The History of Women’s Flag Football
By: Diane Beruldsen, IWFFA Founder and President

It’s difficult to measure and detail the true history of women’s flag football, because until 1995, there had never been a central organization for women’s flag football. The National Women’s Flag Football Association (NWFFA) was created to act as a central office for women and girls flag football where women could find information about where to play, compete, and keep records of awards, etc. The purpose of the NWFFA was also to help organize the sport. In 1997, the International Women’s Flag Football Association (IWFFA) was created to include international teams, in addition to teams from the United States.

Women had been playing against other teams, in local leagues, on weekends for recreational reasons, or to just “hang-out” with their friends and socialize. They had just been “doing it” for a long time. However, to try and put this into a historical perspective we need to be open minded. We need to sift and sort and try to figure out for ourselves how women’s flag football came about and when it actually began. And it started long ago.

Pre-History: Tackle Football – the ‘Father’ of Flag Football

Let’s go back to ancient civilizations such as the Chinese, who in 3000 BC, are believed to have played some version of football (not soccer) and thus invented the game. The Egyptians in their hieroglyphics showed some form of a contact game. Later, the Greeks played a sport very much like football which was recorded by Pythagoras and Pericles. In the Spartan society, the people were very war-like. They liked combat and sports which offered much contact and strength. Spartans allowed and encouraged their women to compete in sports. Could this have been the beginning of women’s flag-football?

The Romans would take over soon after the Greeks, and physically covered much territory. Roman soldiers played their version of football, thus exposing the game to many other countries, who played this game with their own set of rules. Something happened after the birth of Christ (BC). It marked the beginning of time (literally) so that dates and time of year could be recorded (including history). It also was the dawning of religious influence over human behavior in many societies. Men were to act as men, and women were to act like women. Gender behavior was truly separated. So, the men are playing the game, which was O.K., but the women, socially, were not O.K. to play. Men were developing the skills and culture for football … the women were not.

Let’s get a bit more modern:

Flag-football’s parent: tackle football, was played in America (brought from England with its game of rugby) by the early settlers. During the 1800’s, it was played in various ways because there were no set standard rules, and again, no central office or association to record its true beginnings. However, it was in November of 1869, that the first recorded football game (the game we know today) was played between Princeton and Rutgers Universities.

They played with 15 players and the game was very rough. The game continued in growth and popularity until the turn of the century when the game became so dangerous that players were killed. There were 18 deaths of students playing football in the Fall of 1905. Universities had begun to ban football and Teddy Roosevelt, then President of the United States of America, called for a meeting between universities to save the game by implementing new rules. From that meeting came the NCAA, which set standards for all university level sports.

Rugby rules football was played by McGill University in Canada and was not played in the U.S. until Harvard learned it from playing McGill. Harvard was playing by rules we know of as soccer. McGill and Harvard alternated games with the different rules. Harvard added its own rules. By the 1880s linemen locked arms, there was no forward pass, and the linemen moved before the snap was complete. What we think of as football today started with the new rules after 1905. It was the meeting with President Teddy Roosevelt when rules were created to guide behaviors and actions to protect the players. President Roosevelt saved the game from being thrown out of the schools and thus, saved the game from being banned in the United States

Now, let us think about this…

If the men, in any society, were playing some version of football, do you think some women could have been playing discretely and using their more “feminine version” ? This could have been the beginning of flag-football.

I believe so. I believe that as long as there have been sports and games, natural born athletes, whether male or female, would most likely find a way to play with great enthusiasm regardless of what society dictated. Natural athletes need to move their bodies just as artists need to create, a poet needs to write, an actor needs to perform. An expression of one’s natural talent to be displayed for self-recognition. But so much for hypothetical rationalizing, for we do know when the sport itself, flag-football, came to be.

