The International Women’s Flag Football Association (IWFFA) sponsored their 15th annual P-Town Classic in Provincetown, Massachusetts over the long weekend of 17-20 September. Four teams of women from across the United States were joined by tournament Assistant Director Maria “MJ” Eguigure, who traveled from Honduras to play in and help manage the event, gathered to play an 8-on-8 flag football tournament.
Diane Beruldsen began the National Women’s Flag Football Association in 1995, but after Canadian players complained about the Amero-centric name, she changed it to the IWFFA in 1997. Since then, Beruldsen has traveled the world promoting the semi-contact form of flag football. She has helped create teams in Denmark, Sweden, Scotland, Finland, Iceland, Belgium, and Norway in Europe. In Latin America, the IWFFA has created teams in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, and Cuba. Most recently, she and her association have been to Nigeria and India, where the IWFFA sponsored a game between women from India and Afghanistan.
The IWFFA’s marquee tournament is the Kelly McGillis tournament held each January in Key West, Florida, which began in 2000. This tournament has drawn teams and players from most of the countries mentioned above, as well as from Egypt and Morocco. The league began holding their tournament in Provincetown in 2001, but occasional circumstances, such as the pandemic, shut down play.
Reactions to the covid pandemic did, however, provide impetus for the top team in P-Town to switch to playing flag. The Pittsburgh team that won all of their games at Provincetown in 2021, was made up of current and retired players from the Women’s Football Alliance’s Pittsburg Passion. Due to public health restrictions in Pennsylvania, the Passion was unable to play during the 2020 season.
The Pittsburgh team was joined by a combined team of players from New Jersey and Rhode Island (NJ/RI), a team of former Florida Institute of Technology friends who used their alma mater’s nickname Blue Wave, and the field was rounded out by the Loose Woman’s team. The Loose Women was Beruldsen’s tongue-in-the-cheek name for any women who wanted to play, but did not have a team. In Provincetown, there were not enough Loose Women to have a full eight woman team, and two of their players were aged 63 and 71, so they had to borrow players from the other teams to compete. Some of the players had never played any form of football before, so before each play in the first game, Beruldsen had to make sure that the novices knew where they were supposed to go and what they were supposed to do when they got there.
IWFFA rules were a hybrid that Beruldsen came up with for her version of flag football. The games were played on an 80 yard field, and the 8-on-8 game featured three non-eligible blocking linewomen. At times the women got fairly aggressive in their interpretations of what constituted “semi-contact,” but the long-time officiating crew of Head Official Mark Walker (who helped Beruldsen write the rule book), Jane Eldredge, and Renee Walker used a deft touch mixed with humor and pedagogy to keep tempers under control. The Association had three options for extra-points – kicking a traditional 1 point conversion, or rushing/passing for 1 or 2 points, depending on the distance from goal where the ball was spotted.
The first game, played at Motta Field, pitted the Loose Women versus the Blue Wave. Tahji Thompson, who came from Miami, Florida to play in the game, opened the scoring when she used one-hand to catch a pass from Beruldsen and scored from 50 yards out. The point after failed, so the Loose Women led 6-0. After allowing the Loose Women to get on the board first, however, the Blue Wave dominated the remainder of the game. Michelle Rizzuto took an option pitch from quarterback Tricia Donovan. Julie O’Brien kicked the 1 point conversion to make it 7-6 Blue Wave. Morgan Lindberg caught Donovan’s pass from the 10, and after the extra point attempt failed, the Blue Wave ended the half leading by 13-7. The only touchdown of the second half came when Donovan passed for her second touchdown, this time to Gabi Oliver from 24 yards. When O’Brien kicked her second PAT, the final score was 20-6 Blue Wave. After the game, Blue Wave Head Coach Eduardo Gonzalez praised his offense but also mentioned that rushers Michelle Alexander and Amber Trapassi “had about five sacks each.”
