Server issues cause large Regina Youth Flag Football League registration backlog

What’s behind the flag football boom in Sask. WATCH: Regina Youth Flag Football League leader Mike Thomas on what’s behind the massive growth of the sport in Saskatchewan.

Reminiscent of trying to get tickets to see Taylor Swift, many Regina families experienced frustrating delays on Monday while attempting to register for the city’s flag football league.

According to Mike Thomas, leader of the Regina Youth Flag Football League a server issue was the main cause of people’s difficulties.

“It’s unfortunate because we had hoped to have a great kickoff to the 2024 season and unfortunately there was some issues from the backend of a server that we use,” Thomas said.

The issues caused a large backlog of people who were trying to register for the league’s 2024 season.

“Some people could get in while the vast majority couldn’t,” Thomas said.

Thomas says they were on the phone most of the day communicating with those who run the server that was causing issues.

“Eventually it did get corrected and we were able to get everyone in. There were some that did end up on the waitlist but we were able to work feverishly into the night to get things rectified.”

Thomas says they profusely apologize for Monday’s issues adding they did all that they could to make sure that all who wanted to play were eventually able to register for the 2024 season.

The server is run by TeamLinkt, its CEO Jay Maharaj posted on social media saying that TeamLinkt was deeply sorry for the inconvenience the issues caused.

“In preparation for this season’s registration, our team invested considerable effort to rectify past problems, to ensure a seamless experience. Regrettably, it became evident that our efforts fell short of expectations. Please accept our sincere apologies for the inconvenience this has caused,” Maharaj included in the post.

The league’s growing popularity has been well documented over the past few years and Thomas feels one of the main reasons for the high demand is the ability to play the game of football from an easier standpoint.

“You get to play with your friends, your neighbours, classmates, those types of things, you’re playing within your neighbourhood,” Thomas said.

“The best part is that we have amazing volunteers,” he added.

“I can’t coach 200 and some teams, I can barely coach two teams, so we’re really dependant upon our community here in the city and they are amazing,” Thomas said.

Thomas said for those who want to volunteer they can go to Regina Youth Flag Football.com.

“For those from across the province that are interested in getting involved with any youth flag football league wherever their location may be, they can head to www.footballsaskatchewan.ca and contact us through there,” he added.