23,500. There have been conversations about a new stadium potentially being built, but it’s uncertain about where in the city it will be constructed if it will be on campus grounds or elsewhere in the city. As for the field design, the Falcons will have 2 versions of the field during the season. The one constant will be the team’s “W” located at midfield next to Riel’s “RU” logo. During the early months of the year when only the Falcons are playing the endzones and out-of-bounds lines will be painted. Each endzone featuring the Falcons name and Riel Unviersity. Once Riel starts playing games in the fall, the field will be repainted to be more easily transitioned between Hybrid and Canadian field dimensions.