Without women's professional football leagues, many aspiring female football players wouldn't have an opportunity to compete in the sport. Documentary film maker, Mylène Moreno, profiled some of these players in the documentary True-hearted Vixen. As she filmed, Moreno discovered that some of the players were so devoted to playing football that they had traveled cross-country to participate.
Tryouts for Women's Football
Aspiring football players in the leagues began their sojourn by attending a football tryout. “During the tryouts, participants compete in many football drills, including four corner drills, weight lifting, sit-ups, 40-yard dash, push-ups, and shuttle runs” (Titlebaum & Daprano, 2008). What kind of a woman attends these tryouts and wants to play professional football?
Who Plays and Coaches in Women’s Professional Football Leagues?
The players themselves come from every walk of life. Nurses, engineers, lawyers, college students, mothers, lifelong athletes… there are no bounds as to who attends a tryout and aspires to become a female football player. And the players are not paid (but maintain the designation as professionals), so they must integrate football practices, games, and travel with their work schedule.
The coaching staffs are generally comprised of former players. Some of the female football players become coaches as they retire from the field while the males of the coaching staff range from college football coaches to former NFL football players (Ickey Woods). Like the players in the women's leagues, the coaches depend on an income source besides their league salary.
Football as a Business
Presently, female football leagues are not financially profitable ventures, and the owners of the teams in the leagues face daunting fiscal challenges. The sport of women’s full-contact football receives little coverage from the major sportscast organizations, and the number of fans often is not sufficient to fill the stadiums. Such challenges have forced the disbandment of many of aspiring women's football leagues.
The WPFL and Other Women Football Leagues
Carter Turner and Terry Sullivan, founders of the now defunct Women’s Professional Football League (WPFL), “asked the National Football League (NFL) to allow the women’s league to play exhibition games before, after or during half time at NFL games” to bring much needed publicity to the fledgling WPFL, but the NFL didn't help to publicize the women's leagues (Palazzolo, 2000).
Subsequently, despite the efforts of new owners like Ann Bagala to perpetuate the league, the WPFL failed, and after several years the league was disbanded. The founding and subsequent financial failure of the WPFL is representative of the challenges faced by football leagues, male and female.
The NFL Recognizes a Women’s Football League
Ironically, the NFL has lent some of its substantial visibility to one women’s football league, but not one of the established female football leagues. Instead, some investors, siphoning off of the huge audiences that tune in for NFL Superbowl games, formed the Lingerie Football League, a league of female football players who play football in lingerie-like garb.
The so-called Lingerie Bowl has been televised during the halftime of several NFL Superbowl Games, and viewership (the event is pay-per-view) of the Lingerie Bowls has been high enough to warrant assembling a league. The Lingerie Football League boasts athletic and competitive women who are serious about playing the game. But sportswriter Simon Evans notes that "The underwear-clad female players are hoping, however – probably in vain – to be taken seriously".
Real Women's Football Team
Chicago Examiner sportswriter Charlie Corr echoes these sentiments. Corr, acknowledging a member of the Chicago Bliss Lingerie Football team who insists that the Lingerie Football League be taken "seriously" writes that "if you honestly want me to take you seriously, try the following: Suit up in proper football attire and play head-to-head against the Chicago Force's (of the IWFL-Independent Women's Football League) real women's football team...".
Clashes between the Leagues
The Lingerie Football League, largely due to the bikini-like attire and emphasis on physical attractiveness of the players, is undermining its credibility in the sportsworld. Anne Lewis interviewed documentarian Moreno and learned that “there were a few clashes between the women serious about playing no-holds-barred football and being taken seriously in the bargain and the organizers with their notions of how best to make the enterprise commercially viable and attract investors”. Apparently, the clash continues as the Lingerie League competes with the other more traditional women's football leagues.
What are the Rules?
Details such as the size of the ball, the time between plays, and other regulations distinguish the women’s football leagues from the more popular men’s football leagues. The basic concepts of utilizing physical force to prevent the other team from scoring, wearing standard football gear, and crossing a distance of 100 yards to reach the opposing team’s end zone is common to most of the leagues (excepting the Lingerie League).
Some of the Women Football Leagues
Although several different women football leagues have "come and gone," the sport of women’s football has received little or no attention from large company sponsors. The leagues have also suffered for a lack of fans; the Lingerie Football League is the exception. Nonetheless, each of the leagues has provided women who wanted to play football with the opportunity. The Independent Women’s Football League, National Women’s Football Association, and the Women’s Football Alliance have been providing many women with the only opportunity that they will ever have to play a traditional game of football in a stadium.
Presently the Independent Women's Football League and the Women's Football Alliance are the only remaining traditional full-contact women's football leagues.
References
Corr, S. (2009). Not taking Chicago Bliss seriously? that is the point. Chicago Sports Examiner. Examiner.com
Evans, S. (2009). Lingerie football kicks off amid catcalls. ESPN.Com. The Life
Huss, K. (2007). Are you ready for some (women’s) football? MSNBC
Lewis, A. (2001). The girls on the 50-yard line. Austin Chronicle. May 25 Issue.
Miller, M. (2008). Fast, furious, and female. CBS News.
Page, E. (2009). Like It or Not, Lingerie Football Season Kicks Off. NBCSandiego.com
Raatz, J. (Producer). (2006). Gender Bowl. Google Videos.
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