‘It’s our time’

Manitoba’s own Dayna Spiring is no stranger to the sports world, but her latest venture into the world of football — this time of the kick-about variety — is a whole new ball game.

“I’m getting up to speed on that as quickly as I can,” Spiring told the Free Press Tuesday, shortly after the accomplished business leader was announced as Northern Super League Winnipeg’s president.

Spiring joins an already stacked roster on the first women’s professional sports team in the Keystone province alongside the likes of NSL Winnipeg’s decorated co-founders Desiree Scott and Rob Gale.

And her own stats sheet is just as historic. Spiring was one of the first women to serve on the CFL’s Board of Governors and was the first woman to serve as chair of the Winnipeg Football Club’s board of directors. She is also the first woman to have her name engraved on the Grey Cup when the Winnipeg Blue Bombers captured back-to-back titles in 2019 and 2021.

But — as Spiring put it — Tuesday was only Day 2 in the world of the Northern Super League for the business veteran. The absence of experience with the beautiful game, outside of some tiki-taka in Brandon as a child, wasn’t a strike against her potential as the club’s inaugural president by either NSL President Christina Litz or the league’s commissioner Mark Cohon, who Spiring knew from her CFL days.

“Early in June, early July, I got a couple of calls saying, ‘hey, have you heard about this new women’s soccer team? What do you think? Any chance you’d consider coming on board?’” Spiring explained, “and, you know, we talked for a number of months. There was a lot of questions I had.

“And I wasn’t sure when I was ready to jump back into some things full time, but the more I learned about this story and the more I learned about the momentum behind it and what’s possible and what I think this will mean for the City of Winnipeg and for our community, it was one of those ones that I couldn’t say no to.

“So after a lot of conversation, I agreed to jump on board as president of the team,” she added.

Aside from learning the league operations’ ropes, Spiring said she’s thoroughly impressed by what Scott and Gale have done in the months that preceded her tenure — including working on the team logo and what the kits will look like with an announcement set for the coming weeks in anticipation of announcing the players and coaches.

“Right now we’re kind of all hands on deck and we’re going to make sure that we’re ready to go come springtime,” she said.

Expanding the league to incorporate the NSL’s seventh team is a work in progress, but with the countdown on to spring 2027 kickoff, those details will soon roll in. Spiring joked that if she’s asked the same question on Day 5, she may know more.

Her enthusiasm about her new role is obvious.

“I’m just really excited to talk to this community about what’s possible,” Spiring said, “and we’re going to put an incredible product on the field. We’re going to make sure that it’s an entertaining experience for Winnipeggers.

“And we really hope that everyone’s going to come on board and support us. I mean, this is a moment, right? Women’s sports in North America are having a moment. It’s our time.”

Spiring is most inspired by the impact the league will have on Manitoba.

“It’s the first time that girls across Canada are going to be able to see themselves in professional athletes playing in their own backyard, right?” Spiring said.

“What an incredible thing for us to be able to be a part of.”

And just as Spiring is confident about the future product on the field, the league is just as confident in Spiring.

“Dayna is exactly the kind of leader we envisioned helping build this club,” said Litz in a statement. “She understands Winnipeg, she understands business, and she knows what it takes to build organizations that bring people together. As we prepare for Winnipeg’s first season in 2027, her experience, leadership and deep connection to this community will be invaluable.”

For her part, Spiring stated: “there are very few glass ceilings left to break, and I’m incredibly excited to be part of breaking this one. Winnipeg has always been a city that rallies around big ideas, and I can’t wait to see this community come together around this club.”

In the meantime, the six-team NSL — Canada’s first professional women’s soccer league — is in the last four weeks of its second regular season. Winnipeg’s own club was awarded by the league back in July.

winnipegfreepress.com/graceannepaizen