The SFU Red Leafs or Simon Fraser Red Leafs teams represent Simon Fraser University (SFU), which is located in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. The Red Leafs are members of NCAA Division II and are the only Canadian university affiliated with the U.S.-based National Collegiate Athletic Association. The teams previously used the nicknames "Clan" and "Clansmen," which were used as a tribute to the Scottish heritage of the university's namesake, Simon Fraser. The names were retired in 2020 due to the negative connotation surrounding those terms. In September 2022, the updated nickname "Red Leafs" was announced.
NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environment offered in Division III.
Canada West is a regional membership association for universities in Western Canada which assists in co-ordinating competition between their university level athletic programs and providing contact information, schedules, results, and releases about those programs and events to the public and the media. This is similar to what would be called a college athletic conference in the United States. Canada West is one of four such bodies that are members of the country's governing body for university athletics, U Sports. The other three regional associations coordinating university-level sports in Canada are Ontario University Athletics (OUA), Atlantic University Sport (AUS), and the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ).
Dean Valli is an offensive lineman with the Canadian Football League's British Columbia Lions. Valli attended Simon Fraser University and played for their football team, the Simon Fraser Clan. He played four full seasons with the Clan from 2002 to 2005. Dean graduated with a bachelor of arts from Simon Fraser University in 2006. In 2005, Valli was named to the Canada West Universities Athletic Association all-star team. He also represented SFU at the 2005 East West Bowl held in Waterloo, Ontario. Valli was selected in the 1st round, 6th overall, by the Lions in the 2006 CFL draft. 2006 was his first year playing professional football.
U Sports football is the highest level of amateur play of Canadian football and operates under the auspices of U Sports, Canada's governing body for university sports. Twenty-seven teams from Canadian universities are divided into four athletic conferences, drawing from the four regional associations of U Sports: Canada West Universities Athletic Association, Ontario University Athletics, Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec, and Atlantic University Sport. At the end of every season, the champions of each conference advance to semifinal bowl games; the winners of these meet in the Vanier Cup national championship.
Alan Koch is a South African soccer coach who is the head coach of Western Suburbs FC and technical director for Olé Football Academy. Koch is a former South African youth national team player, professional player and coach. He is a graduate of Simon Fraser University where he earned his bachelor's degree. He earned his master's degree from Midwestern State University in 2005. He was previously the head coach of FC Cincinnati in Major League Soccer.
The Shrum Bowl was a university rivalry game played between the gridiron football teams of the University of British Columbia (UBC) Thunderbirds and the Simon Fraser University (SFU) Red Leafs. The game was named after Gordon Shrum who was a professor and later a dean at UBC from 1925 to 1961 and served as the first chancellor of SFU from 1964 to 1968. It was a cross-town rivalry with UBC being located in the University Endowment Lands just west of Vancouver, British Columbia, and SFU located approximately 30 kilometres away in Burnaby, British Columbia.
Lemar Durant is a former Canadian football wide receiver who played seven seasons in the Canadian Football League (CFL). He attended Simon Fraser University, where he played college football for the Simon Fraser Clan. He was drafted by the Calgary Stampeders in the second round of the 2015 CFL Draft. Durant has also been a member of the BC Lions and Hamilton Tiger-Cats, and Ottawa Redblacks.
The U Sports East–West Bowl is an annual preseason Canadian university football all-star game which showcases the top U Sports football prospects in the country who will be eligible for the following year's CFL Draft. The East–West Bowl is organized by the Canadian University Football Coaches Association (CUFCA) with the support of the Canadian Football League (CFL). It brings together over 90 of the top U Sports football players for a week of practices and evaluation, culminating with the annual all-star game. A national committee of U Sports head coaches selects the participants from a pool of players nominated by their respective universities. Players who are generally in their third year of eligibility are the prime candidates for nomination. Every U Sports football program is represented by a minimum of three and a maximum of four players who will be eligible for the CFL draft the following year. Each school submits a list of six players they nominate. A committee of U Sports coaches and CFL representatives review the nominations and determine who gets invited.
The UBC Thunderbirds football team represents the University of British Columbia athletics teams in U Sports and is based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Thunderbirds program has won the CWUAA Hardy Trophy conference championship 17 times, which is third all-time among competing teams. On a national level, the team has won the Vanier Cup championship four times, in 1982, 1986, 1997 and, most recently, in 2015. The team has also lost twice in the title game, in 1978 and 1987. The Thunderbirds program has also yielded three Hec Crighton Trophy winners: Jordan Gagner in 1987, Mark Nohra in 1997, and, most recently, Billy Greene in 2011.
Lorenzo Jerome is an American football free safety. He played college football at St. Francis.
Jordan Herdman-Reed is a professional Canadian football linebacker for the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college football with the Simon Fraser Clan.
Justin Herdman-Reed is a professional Canadian football linebacker for the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college football with the Simon Fraser Clan.
Rysen John is a Canadian gridiron football wide receiver for the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League (CFL).
Marcello Polisi is a Canadian soccer player who currently plays for Canadian Premier League side Valour FC.
Deronn "Bo" Palmer is a Canadian former gridiron football running back who played one season in the Canadian Football League (CFL) for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. He played college football for Simon Fraser and was drafted in the 5th round of the 2012 CFL Draft by the Tiger-Cats. He later was on the practice roster of the Calgary Stampeders, and won the 102nd Grey Cup in 2014.
Jonathan Zamora is a professional Canadian football offensive lineman for the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League (CFL).
Grant McDonald is a former Canadian football linebacker. He previously played for the Edmonton Elks and Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He was drafted by the Elks with the 14th overall selection in the 2021 CFL Draft. From 2018 to 2019, he played U Sports football for the University of Calgary Dinos, where he was a Vanier Cup champion in 2019. Prior to transferring to Calgary in 2018, he attended and played one season for the University of Maine Black Bears of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) in 2017.
The 2022 Simon Fraser Red Leafs football team represented Simon Fraser University (SFU) in the 2022 NCAA Division II football season as a member of the Lone Star Conference (LSC). The team played most of its home games at Terry Fox Field on the university's campus in Burnaby, British Columbia, while Borderite Stadium in nearby Blaine, Washington hosted two games. Led by third-year head coach Mike Rigell, the Red Leafs finished the 2022 season with an overall record of 1–9, going 1–8 in LSC play to finish 10th in the conference.
The 2021 Simon Fraser football team represented Simon Fraser University (SFU) in the 2021 NCAA Division II football season as a member of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC). The team played its home game at Terry Fox Field in Burnaby, British Columbia. The team finished the season with an overall record of 1–7, going 0–4 in GNAC play. Simon Fraser was led by interim head coach Mike Rigell in his second season as the program's coach. On November 30, the university announced that Rigell would become the program's full-time head coach.
