The “Sun of Austerlitz” Shone for the Molosses

By Russ Crawford

After an indecisive first half in the Championship of the French National Challenge Féminin of American football, the persistent clouds and rain cleared and the big battalions began to assert their will, just as Napoleon’s columns had in 1805. It was the Argocanes of Aix-en-Provence, rather than the Russians and Austrians, who bore the brunt of the Molosses (Bulldogs) of Asnieres-sur-Seine’s furious assault on their line. At the end of the hard fought match, the Molosses were the victors by a score of 24-0, on the strength of two touchdown runs, and a 2 point conversion by RB Christelle Harnais, along with a 4 yard touchdown pass from QB Julie Gorsky to TE Amila Maurice. Gorsky also ran for one 2 point conversion, and threw to Sarah Viola for another. The Argocanes might have lost, but they left it all on the field, and some of their players had to be helped to midfield to accept the applause of the crowd at the end of the game.

This was the second time the two teams had squared off in the Challenge Féminin, and the second time that the Molosses had defeated the Argocanes. The teams in the championship demonstrated how women’s football has grown in France in the past few years. From one team – the Sparkles of Villeneuve St. Georges in 2012, the Féminin section of the Fédération Française de Football Américain has expanded to include twenty nine teams in 2016. They could not all muster enough players to take part in the Challenge, even though they played a nine-woman variant of the game. However, some of the teams combined to make up their numbers, and seven teams, divided into two conferences, contested for the final.

Conférence Nord had four teams, including the Molosses, ASPT 75 from Paris, the Flash of La Courneuve, and the Geant/Patriotes from Souffelweyershiem-Riedisheim. Two other teams, the Vikings of Villeneuve d’Asq and the Tigres of Nancy, signed up for the round-robin tournament, but had to forfeit their games due to lack of players. The Molosses were scheduled to play the Vikings and Tigres in their first two games, and so they were the beneficiaries of two de facto byes. They finally met the ASPT Dragons, and defeated them 38-0. Their next opponent, The Flash, was also blanked by the tough Molosses defense 22-0. The team from Asnieres secured their conference championship when they defeated the Geant/Patriotes 18-0.

In Conférence Sud, the Argocanes, a combined team made up of the Argonautes of Aix-en-Provence and the Hurricanes of Montpileir, also started their road to the championship when the Blue Stars/Sharks of Marseille and Valence could not find enough players even after combining, and forfeited. They next defeated the Ours (Bears) of Toulouse 44-6. They sealed their championship berth by overcoming the Lions of Bordeaux by a score of 20-6.

The second Challenge Féminin would therefore pit the two teams that had played the year before. In that game, the Molosses were victorious 14-6 over their southern challengers. From the terrain surrounding the field in the YouTube video, that game was apparently played in Aix. This years’ contest would be held in Asnieres – a northwestern suburb of Paris.

When my friend Jean-Marc Burtscher and I arrived at Stade Léo Lagrange in Asnieres, I was surprised to see an American flag draped from the stands. I never found out who hung the flag, or why, but I took it as a good omen. When we entered the grandstands on the home side of the field, Molosses president Jaques Guyot, presumably spotting Jean-Marc’s professional-looking camera with a telephoto lens, offered us press passes so that we could watch from the sidelines. Looking out across the field, we had a good view of the local McDonalds, which meant that the game of football Américain, with Old Glory on the rail and Mickey D’s across the way, was played on near-enough American soil.

2016 Challenge Féminin. Courtesy of Jean-Marc Burtscher.

During the first half, it looked like the Argocanes might dominate the game. As an intermittent drizzle fell on the field, they took the opening kickoff and looked as if they would score easily. The Molosses defense had a size advantage and clogged the middle, but quarterback Muriel Nogué and running back Sophie Aillaud were gaining large chunks of yardage around the ends. Nogué also did a good job of running the option, and if her pitches weren’t always textbook perfect, they were effective. They scored an early touchdown, which was called back by the officials (they were robbed, in my opinion). They continued to threaten the Molosses goal several times in the first half, but penalties and fumbles stalled their drives. Their coaches might have also been guilty of thinking, since they marched down the field running the ball seemingly at will, then started passing, presumably to surprise the opposition. It didn’t.

