Jan. 29, 2008 - Do you think football is for boys only? Think again. Did you know there is probably a women’s professional tackle football team near you? Currently there are over 70 teams nationwide. From Maine to California, Wisconsin to Miami, teams of women of all ages are making their dreams come true.
If you are under 18, there is still an opportunity for you to play. Girls from all across the country are playing football on high school teams. Think you can’t be a lineman or a quarterback, think again. Girls all over the country are tackling football!
Did you know that it’s against the law to forbid a girl to tryout for a high school or college football team if there is no girl’s football team currently available? Passed by Congress in 1972, Title IX states “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of gender, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” This goes for any sport!!!
Currently there are three women’s professional leagues: Independent Women’s Football League (IWFL), National Women’s Football Association (NWFA), and the Women’s Professional Football League (WPFL).
Although the idea of women playing professional tackle football may seem relatively new to most people, its roots actually reach back three quarters of a century. The first sign of women playing organized football seemed to present itself in 1926. It was during this time that an NFL team called the Frankfort (PA) Yellow Jackets employed a women’s team for halftime entertainment. Around 1965-1966 a Cleveland talent agent named Sid Friedman started a women’s semi-pro tackle football league as a “gimmick.” The league began with only two teams (Akron and Cleveland) and was called the Women’s Professional Football League (WPFL). This league eventually grew to include three more cities in Ohio and teams in Pennsylvania and New York.
The curiosity and popularity of women’s football began to grow, and in 1971 Friedman’s original WPFL added teams in Cleveland, Toledo, Toronto, Buffalo and Pittsburgh. There were also two additional teams, the Detroit Fillies and the Pittsburgh Powderkegs, that were independently owned and operated outside of Friedman’s organization.
In 1974 the National Women’s Football League (NWFL) was formed. There were seven original teams in this league, made up of several teams from previous upstart leagues of women’s football. These teams included the Dallas Bluebonnets, Fort Worth Shamrocks, Columbus pacesetters, Toledo troopers, Los Angeles Dandelions, California mustangs and the Detroit demons. In 1976 the NWFL added several new teams and incorporated three divisions: the Eastern, Southern and Western. These new divisions included the Oklahoma City Dolls and the Tucson Wild Kittens, drawing approximately 1,000 fans per game. By this time, the average cost to start up a franchise was approximately $10,000.
After the City Dolls handed the Toledo Troopers their first ever loss during the regular season (defeating them 14-8 in Oklahoma City), the teams faced one another in the first official NWFL Championship game in 1976. Toledo initially claimed the victory 13-12 when a City Doll PAT attempt was ruled no good. After further review of the game films however, the ruling was turned and the game was declared a tie. Toledo and Oklahoma City were declared co-champions and had to share the league title.
In 1978 the NWFL franchises based out of California decided to break away and form their own league, the Western States Women’s Professional Football League. This league was run by the Dandelions’ owner Russell Molzahn and consisted of the Dandelions, Hollywood Stars, Mesa (AZ) American Girls, Phoenix Cowgirls, Tucson Wild Kittens, Long Beach Queens, and Southland Cowgirls. This league was formed largely to the decision of the NWFL to limit play between the different divisions due to the cost of travel.
By the end of the 70’s the financial burden of owning a women’s football team was too much to bear for many. The City Dolls decided to suspend operations in 1979 and an attempt to revive the team three years later failed. The nearly unstoppable Toledo Troopers folded before the beginning of the 1980 season due to finances. That same season, the Southern division of the NWFL folded as well. By 1982 the only teams remaining in the NWFL were located in Ohio and Michigan.
Throughout the 80’s the NWFL went through several transformations in trying to get the league running successfully again. Finally in 1988 the league broke off into two separate organizations; the NWFL (based out of Toledo) and the Women’s Tackle Football Association (WTFA based out of Grand Rapids MI). While the WTFA wanted to continue to play tackle football, several teams in the NWFL chose to take up flag-touch football instead.