Mr. Porter Wilson – Inventor of the Flag A Tag Belts & Flags

Back in 1953, a Physical Education teacher by the name of Porter Wilson, was having difficulty with the intensity of his students as they played another version of football: “touch football”. There was still contact as the defender “touched” the ball carrier but many times it was too rough. So, Mr. Wilson needed to keep the excitement in the game, yet take away its roughness. He took much of the contact out of the game by imposing some sort of devise in which the defenders could reach and grab for without really touching the ball carrier. Mr. Wilson explained, it was important to keep the “war-like” aspect of the game involved because it challenged the offensive team. So, the defender was taking “a piece” of the ball carrier’s “territory” by taking something that belonged to the other person. At first, Mr. Wilson used handkerchiefs for the defense to grab then later developed a belt-flag system. Players wore belts with flags attached which could be pulled off with a certain amount of pressure (7 pounds to be exact). He is the owner/founder of Flag-A-Tag Inc. and produced the best belts flag football teams could use (because they are durable, withstand hot/cold weather, time itself and make a “popping sound” when pulled – to assist those runs up the middle).

While Mr. Wilson initiated flag football in Tucson, Arizona, in 1956, another fellow initiated his version of flag football named John Carrigan. Mr. Carrigan was having a hard time with his military men playing football very rough and getting hurt. To decrease injuries, he enforced his men to use handkerchiefs and hang them from their pockets. Once grabbed, the ball would be set on that spot. The game became so popular that in 1956, the first organized flag-football league was formed in Baltimore, Maryland, organized by the city of Baltimore Park & Rec. which was a men’s league.

Organized Women’s Flag Football still was not recorded or yet created. Society had such a strong influence on female behavior and really dictated female flag football by intimidating women that it was not “lady like” to play this sport. However, women were watching their boyfriends, friends, or just the game, and interest among women grew. With the initiation of Title lX in 1972 in the United States came the beginning of many opportunities for females by allowing women to compete for traditional “men’s jobs”. Title IX opened the door for female flag football being played as the boys played the game in schools. Schools were one seed that created the advancement of flag football.

Super Bowl: Ignites Fans and Creates Flag Football Players

Before Title IX, another force was the popularity of the Super Bowl which started in 1967 and made professional tackle football a great ‘spectator sport’, thus attracting more female enthusiasm for the game. Thousands of fans who watched The Super Bowl which was played in January, was very cold, and had many people watching the game on T.V. Millions of people viewed this highly commercialized game which excited and ignited new players for the sport. Many spectators soon wanted to play the game, but because tackle was very rough as it included tackling, helmets, shoulder pads, elbow pads, other padding, and intense conditioning, a softer version of the sport, flag football, soon was being played to satisfy these new athletes across the United States.

Women’s Movement of the 60’s and 70’s

To fuel the female game was the “women’s movement” in the late 60’s and 70’s, creating a strong influence and force among women in the behavior, attitudes, and opportunities in society. The women were getting ready to take on new roles in business, family, and sports!

First Women’s Teams to Compete in a Flag Football Tournament

The first flag football tournament was sanctioned by the USFFA (United States Flag-Football Association) in 1974 and played in Ohio. There were four women’s teams from Akron and Cleveland. And as women noticed women playing, more women understood that this was an opportunity for them as well as the men.

Women’s Flag Football Leagues Begin

The North East Women’s Football League (NEWFL) is the oldest and largest organized league of women flag football players that we know of today. This league began in 1971 and was started by Frank Storck of the of Philadelphia, PA. Parks & Rec. Dept. It was a woman, and her desire to play, who had approached Frank, who had organized women’s softball, to start a women’s flag football league. They started with six teams and have grown to 28 teams with three separate divisions/ levels of skill.

The mid-west got on the map in 1975 as the NTFL opened and offered flag football to women. Out of that area came the St. Louis Michelob Light team who had ranked as the #1 women’s flag football team for three consecutive years from ’94 – ’96 according to the rankings of the National Women’s Flag Football Association standings (now known as the International Women’s Flag Football Association).

Long Island Women’s Flag Football started their league in 1976. Diane Beruldsen founded the first women’s flag football team in Brooklyn, New York called the Brooklyn Untouchables in 1979, then the Brooklyn Women’s Flag Football League with six teams in 1985, then created the New York Women’s Flag Football League in 1990 with eight women’s teams, the Key West, Florida Women’s Flag Football League (KWWFFL) with three teams in 1991. Sacramento, California Women’s Flag Football came to be in 1989, and the San Francisco Women’s Flag Football League started in 1990.

