Middle School football stepping on Pop's toes?

Sports is a business. There’s no way around it. No matter what level, or in what town, it’s still a business. And with every business there comes competition. Yet, according to comments recently posted on a website focusing on the North Shore, the new Melrose Middle School Junior Red Raiders football team is muscling its way onto the scene and pushing the long-standing Pop Warner program out of town.
The Middle School team (part of the Melrose Recreation Department), expected to begin this August, will take away some 60 seventh and eighth graders, who may have otherwise played on Pop Warner ‘A’ and ‘B’ teams. But, according to Melrose Pop Warner President Scott Brinch, there is room in town for both.
While Brinch believes that there may not be an ‘A’ and ‘B’ team this summer, Melrose can follow the models of Winchester, Brookline and Newton, which have middle school teams and Pop Warner ‘C’, ‘D’ and ‘E’ teams — and very successful football programs.
So what’s the problem? There really isn’t one. They are similar programs, and, as Melrose High School head football coach Tim Morris pointed out, the Middle School team is just an “alternative” for middle school aged kids.
Morris also pointed out that the Middle School team will not have a weight restriction on its players. In the past, an eighth grader who was over the 160 pound limit set by Pop Warner football, had no place to play football in Melrose — too big for Pop Warner, too young for high school. The Middle School team is expected to field a seventh grade team and an eighth grade team, leaving no one ineligible for play.
Both leagues begin their pre-season in August and participate in an eight game season. Similarities end there. While the registration cost is higher through the Recreation Department at $200 per player, Pop Warner charges $150 and also has a mandatory $100 in fund raising requirement, or the parent may contribute the $100 on his/her own — possibly totaling $250.
With the backing of the Friends of Melrose Football, it seems the fundraising for the Middle School team will be left up to the boosters.
Also, the Junior Red Raiders will hold practice after school as opposed to evening hours and has no weekend requirements; Pop Warner games are played on Sundays.
Was there a need for another football program in Melrose? Consider this: Melrose Pop Warner ‘A’ and ‘B’ teams combined suited up fewer than 50 participants in 2009, Brinch reported, and at the informational meeting held on March 24 for the Middle School team, 60-70 names were taken as interested candidates, according to Morris. It seems there was a need, and that need has been answered by the Recreation Department and the Friends of Melrose Football. And it seems that those in favor of Pop Warner are afraid of a little competition.