During the halftime, as we stood in line at the food truck for our authentic bacon cheeseburgers à la française, the weather began to clear. The Molosses, inspired by the sunshine, came out biting. According to Karim Belkacem, one of the Molosses coaches who had also played with Jean-Marc, the halftime message was “hit, hit, hit, hit hard! Don’t try to gain 15 yards – get 5! Simple!”[i] Roughly translated: they should play within themselves. Or even rougher: Keep It Simple Stupid. Always good advice.

Whatever motivated them, the Molosses line that included C Emelyn Elatre, T Brunhilde Delaunay, T Audrey Buita, and TE Maurice, began opening holes for Jacob. The Argocanes were outnumbered, and that began to tell. Throughout the game, they suffered a number of walkoffs, or players who were not badly injured, but who had to come off the field, at least for a few plays. A four yard pass from Gorsky to Maurice opened the scoring, and Gorsky ran for the conversion, making it 8-0 Molosses. After the Argocanes fumbled near midfield, Harnais carried the ball 55 yards for the second Molosses touchdown, and added the extra point. The shifty running back scored the final touchdown, and Gorsky threw to Viola for the final points of the game, which ended 24-0 Molosses.

As the second half progressed, the Molosses stepped up their defensive pressure on Nogué and Aillaud, sending their defensive linewomen shooting through the gaps to disrupt the Argocane plays. Defensive MVP Daphney Kingue dominated the line of scrimmage, rampaging through the Argocane backfield and stopping anything that came her way. The Argocanes also ran out of gas. There were more and more arm tackles and walkoffs as the game neared the end. They had not given up, by any means, but they didn’t have the reserves to keep their players somewhat rested.

The winning team. Courtesy of Jean-Marc Burtscher.

Even though the final score was lopsided in favor of the Molosses, it was entertaining throughout. Both coaching staffs should be congratulated on their offensive plans. They did not fall into the conservative mindset that often afflicts coaches in finals. There were reverses (even though we were told later that these were illegal for this game), halfback passes, and plenty of razzle dazzle. The Molosses even successfully ran the Johnny Manziel play, when Gorsky left center and walked toward the sideline with coaches and player yelling at each other, while the ball was snapped and Gorskywent out for a completed pass. Unfortunately, the play ended the same way it had with Cleveland – a penalty for an illegal formation. Zebras don’t like to be fooled.

The passing game for both teams was fairly successful, and Gorsky hit Viola with a nice pass for 25 yards down the middle, and also showed good touch on her conversion pass. Nogué didn’t have the same arm strength, but she regularly got the ball where it needed to be. This was impressive in a country that does not have many sports that feature throwing and catching.

Courtesy of Jean-Marc Burstcher.

Throughout the game, the stands, which were fairly full with perhaps two hundred or so fans, was noisy, and the PA announcer kept the crowd buzzing for both teams. Soccer-like horns were blaring (fortunately no vuvuzelas though), and the inflatable plastic noisemaker sticks that were issued to all fans on entry were smacked together enthusiastically. So it was a raucous, party like atmosphere, as befit the effort that both teams were giving.

The Molosses won, but the Argocanes gave all they had. The game was actually called off a bit early because the visitors were running out of players. Aillaud of the Argocanes, the Offensive MVP, had to be helped to midfield to accept her award, and several other Argocanes were obviously hurting. The players lined up at midfield to be awarded their medals, and receive a well deserved round of applause for their efforts. Even the referees were awarded medals. To be fair, they stayed pretty much invisible during the second half.

An article on Football Américain Féminin, a French news site that carried a story about the previous year’s final, could have been written about the 2016 game as well, saying that “It was an amazing football game! Both teams took the game to the height of a national final! A lot of heart, beautiful tackles, a nice interception, great runs and passes, trick plays madness, suspense … Ladies you have proven that football can be as much a woman’s game as a man’s. Thank you to you all!”[ii]

After the game, Jean-Marc and I had the chance to talk to four of the Molosses players who had taken the opportunity to visit New Orleans for the Women’s World Football Games sponsored by USA Football and the New Orleans Saints. Last year was the third time it had been held, and 224 women from seventeen countries came together at the Saints facility to learn about the finer points of football. The four Molosses, including Kristina Usse, DB Christelle Jacob, DB Cassiopée Amiar, and Louisa Ajayi, who did not play in the final, were very enthusiastic about the chance to be trained by professional football players in the homeland of the game. The advanced training the first three received was evident in the outcome of the game. Aillaud of the Argocanes also reportedly had considerable advanced experience that helped her become MVP. I was told that this was her fourth championship game. In addition to the final of the Challenge Féminin, she had also played in three Cadet Finals, on male teams.[iii]

This was the first women’s football game that I have seen in person since a powderpuff game during my senior year in high school. It is encouraging to see our American game being played with a French accent. More and more women are beginning to play the sport globally, which can’t help but be good for the game.