We know of many other teams and leagues which had been organized throughout the U.S.A. and this information on who exactly their founders were and what year they were organized needs to be found and recorded. If anyone would like to add to the list of women’s flag football leagues, please contact IWFFA.

Largest Women’s Flag Football Tournament

One tournament which made a huge impact on Women’s Flag Football and continues to promote the sport began in 1992 as the: “Key West Women’s Flag Football /Flag-A-Tag International Kickoff”. The tournament began with five teams from the United Sates and grew to be the largest women’s flag football tournament with 49 Women’s teams in 2001. There were teams from across the U.S.A. and nine international teams

In 1999 the Key West tournament was endorsed by actress Kelly McGillis (Top Gun, The Accused, Witness) who loaned her name to the event which is known today as the: Kelly McGillis Classic International Women & Girls Flag Football Championship. In 1999, girls ages 8 – 14 yrs. competed for the first time in the tournament creating the girls’ division.

These countries have competed in the annual event so far: USA, Canada, Mexico, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, Scotland, Puerto Rico, Panama, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala. India and Egypt.

National and International Women Flag Football Associations are Formed

In 1995, with so many teams competing from across the U.S.A. in the Key West Tournament, it was time to create the first National Women’s’ Flag Football Association (NWFFA), founded by Diane Beruldsen. The NWFFA traveled across the United States, Canada, and Mexico offering flag football clinics to teach how to play flag football and creating new teams and leagues. In 1997, with international teams joining the organization, Ms. Beruldsen founded the International Women Flag Football Association (IWFFA). The goal and mission of the IWFFA was to act as the umbrella organization for existing teams, leagues and countries, uniting female flag football around the world, to promote and support the sport of flag football around the world, teach how to play, coach and officiate, and introduce the sport in countries where it never existed. Additionally, it was created to promote the quality of the sport for females, support the female style of playing flag football, to acknowledge elite athletes, and keep records of awards for teams and individual players thus starting the Museum of Women’s Flag Football Archives.

Spreading Women’s Flag Football to Other States in the U.S.A.

Women have gathered as individuals or teams to play in the Kelly McGillis Classic Tournament and then returned to their hometown to share the excitement and energy needed for the growth of the sport.

In 1996, Sharon Sanchez from Los Angeles played on the Key West team (’96 tournament), went back home and began the LA Riot Girls, which now has 3 teams in their area and began the Los Angeles Women Flag Football League. Another growth of the sport came from Houston, Texas, where Dr. Kris Anderson (also an individual player on the ’96 KW team) went home after the tournament and began the Houston Women’s Flag-Football League with 8 teams!

Media Exposure Helps Grow the Sport

Media exposure from NFL Films Inc., Lifetime television network, Bump TV, Sports Illustrated, People Magazine, and various other forms of media have helped greatly to expose the sport to women who never knew it existed and brought awareness that it was available to them.

Women Flag Football Tournaments and Clinics Offered Across North America, Europe, Scandinavia, Central America, Caribbean and Asia

The International Women’s Flag Football Association is very active and travels throughout the world, introducing the sport in various countries: Denmark (1997), Norway (1998), Sweden, Iceland (2000), Guatemala, El Salvador (2014), Cuba (2015) and India and Afghanistan (2018), creating new leagues and teams by offering equipment and training clinics to teach how to play, coach and officiate flag football. Flag football clinics are free, and equipment is provided. The goal of the IWFFA is to unite all female flag football players, teams, and leagues. To offer females the training and knowledge to organize, control, grow and maintain flag football, allowing women to make decisions for their own sport. The IWFFA stipulates every team have a female captain, every league have a female representative, and every country have a female representative to create leaders.

Conclusion

Women’s flag football exists, continues to grow, and is getting stronger through the International Women’s Flag Football Association whose goal is to: organize, promote, and unite female flag football players all around the world, and ultimately professionalize the sport for females.

The history of women’s flag football is not complete, and we ask teams, leagues, and organizations to contribute to the History of Female Flag Football by sending an email to iwffa@iwffa.com.