Tennessee Raiders: My Site News: From the Desk of the NAFL President
Monday, September 1From the Desk of the NAFL President
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The Modern Day Evolution of Minor League Football
Many people try to use the Webster's Dictionary to define the term semi-pro but I think it has evolved into a term of it's own. At the age of 10 I didn't think twice about what it meant. I grew up in the shadow of the Pottstown Firebirds, which was a name that was in the air.
When I first met a Firebird player my natural instinct was to react as if he were a celebrity. I gauged my reaction to that of when I met Ron Jaworski a year or two earlier. Instinctively, I treated both players the same. Present day, the Firebirds legacy carries on even though they folded 20 years ago. The nostalgia remains and the true sports fans in the Pottstown community carry a strong sense of pride for their now defunct team.
In researching whether or not starting the NAFL was a viable option I discovered that a sense of nostalgia exists in all parts of the country where good semi-pro football teams played. I learned that the fans are dedicated and that alone makes it viable.
Today is the day of minor league. The NAFL was created to allow people like myself to continue playing football after college or high school just like semi-pro. The plan included playing for fun but also expanded a way to give players the opportunity to advance to professional leagues such as the CFL, AFL and NFL. In creating the NAFL we drew a line of minimum standards that are often missing in semi-pro. It had nothing to do with win-loss records. It had everything to do with how accountable the owners were to their community. We added the rules that require teams to keep stats and monitor rosters in addition to a referee certification program. We also set a policy that doesn’t allow a new team to form in an area where a team left unpaid bills unless the new team accepts accountability for the past debt regardless of who the owner was.
In a short time span we have proven that this system works. Last week an agent placed a former Dallas Cowboys player on the Arkansas Rhinos in order to have a place for him to work out until he shops him to the Indianapolis Colts in about two weeks. In another example Darnel Dinkins of the Pittsburgh Colts was drafted into NFL Europe and is currently in his second season with the New York Giants.
We will continue to grow exponentially over the next few years. Creating a system that teaches team owners how to avoid failure and holding them accountable is what we are striving to do. We are a long way away from being where we want but we are also much further than where we started. It is pretty tough to make it happen quickly due to reasons of disbelief, financing and the fact that I have to stop writing this article to go to my day job. We are all volunteers, and that is the glue that holds this all together. Welcome to modern day minor league football because it is here to stay.
If you have a question for me, feel free to send me an email at rlicopoli@nafl.org.