Women playing football is relatively new in France, but Americans began playing the game only a few decades after the first quasi-football game between Princeton and Rutgers in 1869. One of the first known contests between women’s teams took place as part of a celebration of the Les Jolis Jarçons pleasure club held at Sulzer’s Harlem River Park in 1896. Following a masked ball held the previous evening, two teams of five young ladies each, with the colors of Yale and Princeton pinned to their “short dresses,” were sent onto the field. Almost immediately mayhem erupted when the opening kickoff went into the crowd, and all ten girls went after the ball and “tackled the front line of spectators.” When the ladies untangled, Yale ran a play, with a Yale girl taking off toward the Princeton goal line. Obviously unsure of the rules, all of the other participants, including the Yale girl’s teammates, immediately set off in pursuit and everyone tackled her. This feminine free-for-all excited the male onlookers and they rushed the field. Captain Haughey of the local police station had been keeping an eye on the game and sent his riot squad in to separate players from spectators before anything untoward had the chance to occur. The Captain’s fear that one of the young ladies might get hurt led him to order the game be stopped, and so the first women’s football game ended, not in history, but in ignominy.[iv]

That first attempt at playing football was unsuccessful, but not because the participants lacked enthusiasm. We only have the one sparse report to go by, but descriptions of both teams running aggressively for the ball on every play indicated that the women involved were not afraid of injury, and that they displayed great eagerness for the new sport. It was only the intervention of societal authority that kept them from having even more fun.

As Katie Taylor of DeMontfort University (UK) pointed out in her NASSH presentation in Atlanta earlier this year, women continued playing football after that first less-than spectacular opening. Taylor’s research uncovered several teams that played other women, and sometimes men’s teams.

Early female players were often ridiculed for taking part in the male sport, and even female football fans were scorned. In 1913, the New York Times added ridicule to the list of difficulties women who sought to enjoy the game must face, even if she merely wanted to watch men play. “Meek little girls who don’t know a forward pass from a Highland fling shriek ecstatically at the first ten yards, and at the touchdown throw their muffs away for very joy.” They were very loyal, readers were told, but that loyalty might change if they dumped a boyfriend from one college team and took up with another from a different school. The writer bemoaned that this addiction to football “complicates the woman problem a hundredfold.” Of course, according to the article’s author, some of these women chose their teams not for any real reason, but merely because they were attracted to team colors, or mascots, or because their uncle lived in the state where the team played. Football fandom then was just another excuse for males to mock women as frivolous creatures, who perhaps should not be given suffrage, lest they choose their candidates the way they chose their favorite team.[v]

Some teams such as the Frankford Midgets, a women’s team that played during halftime of the Frankford Yellow Jackets games, were little more than a sideshow entertainment,[vi] but others played real games against real opponents. In 1926, the form through which many females have experienced football arguably originated at Cavour High School in Huron, South Dakota. Over the past ninety plus years, the “Powderpuff Game” has been a way for many young women to get a taste of playing the game. The girls’ team at Cavour was reportedly so good that they managed to defeat the boys’ team from Lake Preston High School 13-7 that year.[vii] It was likely another South Dakota women’s team that actually gave these games their name when the women of Eastern State Teacher’s School in Madison, SD, played a game to resurrect homecoming from its wartime slumber in 1945. After the game between the “townies” and “dormies” ended in another tie, this time at halftime, the players clowned on the field by pretending to fix their makeup. The Madison Daily Leader story therefore called it a match between the “Powderpuff and Rouge Elevens,” and the name stuck.[viii]

Although there is something of a sideshow quality to these games, in my experience, the level of play is often quite good, and the players wear regulation equipment. The fundraising exhibition at my Ainsworth (Nebraska) High School in 1979 featured a 4’10” quarterback named Wanda Moore who threw the ball with better velocity and accuracy than our varsity quarterback.

