International Woman's Flag Football Association
The International Women's Flag Football Association (IWFFA) is the umbrella organization for female flag football around the world. The organization prides itself on being owned and operated by women whose motto is, "women should run their own sport".
 "Women should run their own sport" | |
| Abbreviation | IWFFA |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1997 |
| Type | Sports federation |
| Legal status | Governing body of Female Flag Football |
| Purpose | Sport governance |
Region served | Worldwide |
| Website | IWFFA |
IWFFA offers girls and women's flag football tournaments in North America, Scandinavia, Central America, Asia and Caribbean Regions. Their outreach program offers flag football clinics and training for players, coaches, and officials to any group wanting to develop female flag football in their area. Their promotional tours have been highly rated by players, teams and leagues for good quality flag football training. Since 1997, the IWFFA has introduced the sport of flag football in countries: Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, El Salvador, Guatemala and Afghanistan.
Though flag football is a sport and competition is crucial, less importance is stressed on winning, and more stress is placed on camaraderie, unity and to "Experience the Excitement" in order to invite all females regardless of the skill level to participate in competitions so that they can learn skills from playing the sport, then to transfer to other areas of their lives in order to better compete with their male counterparts to have female influence in world affairs and one day peace.
Other goals are to professionalize women's flag football and to promote female flag football through tournaments, trainings and promotional tours held annually throughout the world. IWFFA ranks teams nationally (USA) and internationally. The IWFFA recognizes athletic achievements of female flag football players. The IWFFA publishes and uploads videos to the video sharing site, YouTube, to help illustrate the athleticism flag football entails. IWFFA Videos highlight some of the best female flag football action.
The IWFFA honors any woman or man, each year, who has done so much for the sport by presenting the: Porter Wilson Award. The World Challenge Game is a special competition between USA All Stars vs International All Stars played in Key West, Florida, USA following the International Women & Girls Flag Football Championship called the Kelly McGillis Classic.
The IWFFA has won numerous awards such as the Dick Butkas Award for their website, 1996 National Sports Emmy Award for "Football America" TNT/NFL Films chosen outstanding edited sports special (Kelly McGillis Classic).
All females are encouraged to become members of the IWFFA organization. The IWFFA sanctions regions, leagues, and teams and offers great support to individual player members. The IWFFA produces a monthly newsletter and Forward Pass Magazine which is a bi-annual girls and women's flag football magazine. On the Air with the IWFFA is a monthly radio podcast which features interviews of players, coaches and celebrities.
The creation of the game of Flag Football can be attributed to Porter Wilson, who was the man who invented flag a tag belts & flags used as equipment to play the sport.[1]
IWFFA Rules
IWFFA adapted its rules from the National Women's Flag Football League (1995) which have been modified from time to time, to incorporate as many flag football skills as possible so that any girl or woman can find a role on the team and contribute in a meaningful way. If a player cannot: catch, throw, grab flag, block, kick, run with ball, there is still a position which can be given that player. These rules can include all types and sizes of female players.
Basic Rules are as follows:
- 8 on 8
- Center and Two Guards are ineligible receivers
- Blocking between shoulders and waist
- Down field blocking allowed
- Field goals, extra point kicks and punts are allowed
- Fake kicks and defensive rush allowed
- Defensive line may rush QB as soon as ball is snapped
- No helmets, no fumbles, no pads, or tackling allowed
Tournaments
The most notable tournament is the Kelly McGillis Classic International Female Flag Football Championship & World Challenge Game, Key West, FL. held in January in Key West, FL. This tournament has brought as many as 49 teams from across the United States and countries: Canada, Mexico, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, Scotland, Puerto Rico, Panama, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Egypt.
2018 Tournaments
27th Kelly McGillis Classic International Female Flag Football Championship &World Challenge, Key West, FL. January 25–29, 2018 (Full Week of Events: January 22–29)
6th Readington, New Jersey June 23–24, 2018 Hosted by NJWFF
3rd San Salvador, El Salvador June 30 – July 1, 2018 Hosted by ASFA
1st Asia Regional Jaipur, India June 30 – July 1 Hosted by EFLI
3rd Havana, Cuba Friendship Game July 21
15th Gothenburg, Sweden August 25–26, 2018 Hosted by Gothenburg Angels
4th Key West Women's Fest September 7–8, 2018 Friendship Game and Clinic - Loose Women Only
13th IWFFA Ptown Classic, September 14–16, 2018 Provincetown, Massachusetts
1st Cancun, Mexico October 4–8, 2018
5th Guatemala City, Guatemala November 3–4, 2018 Hosted by Guatemala Women's Flag Football League
28th Kelly McGillis Classic International Women & Girls Flag Football Championship Key West, Florida, USA January 24–28, 2019 (Games Only) (Full Week of Events: January 22–29, 2019)
History
In April 1997, the International Women's Flag Football Association (IWFFA) was founded by Diane Beruldsen and is the first international women's flag football association. The IWFFA was developed from previous leagues founded by Diane Beruldsen: Brooklyn Women's Flag Football League, New York Women's Flag Football League, Key West Women's Flag Football League. In 1995 Ms. Beruldsen founded the National Women's Flag Football Association, the very first women's national flag football association.
Since its inception, the IWFFA has traveled to other countries throughout Europe to introduce the sport and start new teams and leagues. In the fall of 1997, the IWFFA brought flag football to Scandinavia by starting the first women's flag football team in Denmark called the: Copenhagen Mermaids. In 1999 the Oslo Trolls (Norway) was formed. In 2000, the Gothenburg Angels (Sweden), Team Ice (Iceland) was formed and as the IWFFA traveled for six months during its 2000 promotional tour throughout the Nordic Region (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Finland), many teams were formed and thus, the Nordic Region for Women's Flag Football. The IWFFA travels all over the world to promote female flag football. The majority of teams and leagues are in the United States where it holds the largest female flag football tournament: Kelly McGillis Classic (KMC). In 2001, the KMC hosted 49 teams, 9 international and 40 national teams from the USA. It was the largest international flag football competition ever which brought 1,500 flag football players to the island of Key West, Florida, USA.
The First Annual World Challenge Game[2] sponsored by Tylenol was held in 2008 following the regular tournament play of the Kelly McGillis Classic. U.S.A. All Stars vs International All Stars make up the two competing teams in the World Challenge Games, which has become a great competition displaying female flag football athleticism at its best.
References
- "PORTER WILSON AWARD | IWFFA". Retrieved 2022-09-08.
- "World Challenge Highlight". www.iwffa.com. Archived from the original on 12 November 2010. Retrieved 13 January 2022.