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IFL Indoor Football League

Over a Cup of Coffee

by Jerry Hewitt
March 20, 2010 - Indoor Football League (IFL)


This morning just trying to catch up on things around the sport that I may have missed or been in error in reporting on.

First, hats off to the Baltimore Mariners for their efforts, a little fish in a very big pond. I have watched them work overtime to get just a little notice from the areas press and media. They have quickly became one of the sports leaders in the doing it right area.

Their latest coup is an appearance by Mariner players on the nationally syndicated Steve Wilkos show. Its a piece on how players can be positive role models. Below is an excerpt from the Mariners release.

"When a Baltimore mother afraid her twin 16-year old boys would continue toward a life filled with drugs, arrests, and a mindset of not living past the age of 20 she contacted The Steve Wilkos Show for help. In search of role models for the boys; men who had seen the darker side of growing up in the inner city, but had overcome obstacles to build successful careers, The Steve Wilkos Show reached out to the Baltimore Mariners for mentors."

You can check out the full release by going to the Mariners site here http://www.baltimoremariners.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=231&Itemid=32

This is not only a good thing for the Baltimore community, but also just good for the Mariners organization.

Outside of the Houston Lightening ceases operations less than one week before their SIFL openers its been a slow week in the up in arms, why did that happen area and that's a good thing, right?

I am seriously trying to figure out what impact the economy really does have on attendance throughout the sport. There are comparisons I can make between a teams marketing efforts and attendance, but almost impossible without accurate attendance numbers to draw from.

Back to the SIFL for a moment. Hats off again to the North Texas Crunch and the Independent Indoor Football Alliance (IIFA) for stepping up to fill the schedule gaps left over by the departed Houston franchise. I don't know if many know much about the IIFA, but here's a primer.

The IIFA is based out of Texas and by most standards considered semi-pro although my understanding some of its member teams do pay players a nominal amount, like $50.00. I believe the league has been around for about three or four years and although they have teams that come and go each season have demonstrated a certain amount of stability. They do not have a history of scheduled games being cancelled, which at their level is a huge credit to their organization. They appear to be well ran from the league level, which is something I can't always say about some of the big four. They are well staffed in the important areas of the league office, again something I can't always say about some in the big four.

It's doubtful the IIFA will ever make the step up to join the ranks of the big four, but in many ways surpass any in how they handle the business of indoor football. You won't find them listed on OSC or many of the independent minor league sites, but maybe they should be.

This season the IIFA has eight teams listed as participants with teams in Texas and Oklahoma. Their website, although not the great appearance wise, is kept up to date. Maybe not the best job in updating, but there again maybe better in some respects than some of the big four.

There are also two other so called semi-pro leagues operating that do gain widespread attention, the IPFL out of Topeka, Kansas and the RIFL out of Texas. I honestly know little to nothing about the RIFL although their leadership seems to be on the right page and the APFL a history of instability, never gaining any real credibility with in the sport.

Sometimes we forget that the sport we love does extend beyond the AIFA, CIFL, IFL, and SIFL, that there are others out there involved in the sport, working to make it better and more enjoyable not to mention giving more players a chance to hit the field every weekend. These leagues deserve every bit as much credit as any other for their on going efforts. Below are links to the three leagues official websites that I have mentioned here.

IIFA http://iifafootball.com/default.aspx

RIFL http://www.regionalindoorfootballleague.com/

APFL http://www.apflfootball.com/

Last Night

The IFL had two games last night, the battle of the undefeated, Rochester at West Michigan, both going in at 1-0. The other game had instated rivals pitted against each other in Green Bay (1-1) at Lacrosse (0-1)

Defense was not the name of the West Michigan, Rochester game in game that totaled 114 points with West Michigan coming out on top 59-55. West Michigan goes to 2-0 on the still young season and Rochester falls to 1-1. Green Bay had no trouble going to 2-1 as they took care of business on the road beating Lacrosse 48-12 who stays winless at 0-2.

Appeared West Michigan has the Pointstreak thing down although the clock never moved off 15 minutes. Lacrosse I guess still has to figure out the new stat program since it was not working for their game, although the Spartans did have a radio broadcast to follow the game with. the more I tune in to the IFL's Pointstreak the less impressed I get. I think the problem with Pointstreak is more a user problem than software one and the IFL teams ought to get it fixed with in a game or two

Today and tonight

Big day in the NCAA which might keep some fans from attending games, but that aside there are some of the best match ups of the season on tap today, especially Billings at Sioux Falls in the IFL. Still on the IFL, Maryland at Richmond ought to tell us a bit more if the Revolution's 2-0 start is just a fluke or not and of course last seasons CIFL champ Chicago needs to get on track tonight against Bloomington. Over all in the IFL, most are good match ups.

Over in the AIFA the focus is on their western divisiona as Yakima is at Wenatchee and the Arctic Predators are at the San Jose Wolves. New Jersey at Richmond may not be the most appealing game on the schedule, but since both IFL and AIFA Richmond's are at home together again, the competition isn't all on the field, but at the box office as well.

The SIFL kicks off today as well with one game, North Texas Crunch (IIFA) at the Louisiana Swashbucklers. Last season the Crunch didn't fair well as a replacement team, so will be interesting to see if the two time IIFA champion has improved.

Rant of the day

I do not understand those that have to constantly compare indoor football to arena ball. There are enough differences in the individual games that you could argue they are different brands of football, like the 50 yard indoor version vs. the traditional 100 yard outdoor game. a fan might enjoy both, might prefer one over the other, but to constantly lump them in together is just ridiculous. Arena ball has made its name by being very different than traditional football. Outside of using the same type of ball, its very different, just is, almost like saying Rugby is the same as football as we in the US know it. Rugby may be a stretch, but that's how different I see indoor ball and arena ball. I could care less about the "new" AFL. Hope they succeed, but other than that really could care less. I think indoor fans and arena fans ought to just agree to disagree and enjoy their chosen poison.

This article and more archived at The Indoor Football Report located at www.IndoorFootballNetwork.com Comments about this article or suggestions can be made to indoorbowl@yahoo.com

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Indoor Football League Stories from March 20, 2010


The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer(s), and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.


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