Another group of young women, these from Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota, enjoyed their powderpuff experience enough that they wanted to form a team. Before the plan to compete in the masculine dominated game, with visions of one day defeating a team of males, they lost their coaches. Those coaches were members of the men’s team, and their coach, perhaps fearing that patriarchical control might be threatened, but was more probably worried that his players were becoming distracted. He called them “a fine-bunch of cake-eaters who ought to be wearing white bloomers instead of football pants,” and demanded that they be on time for their own practices. His reaction was understandable, given the times, but more puzzling were J. Anna Norris’ thoughts on the possibility of women playing such a brutal sport. Norris, the director of physical education at the University of Minnesota, declared that “I don’t think that football for girls will ever make much headway.” She expressed “horror” that some girls in her state had taken up the game, and added that “I can’t imagine nice girls playing a fighting game with success. Girls just aren’t fighters.”[ix] No doubt the Molosses and Argocanes would find fault with this statement.

It was that attitude that would hamper, not only efforts by females to play football, but also any sport that led to aggressive competition. These physical education professionals, a field made up of both females and males, kept a death grip on girls’ sport from the 1930s to the 1970s. Instead of tough competition in popular sports, girls in many areas were only allowed to take part in intramural games that would not theoretically damage them mentally or physically.

With a few exceptions, most notably Babe Didrickson, who filmed a segment for Grantland Rice’s Sportlight films that depicted her playing against the Southern Methodist University football team, opportunities for women to compete in most sports, let alone football, were severely constrained until the 1970s. A few photos attest that girls and women still managed to find their way onto the field, at least for publicity’s sake. For instance, a 1939 photo from the Lacrosse (WI) Tribune and Leader Press showed Laverne Wise, dressed in what appears to be skorts, while her male holder wore a traditional football uniform. Wise reportedly kicked extra points for Escambia County (AL) High School. Another photo from the Nassau (NY) Daily Review Star showed Agnes Risner, who was a dropkick specialist. Both Wise and Risner were photographed wearing skirts, and even Didrickson’s exploits against SMU were carefully choreographed to give the illusion that she was running through their entire team.[x]

It was not only physical education theory that kept females off of the gridiron. In her NASSH presentation, Lindsay Parks Pieper of Lynchburg College, and Sport in American History, pointed out another difficulty that women faced when attempting to play a man’s game. Following World War II, the world entered a period of intense competition between the United States and the Soviet Union. During the Cold War (1946-1991), both sides attempted to draw sharp lines between their ways of life. The Soviets did this by sending their women athletes out to dominate international competitions such as the Olympic Games. American women, hindered by few chances to hone their skills in competition, were instead encouraged to exhibit a feminine ideal that emphasized ladylike grooming and behavior. Cold warriors contrasted the elegance and femininity of American athletes with the “mannish” appearance of Soviet athletes such as Tamara Press, who was sometimes referred to as “tank shaped Tamara” in the American press.[xi] Girls and women in the U.S. were expected to be girls and women, not some sort of amazons, and therefore, playing games such as football was viewed with suspicion.

The dual restrictions placed on women by physical educators and cold warriors declined over the decades, but the major change would not occur until 1972, when Title IX passed Congress. The law required that females not be denied athletic opportunities based solely on their sex, and this would spawn a series of legal challenges through which females fought for their right to play football.

The first case, Clinton v. Nagy in 1974, pitted Brenda Clinton against the officials of Cleveland Division of Recreation. Clinton was twelve at the time and wanted to play on the 97^th Street Bulldogs. Her parents and the coach of the team approved, but local ordinances forbade girls playing football.[xii]

Darrin v. Gould in 1975 involved Carol and Delores Darrin, sisters who wanted to play for the Wishkah Valley High School in Washington. In this case, the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) prohibited girls from playing contact football.[xiii]

In Muscare v. O’Malley in 1977, a twelve year old Chicago girl wanted to play tackle football, but the Chicago Park District argued that since they offered touch football, she should play that sport instead.[xiv]

In Force v. Pierce City in 1983, Nicole Force, and eighth grader in Pierce City Middle School in Missouri asked to be allowed to play football. School officials conceded that she would be good at the sport, but wanted her to play the female sport of volleyball. They worried that allowing Force to play football would open the door to high school girls playing football with the subsequently greater risk of injury.[xv]

