SHS Football Digitizes Old Game Tapes

Jeff Green | Apr 26, 2023

The High School football season ends in late November but this year there has been a lot going on in the off-season at SHS. As the school contemplates its history while marking its 150th anniversary this year, the idea of digitising and making available some of the film footage of games, taken as far back as the 1970s, was developed.

Karl Hammer, the junior SHS Golden Eagles coach and former player, worked on the project, which is intended as a fundraiser for the team. It cost money to get the footage cleaned up and digitised, however, and a fundraising effort got underway in January.

“I thought at the time that when we reached $2,000, which would cover our costs and raise a decent amount of money to help with equipment costs for the team, we would release the footage on Youtube,” said Hammer.

The fundraising was a bit slow this winter, but in March generous donations from Watson’s bus Lines and Hartington Equipment came in, and the campaign went over its target. The videos can be found by searching Archival footage Sydenham High School football on Youtube.

“For anyone who was there, they are a blast from the past,” said Hammer.

The second big football news is that the offensive and defensive star of SHS Football last season, Keiran McNeely, has been given a roster spot with one of the best Canadian University Teams, the St. Francis Xavier X-men.

“It is not a scholarship, but when Keiran goes to the camp in Antigonish in August, he will have a spot on the roster lined up, so all he has to do is play and learn,” said Hammer.

Keiran McNeely will focus on the defensive safety position at St FX, even though he was also the quarterback at SHS last season,

“He feels most comfortable on defense,” said Hammer.

“Keiran is a very special athlete, and is extremely coachable. He always gives 110% effort, and does so with a smile on his face. He is a team-first kind of guy. Keiran has everything that any university football program would be looking for,” said SHS Senior Football coach Jeff Ryan.