Gridiron Hurricanes seek new team members

The Downeast Hurricanes are looking for a few good men. The team is the latest area endeavor into the world of semiprofessional football.

The team is the dream of owner Bill Harris of Hampden; Damon Jordan of Bangor, who is doing what he can to promote the team as well as work as the team’s player representative; and coach Rocky Lane of Southwest Harbor. The trio hopes to have the team competing in the New England Football League beginning this summer.

This, of course, is not the first effort of local folks to field semipro football teams.

There were the Bangor Coyotes that later became the Brewer Hurricanes in the wacky world of the Maine State Football League, where personality clashes and squabbles between owners and the commissioner received more attention than the games.

That’s not to belittle this latest effort. People go into these things with a real passion for the game. They must. There is no pot of gold at the end of the semipro football rainbow.

“For us to try to do this where a team has walked all over it before, we’re finding that some sponsors don’t want to have anything to do with us because of it,” owner Smith said. “We’re trying to change those perceptions. We want people to know that we’re responsible.”

So Jordan and the gang know what they are getting into.

“Funding will be a major undertaking. We’re just getting started,” Jordan said.

The New England Football League has stability. It has been around for approximately 30 years.

Teams from New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Maine play in the league’s three divisions – AAA, AA and A, with AAA being the strongest division based on level of competition.

The league plays under a combination of NFL, college and high school rules. New teams entering the league must spend the first year in the A division. After that year they can apply to move up.

There are three Maine teams now in the league – the AAA Southern Maine Raging Bulls and the A York County War Chiefs and the Maine Tomcats.

The Tomcats’ Web site lists their sponsor and advises the reader to visit their sponsor or “We’ll kick your butt.” While not as catchy as “It’s what you need. To know,” it will do.

The league requires a $200 application fee, and the yearly franchise fee is $1,200. Transportation is costly.

Jordan said other teams he has played for have relied on personal transportation. But one player was injured when he rolled his car over while returning from a game.

“From a camaraderie standpoint plus safety issues, hopefully we can afford [to travel by] coach to away games,” Jordan said.

Players will have to pay for their own equipment. All in all, to play football at this level – as the saying goes – you gotta want it. And bad.

The cost is one thing, but there is also a physical price to playing the game that must be paid.

“This is a semipro, workingman’s league. It’s for men who want to continue playing. Those of us who have been involved in football prior to this in other leagues or teams are excited,” Jordan said.

Jordan said several locations are being looked at as possible “home” fields for the Hurricanes.

Although no formal talks have taken place, he listed Hampden Academy’s football field and a field near the Hermon elementary school as possible “home” fields.

Jordan can be reached at 990-4696 or 852-8065. He said the team has scheduled an informational meeting for 7 p.m. Jan. 29 at the Eastern Maine Medical Center’s Mason Auditorium for people interested in playing for the Hurricanes.

Don Perryman can be reached at 990-8045, 1-800-310-8600 or dperryman@bangordailynews.net.