Lantz v. Ambach, 1985, challenged New York state regulations that prohibited girls from participating in six contact sports that included football. Jacqueline Lantz sued claiming that the state regulations violated her protection under the 14^th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.[xvi]

Finally, in Mercer v. Duke University in 1999, Heather Sue Mercer sued Duke University to be allowed to practice with the football team in 1995, after she had been allowed to do so during the 1994 season. Fred Goldsmith, the Blue Devil’s coach forbade her from doing so and even went so far as to question whether Mercer would not prefer entering beauty pageants.[xvii]

In all of the above cases, the courts ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, and the females were allowed to play on their respective teams, or if they had passed that age, at least they opened the doors for others who would follow. It is important to note, that with the exception of Goldsmith, the opposition to their participation was based on notions of providing safe sporting experiences for females, a holdover from the era dominated by physical educators.

As legal barriers fell, more women began playing. This occurred, not only at the high school and collegiate level, but also professionally. Andrew Linden, in his May 29, 2014 post, interviewed several women who played on teams in the now-defunct National Women’s Football League to gauge how their participation in football fit into the women’s movement of the time, and found that women playing the game were perhaps not all self-identified feminists, but their actions helped forge the movement.[xviii]

While that league no longer in exists, there are four current leagues in the United States that offer women the chance to play semi-professionally. The Women’s Football Alliance has forty five teams, the Independent Women’s Football League that has thirty two teams, and the U.S. Women’s Football League has seven teams. Probably the most visible, in many ways, and certainly the most controversial league for women football players is the Legends Football League, formerly the Lingerie Football League, which features scantily clad athletes playing a seven-on-seven indoor game. What was once considered scandalous or at least unusual, is now being played by women around the world.

The French were late in forming feminine football teams. By 2012, several nations had already established women’s teams. In Germany, the first game between the Berlin Adler (Eagles) Girls and the Cologne Crocodiles took place on September 2, 1987.[xix] Australia was next, establishing the women’s game, when the West Australian Football League began play in 1987. Spain had enough teams to hold a championship of the Liga Catalana de Fútbol Americano in 1996.[xx] The Graz Black Widows started playing touch football during a picnic in 1997, and by 2000, teams began contesting for the Austrian Ladiesbowl championship.[xxi] Sweden began playing in international competition in 2008.[xxii]

In August of 2015, six women’s national football teams gathered in Granada Spain to determine which would be crowned the European Champion of American football. Teams representing Great Britain and Germany kicked off the tournament on August 2^nd playing at Estadio Maracena. The first experience for the British team in the competition sponsored by the International Federation of American Football (IFAF), the game against Germany would also be their first victory in international competition at this level. Teams representing Finland, Spain, Sweden, and Austria joined in the play, and by August 8, after playing a grueling schedule of three games in seven days, the upstart Brits faced off against Finland for the title.[xxiii] The Finns, who formed their national team in 2008, and who had first competed in the IFAF World Cup in 2010, were too experienced for the newcomers and won handily by a score of 50-12.[xxiv] The victors even had brought home a ringer – Tytti Niemi, one of their running backs, also is a member of the DC Divas, the 2015 Women’s Football Association (WFA) champions in the United States.[xxv]

Women’s football is still a small, but global community. A video on Facebook brings news that in 2016, the first American football game has been played in Egypt. Though the game is not yet full contact, there are reportedly four teams playing there. Perhaps with help from USA Football, the Saints, and through their own efforts and dedication, more women will experience the thrill of legally knocking someone down, and the level of women’s football will continue to grow. The United States has won both IFAF Women’s World Championships that were held in Sweden and Finland in 2010 and 2013, respectively. The next IFAF championships are set for 2017, so maybe next time Team USA will have more competition.[xxvi]

Just a thought: Perhaps in addition to wearing pink one month during the season, the NFL might gain more female fans worldwide by pumping some of the revenue from their $9 billion industry into helping women play the game.

Russ Crawford is an Associate Professor of History at Ohio Northern University in Ada, Ohio. His area of specialty is sport history, with an evolving focus on nontraditional practitioners of gridiron football. Along with several chapters on sport history, he has published one book, The Use of Sport to Promote the American Way of Life During the Cold War: Cultural Propaganda, 1946-1963, and has another, Le Football: The History of American Football in France that will be published by the University of Nebraska Press in August of 2016.

