Members of the Airdrie Irish football team were all smiles on June 1st when the Alberta Football League council voted in favour of returning to play in 2021.

That means the Irish can now get the pads back on and hit a few people starting July 24th when they open the season in Red Deer against the Central Alberta Buccaneers for their first game of a modified five-team, four-game scheduled. 

The season actually begins on July 17th but the Irish received a bye for that week.  After the season opener against the Bucs, Airdrie will be back at the Genesis Place field when they host the Edmonton Elite for their home opener July 24th.

Along with Airdrie, the Central Alberta squad, and Edmonton, two other teams, the Calgary Wolfpack and the Cold Lake Fighter Jets have opted to take to the field this season.  Two other teams, the powerhouse Fort McMurray Monarchs and the Grande Prairie Cowboys have opted not to play for a season, without penalty.

Anton Bellot is the new Head Coach of the Irish, and while this is his first year at the helm he's had lots of coaching experience as a Co-Defensive Coordinator and Linebacker coach for Joanne Cardinal-Schubert High School in Calgary for six years.  

As a player, Bellot spent five seasons as a linebacker with the University of Calgary Dinos from 2010 to 2015.  When his time with the Dinos was over, Bellot joined the Irish and spent four seasons on the field.  Although he's still young enough to keep playing, injuries are preventing it. 

"I had a partially torn LCL my last year with the Dinos and then I played through it my four years with the Irish just maintaining it with a good off-season program, a lot of stretching and yoga but it does start to wear on you a little bit.  The last season I played with the Irish was probably the worst it's acted up since I partially tore it in 2015.  It was a proactive decision."

Bellot is happy to move to coaching and pass along his football experience to the Irish. 

Airdrie remained active with recruiting and signing up sponsors even when they didn't know if the season could go ahead. Because of that, Bellot says, they've had great success in recruiting players for the team.  He says, in a way, the cancellation of last year did a favour for the Irish with recruiting.

"A lot of people had time to think, sit down and really focus on the little things in life and I think the itch came back for a lot of players. The vibe we had last year was very good as a cohesive team.  One team, one mission is our motto here in Airdrie and I think that one team concept has done wonders."

The new recruits from areas like Cold Lake, Lloydminster and Grande Prairie who have moved to Airdrie all have commented on the team and, what they call, a family environment. 

Bellot will serve as Head Coach and defensive coordinator for the club and says while the defensive aspect of the game has always been a strength of the Irish, this year he believes they'll also be able to throw a balanced offense at the opposition.

"We've been run-heavy for the last couple of years but I think we've got a pretty good balance.  We've got a good group of receivers,  Josh Williams coming in at quarterback.  I think we'll have a balanced and come-at-you type of offense.  Defense is going to be a strength for us, and something we'll continue to rely on, but I think the offense is going to be pretty balanced."

Bellot says the Irish are excited and optimistic for the season ahead.  

"We want to come back and come out hard and come out firing and play our level of football.  In years past I think we've over-complicated a few things, and bringing it back to basics, having fun and playing at a good tempo.  Those are things we're really focusing on.  We're trying not to make it simple, we just know it's not easy and we're putting in that work every single day."

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