The CFL Rule Song, is presented to guests at McMahon Stadium in Calgary. The song was written and performed by fine arts students at St. Mary's School.--SUBMITTED PHOTO
bmiller@medicinehatnews.com
Several fine arts students from St. Mary’s School can be seen performing in a music video that was recently presented to officials with the Calgary Stampeders during an outdoor screening at McMahon Stadium.
The catchy CFL theme song, which explains the unique rules of the Canadian Football League, was written and produced by fine arts students during the last four months of the school year after a well-known Alberta historian reached out to the Catholic school division looking for young talented individuals.
Rob Lennard, who hosts the YouTube channel ‘The History Wrangler Production,’ was looking for choral students to write and sing a song that explains CFL rules to new fans or new Canadians who may be unfamiliar with the game.
Once the song lyrics were complete, St. Mary’s students auditioned to sing solo versus and recorded the final version at STIR Studios in Medicine Hat.
In June, Lennard travelled to Medicine Hat with a Calgary film crew to shoot a large-scale music video at the Methanex Bowl featuring several members of the McCoy Colts and St. Mary’s junior Colts football players, as well as cheerleaders from Toxic Elite Cheerleading.
The video, called “The CFL Rules Song, A gift to the CFL, CFL fans and future fans,” has been released on YouTube on the channel Bow Valley Ranch Productions.
The 5:51-minute video starts with a traditional Treaty 4 and 7 land acknowledgement as drums are heard in the background.
The video then transitions to a CFL announcer’s voice during the start of a game saying, “Set for kickoff,” as an upbeat jazzy melody kicks in and the song begins.
Local singers, cheerleaders, fans and football players fill the screen as the song begins with all the singers from St. Mary’s seen wearing different teams’ T-shirts, and then it dives into the first verse.
“There’s four quarters of time, 15 minutes each. 60 minutes total and both teams compete. Before they start the game two captains flip a coin in the freezing cold or hot sunny heat.”
Lennard told the News he pitched an idea to create a song for youth and new Canadians to Lois Mitchell, former lieutenant governor of Alberta and part owner of the Calgary Stampeders, last year.
“Wouldn’t it be nice to create a song? It’s never been done,” said Lennard. “Make rules fun, appealing and easy to understand for youth or new Canadian people who don’t have an idea of what the basic rules are to the CFL.”
The video ends with a clip of former CFL commissioner and player Doug Mitchell, and gives credit to the St. Mary’s School Fine Arts Academy Team.
Lennard says he hopes the video will soon be played on the jumbo screens in CFL stadiums across the country and hopes to work with the Calgary Stampeders to debut the song during a halftime performance this season.
