请输入您要查询的百科知识:

 

词条 Women's Professional Football League
释义

  1. History

  2. Championships

  3. See also

  4. References

  5. External links

{{Infobox sports league
|logo=WPFL_logo.png
|pixels=168px
|caption=The WPFL logo
|sport=American football
|founded=1999
|teams=1
|country={{USA}}
|champion=So Cal Scorpions
}}

The Women's Professional Football League (WPFL) was the first and longest operating women's professional American football league in the United States. With teams across the United States, the WPFL had its first game in 1999 with just two original teams: the Lake Michigan Minx and the Minnesota Vixens. Fifteen teams nationwide competed for the championship in 2006.

The league had been recognized in national media campaigns, in the book Atta Girl, and even had a team (the New England Storm) that had a commercial relationship with an NFL team, the New England Patriots.

Unlike the other women's American football franchises, the WPFL operated as a fall league and not a spring league.

History

In the early 1960s, many women thought that sports in the US were sexist and needed to shift in another direction, moving beyond the stereotype that women were passive. This sentiment formed the background for the women's football league that was started in order to prove that women had the power to do what men did, with hopes that people would enjoy women's football as much as they did men's. In 1965, the name changed to its WPFL incarnation. Since there were no college women's football teams in the US, most of their athletes came from basketball, rugby, and association football (soccer). After a few years, the sport began to fade.

In 1999 two businessmen, Carter Turner and Terry Sullivan,[1] decided to research the feasibility of a professional women’s football league by gathering together top female athletes into two teams and playing an exhibition game in front of an audience. The game between the Lake Michigan Minx and the Minnesota Vixens at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minnesota was a success and turned into a six-game exhibition tour across the country[2] dubbed the “No Limits” Barnstorming Tour.[3]

The success of the Barnstorming Tour led to the first official WPFL season in 2000 with 11 teams competing nationwide.[4] This first season ended with some turmoil however; the regular season was shortened by several games, players were not given their promised $100 per-game salaries, and there were allegations regarding instability with some of the league's financial backers.[5]

The WPFL rebounded the next year completing the 2001 season after several organizational changes. Notable changes included the departure of founders Sullivan and Turner (Turner then founded the WAFL;[6] restructure of the league by several WPFL team owners: Melissa Korpacz - New England Storm, Robin Howington - Houston Energy, and Donna Roebuck and Dee Kennamer - Austin Rage;[7] changes to player/team compensation; and the moving of the start of the season from fall to summer.[8]

Championships

Year Champion Score Runner-Up
1999Lake Michigan Minx30-27Minnesota Vixen
2000Houston Energy39-7New England Storm
2001Houston Energy47-14Austin Rage
2002Houston Energy56-7Wisconsin Riveters
2003Northern Ice53-12Florida Stingrays
2004Dallas Diamonds68-13Northern Ice
2005Dallas Diamonds61-8New York Dazzles
2006Dallas Diamonds34-27Houston Energy
2007SoCal Scorpions14-7Houston Energy

See also

  • Independent Women's Football League (IWFL)
  • National Women's Football Association
  • Women's American Football League (WAFL)
  • American Football Women's League (AWFL)
  • List of leagues of American football

References

1. ^A League of Their Own, page 1 - News - Village Voice - Village Voice
2. ^[https://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2001/trueheartedvixens/thefilm.html P.O.V. - True-Hearted Vixens . The Film | PBS]
3. ^NHL Football - Women’s Professional Football League – NFL for women - News by Girls Talk Sports
4. ^Campus cop tackles women's pro football - MIT News Office
5. ^Orlando Weekly - Features Story - Stumbling, Bumbling, Tumbling
6. ^Women's football: Ready for prime time? | Salon People
7. ^http://www.newenglandstorm.com/team/index.html
8. ^In this league it is okay to throw like a girl | Feb 9, 2001

External links

  • IWFL - The Women's League
  • Lady Tackle Football League
  • Official Home of the National Football League
  • Women's Football Forums
{{Women's gridiron football leagues}}

2 : Women's Professional Football League|Women's American football leagues

随便看

 

开放百科全书收录14589846条英语、德语、日语等多语种百科知识,基本涵盖了大多数领域的百科知识,是一部内容自由、开放的电子版国际百科全书。

 

Copyright © 2023 OENC.NET All Rights Reserved
京ICP备2021023879号 更新时间:2024/11/14 5:36:53