The second game was between Pittsburgh and New Jersey/Rhode Island. Pittsburgh’s Makai Chavez opened the scoring by running for a 30 yard touchdown, but the conversion failed. Quarterback Lisa Horton, who had won three WFA national championships and one world championships in her fifteen year career in tackle football, ran for a 2 yard touchdown to make the score 12-0. Devon Connor added a 1 yard scoring run, and Pittsburgh successfully made the conversion to make the score 19-0 at the half. Jana Meister caught a 50 yard TD pass from Horton to open the second half scoring. The transition from tackle to flag was somewhat difficult for the Pitt women, and they were flagged several times for unnecessary roughness. The next Pittsburgh score came on a trick play. Horton passed to Meister, who lateraled to Sharon Vasquez who completed the 30 yard scoring play. Amanda Haeg caught a pass from Horton to the conversion, and make the final score 32-0 Pittsburgh.
The Loose Women, reinforced by Pittsburgh and Blue Wave volunteers, took the field for their second game against NJ/RI. Nicole Bregler scored first to make it 6-0 for the NJ/RI visitors. In the second half, Trapassi (on loan from the Blue Wave) tackled the NJ/RI quarterback in the end zone for a safety, and Lakeitha Barrett (on loan from Pittsburgh) finished the scoring by running back an interception for a touchdown to give the Loose Women their only victory by a score of 8-6.
The final Saturday game Pittsburgh defeat the Loose Women 32-0. The victors took it pretty easy on the Loose Women’s line, which had the 63 and 71 year old players, but their offense rolled behind three rushing scores from Horton, and one each from Haeg and Rachel Wojdowski.
The most closely contested game of the tournament kicked off the Sunday games. NJ/RI and the Blue Wave fought a defensive battle that went almost to the end of the second 30 minute half before Nicole Bregler hit a 35 yard field goal. The NJ/RI women made a goal line stand to preserve their 3-0 victory.
The Loose Women then took on NJ/RI for the second time in the round robin tournament. This time the NJ/RI combination overcame the Loose Women’s volunteer helpers to win 19-6. Bregler passed for two touchdowns to Faith Robinson, ran for another, and added an extra point to have a hand in all of the NJ/RI scoring. The Blue Wave’s Trapassi scored the only points for the Loose Women when she caught a touchdown pass from Beruldsen.
NJ/RI had a short break, and then had to retake the field for the championship game against Pittsburgh. Horton again excelled, passing for four touchdowns. Two of the scores were gathered in by Wojdowski, and she was joined by Haeg and Vasquez who caught one each. Horton passed to Haeg for two 1 point conversions, and Vasquez hauled in another to make the final score 27-0 in favor of Pittsburgh.
Beruldsen and Eguigure handed out awards at a local restaurant after the game. They consulted with coaches Gonzales (Blue Wave), Teresa Conn (Pittsburgh), and Alison Wood (NJ/RI) to determine most valuable players for the teams. Pittsburgh finished in first place and Horton was named the Offensive MVP for her team and the tournament. Vasquez earned team Defensive MVP honors. The Blue Wave finished second in a weighted process that awarded scores based on wins, points scored, and points allowed. Their Offensive and Defensive MVP was Michele Rizzuto. NJ/RI came in third, with Bregler winning both Offensive and Defensive MVP awards. The Loose Women brought up the fourth position, and split their MVP awards between Thompson (Offense) and Eguigure (Defense).
The P-Town Classic was somewhat successful – only four of the eight teams managed to negotiate covid to attend – but those who did make it played good, spirited, and sometimes hard-hitting football. To be sure, some of the athletes caught up with women they had been playing against for years. The tournament was the last of the year for the IWFFA, but Beruldsen and Eguigure have ambitious plans for 2022. Scheduled tournament stops include the Kelly McGillis Classic International tournament in Key West, tournaments in Pakistan, El Salvador, Mexico, Cuba, Grand Bahamas, Spain, Guatemala, and Sweden. They also plan to host flag football clinics in Honduras and Sierra Leone.
Russ Crawford is Professor of History at Ohio Northern University in Ada, Ohio. The University of Nebraska Press has recently signed on to publish his history of women playing tackle football in the U.S. and around the world. Along with several chapters on sport history, he has published two books. Le Football: The History of American Football in France was published by the University of Nebraska Press in 2016. His first book, The Use of Sport to Promote the American Way of Life During the Cold War: Cultural Propaganda, 1946-1963 was published by the Edwin Mellen Press in 2008.