290: The Many Leagues of Women's Football - With Russ Crawford

Jan 23, 2023

While American tackle football has long been considered an exclusively male sport, this week's guest Russ Crawford ("Women's American Football: Breaking Barriers On and Off the Gridiron") takes us on an eye-opening journey over the decades that highlights the persistent and still-growing interest of women playing the game - including professionally.

 

Anecdotal evidence abounds of amateur football competitions, collegiate intramural leagues, and even an 1926 NFL halftime exhibition featuring Frankford's "Lady Yellow Jackets" - proving women's intrigue with the sport.

 

The women’s game became more organized in ​1965 with the launch of sports entrepreneur​ ​Sid Friedman's ​aspirational ​Women's Professional Football League​, and later more forcefully in 1974 with the founding of the​ pioneering National Women’s Football League​ ​- ​featuring ​notable teams such as the ​Houston Herricanes, ​Dallas Bluebonnets, Toledo Troopers, Oklahoma City Dolls, and Detroit Demons.

 

​Today, ​two robust national semi-pro outdoor leagues (the 60+ team Women’s Football Alliance​; ​the 18-club Women’s National Football Conference)​, plus an increasingly evolved/credible indoor "X League" (fka as both the infamous "Lingerie," and later "Legends" Football League)​ - keep the women's gridiron game alive, with undoubtedly more pioneering to come.

 

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PURCHASE  Russ Crawford's book  "Women's American Football: Breaking Barriers On and Off the Gridiron" in either hardcover or Kindle electronic versions NOW!