Within the last four years the resurgence of women’s tackle football has been booming. Several leagues have come and gone; some which were only started as transition leagues, others which could not find the financial support or field enough teams to make the league viable. There are two leagues presently which seem to stand the strongest chance of survival: the National Women’s Football Association (NWFA) and the Independent Women’s Football League (IWFL).
The Women’s Professional Football League (WPFL) was formed in 1999 by founders Carter Turner and Terry Sullivan. The initial idea was to put two teams together (the Minnesota Vixens and the Lake Michigan Minx) with outstanding athletes and play an exhibition game at the Metrodome. This game was to judge how well women could play the sport, the quality of the game itself, and the marketability of the game to other sports fans across the US. The game was a success and turned into the “No Limits” Barnstorming Tour across the country. The tour was a success and concluded in an all-star game held at the Orange Bowl in Miami. The WPFL was also invited to participate in the NFL experience in Atlanta that same year; playing in a short exhibition game during superbowl week.
After the successful tour it was deemed that the time had come to form a league for women all across the country with an interest in playing tackle football. The WPFL formed two conferences and four divisions. An 11 team league was launched in 2000. Unfortunately this first official season was full of controversy, with teams missing money to forfeited games to being stranded at airports. Turner left the league that same year and investor Larry Perry stepped in, the season concluding with the Houston Energy defeating the New England Storm and being named Superbowl Champions in January 2001. Turner meanwhile started up a new league, the Women’s Affiliated Football League (WAFL), which included 14 new teams stretching from Tampa Bay to Hawaii to Seattle. The WAFL was short lived however, and the teams that started in that league have since transitioned into new leagues or continue to play as exhibition teams only.
The NWFA was formed in August 2000 by entertainment entrepreneur Catherine Masters. The league originated with 2 teams; the Nashville Dream and the Alabama Renegades, which played exhibition events from October to December of 2000. After the success of what she called a “pre-season showcase” Masters added another 8 teams to her league in 2001. The first championship showed the Philadelphia Liberty Belles defeating the Pensacola Power 40-7 and drew over 5,000 spectators to the game. An increasing number of teams began to join the league, and by the 2002 season the NWFA consisted of 21 teams in five different divisions. Currently the NWFA consists of 35 teams for the Spring 2008 season.
The IWFL was formed in the year 2000 consisting of organizations from across North America including teams spanning both the east and west coasts.
The New York Sharks are a perfect example of a team that has undergone several changes in it’s short-lived professional football career and have finally found a league to call home. New York originally started as a very successful flag football team called the Long Island Sharks. The 1999 WPFL Barnstorming Tour challenged New York to a full contact game, and with little time to prepare New York defeated The Minnesota Vixens 12-6. New York then joined the WPFL in the year 2000. After controversy of their own, New York pulled out of the WPFL in 2001 and played as an independent team. They played teams from both the WPFL and the IWFL.
After the attacks on the World Trade Center in September of 2001, New York made the decision to cancel the remainder of their season and in October of the same year they became a member of the IWFL for the 2002 Spring season. The IWFL originally started in Austin TX and grew to a 14 team league with an additional 2 exhibition teams for the 2002 season. The Sharks went undefeated that season, earning a trip to the inaugural IWFL championship game held in Ashland OR in July 2002 and defeated the Austin Outlaws 24-4. The IWFL currently consists of 25 teams (excluding exhibition teams) for the Spring 2003 season.
Regardless of which league you play in or what team you play on, the bottom line is that those women that are making the sacrifice to be out on the field every week do it for the love of the sport. Currently there are not any players with multimillion dollar contracts or signing bonuses. The missions of these leagues are to allow women the opportunity to play tackle football and promote women athletics. Although there are many struggles that come along with any new venture, it appears as if women’s football is definitely making an impact and should only increase in popularity in the years to come.
(Courtesy of the Sacramento Sirens website www.sacramentosirens.com)
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One Response to “Move Over Boys, Women’s Football Coming Through!”
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This is so informative! All this time, I had no idea that the history of our sport went back THAT far.