How this Hamilton student from school with no football field got a football scholarship

Throughout his 19 years, football has been a constant for Hamilton student Elijah Sinclair.

"I can't remember a time when I wasn't throwing around a football out front with my friends or something," he said.

Sinclair is now the first student in his east end high school, Bernie Custis Secondary School, to be recruited to a post-secondary football team and get a scholarship.

It's an accomplishment he reached despite the fact his school doesn't have a football field, he notes. 

Sinclair starts playing with the University of Toronto's team in August. Getting to this point didn't come easy — he said he's had to work twice as hard as kids in other schools to get recruited. 

Sinclair wants to use the opportunity to shine a light on what he says is a class divide between inner-city schools and "more wealthy schools" in the city.

Bernie Custis opened in 2019, right across from Tim Hortons Field, where the Hamilton Tiger-Cats play. 

The school doesn't have a full yard for students. Instead, there's a grassy area with berms (small hills on otherwise flat terrain) between the school and an adjacent community centre, the Bernie Morelli Recreation Centre.

On the day CBC Hamilton visited in late April, the yard was littered with plastic wraps, bags, glass and other garbage. Sinclair said he and other students have gotten cuts and other injuries from glass and needles on the field.

Ward 3 councillor Nrinder Nann said when she first became councillor in 2018, one of her first questions was about the school's yard.

The original plan was to have a roof-top recreation facility with green space, but it wasn't approved by the provincial Ministry of Education, she said.

"Once students were back in post pandemic, it became stark clear that the