We're about two-and-a-half months away from the start of the Manitoba Minor Football Association season, and two Portage Pitbulls teams are having trouble finding players for the campaign.

Pitbulls board member and bantam coach Miles Irwin tells us the bantam and pee wee numbers are lower than they'd like to see, following their first registration session.

He's hearing one of the reasons for that is cost.

Miles Irwin

"The biggest misconception is because people see on TV, all the equipment that goes along with football," he says, "They think they have to pay their registration and then go out and buy all the equipment, like you would do for other sports. But the way we have set up our program, we provide all the equipment, and all the registration includes all the equipment you need. The only thing that you would have to buy for your child is the cleats for the games."

Irwin understands cost is important, noting the $225.00 fee covers everything. He adds the Pitbulls are able to help with other options.

"There's ROK, there's Chance 2 Play," he points out, "There's a lot of funding available that we can work with the parents to help if it's a situation where they can't afford to put their kids in, so we want to make sure that's understood by parents."

Irwin also stresses the Pitbulls' season doesn't stretch through the entire summer.

"We don't start games until the middle of August, and we don't start the practices until the last week of July," he says. "And that's the main thing we want to do now is get the word out that it's very affordable, it's not too time consuming, and it's also a great sport for kids of all different sizes to play, and be successful."

There's a registration tonight from 6 until 7:30 at the Republic Park football field, and another tomorrow night, same time, same place.

Here's where you can find registration information.

You can e-mail portagepitbulls@hotmail.com

Check Facebook as well.