Touch football a way of life for Sydenham man and three sons

Jeff Green | Aug 20, 2014

Rob Moyse started playing high school football as a student at Smiths Falls High School in the 1970s and he hasn't stopped.

This year he marked his 25^th season playing touch football in the Kingston League and he has been playing on Sunday mornings in Brockville off and on since the mid-80s.

“I got back into football when I moved back to Kingston and I have never stopped. In the early 90s the Kingston Touch Football League was very competitive and we competed in regional and provincial championships. In those years I was a rusher; my job was basically to chase the quarterback,” he said when interviewed last week from his home.

In 1992 his team took the national championship, a highlight of his career.

These days he gets to play with his three sons, Nathan, Oliver and Samuel who have all played high school football for Sydenham High School, where Rob and his wife Patti moved to in 1993. Rob works as an intensive care nurse at KGH, a job he has held since moving back to Kingston from Moose Factory in 1988.

After playing at SHS, Nathan went on to play at Bishops University for two years and has been coaching summer football in Sydenham for the past two years. Oliver played on the now legendary 2010 SHS squad, which won KASAAA and went to the OFSAA finals, and Samuel is playing one more year with SHS this fall.

This summer, all four of the Moyse boys headed to Kingston each week to play on the same team, which ended its season with a semi-final loss last week. Their favourite games are in Brockville on Sundays, and there are a couple more Sundays this summer before the older boys head back to school, and Samuel rejoins the Golden Eagles.

As to how he has managed to keep playing for all these years, Rob said that his wife Patti is responsible for him being able to continue playing when they had a young family. Since then he continues to enjoy the game and playing with his sons is an added bonus.