Notes:

[i] Interview with Karim Belkacem, conducted by Russ Crawford, Asnières-sur-Seine, June 12, 2016

[ii] “Finale 2015: Les Molosses championnes,” Football Américain Féminin, http://footballamericainfeminin.com/matchs/ligue-internationale-la-france-a-sa-place/ (Accessed on July 17, 2016)

[iii] Interview with Jean-Marc Burtscher, conducted by Russ Crawford, Asnières-sur- Seine, June 12, 2016

[iv] “Football Game by Girls,” The Sun, November 23, 1896

[v] “She Bets and Shrieks and Pitches Away Her Muff; – The Football Girl,” New York Times, November 30, 1913, SM12

[vi] Danni Leone, “The 1926 Lady Yellowjackets: Flappers to Footballers,” Comcast.net, http://home.comcast.net/~ghostsofthegridiron/articles/1926_lady_yellowjackets.pdf (Accessed on May 18, 2014)

[vii] John Andrews, “Cavour’s Lady Leatherheads,” South Dakota Magazine, February 15, 2012, http://southdakotamagazine.com/cavour-lady-leatherheads (Accessed on May 18, 2014)

[viii] Roger Holtzman, “Lady Leatherheads,” South Dakota Magazine, November/December 2011 http://southdakotamagazine.com/nov-dec-2011 (Accessed on May 18, 2014)

[ix] Michael Oriard, King Football: Sport and Spectacle in the Golden Age of Radio and Newsreels, Movies and Magazines, the Weekly and the Daily Press, Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2004, 355

[x] Don Van Natta, Wonder Girl: The Magnificent Sporting Life of Babe Didrickson Zaharias, (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2011), 12

[xi] Pamela Grundy, Learning to Win: Sports, Education, and Social Change in Twentieth Century North Carolina, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001, 253

[xii] “Clinton v. Nagy,” Leagle, http://www.leagle.com/decision/19741807411FSupp1396_11583/CLINTON%20v.%20NAGY (Accessed on 16 July 16, 2016)

[xiii] “Darrin v. Gould,” Court Listener, https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1305121/darrin-v-gould/ (Accessed on 16 July 16, 2016)

[xiv] Glenn M. Wong, Essentials of Sport Law, Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2010, 352

[xv] “Force v. Pierce City,” Leagle, http://www.leagle.com/decision/19831590570FSupp1020_11455/FORCE%20BY%20FORCE%20v.%20PIERCE%20CITY%20R-VI%20SCHOOL%20DIST. (Accessed on 16 July 16, 2016)

[xvi] “Lantz v. Ambach,” Leagle, http://www.leagle.com/decision/19851283620FSupp663_11161/LANTZ%20BY%20LANTZ%20v.%20AMBACH (Accessed 16 July 16, 2016)

[xvii] “Title IX and Other Women’s Issues,” USLegal, http://sportslaw.uslegal.com/title-ix-and-other-womens-issues/ (Accessed 16 July 16, 2016)

[xviii] Andrew Linden, “American Football and the 197os Women’s Movement,” Sport in American History, https://ussporthistory.com/2014/05/29/american-football-and-the-1970s-womens-movement-3/ (Accessed on 17 July 17, 2016)

[xix] “Gründung des AFVD,” American Football Verband Deutschland, http://www.afvd.de/text.php?Inhalt=page&ID=132&menu=18 (Accessed 3 April 2014)

[xx] “Palmares” Fútbol Americano Femenino, http://fafemenino.blogspot.com/p/palmares.html (Accessed 3 April 2014)

[xxi] “History,” Black Widows, http://www.blackwidows.at/ (Accessed 3 April 2014)

[xxii] “Sweden,” International Federation of American Football, http://ifaf.org/countries/federation/2/203 (Accessed 3 April 2014)

[xxiii]“WEC2015 Live: Finals,” IFAF Europe, http://www.ifafeurope.org/wec2015-live-finals-stream/ (Accessed 13 September 2015)

[xxiv] “Teams,” SAJL, http://www.sajl.fi/maajoukkueet/ (Accessed 13 September 2015)

[xxv] “New From Finland,” American Football Frauen-Nationalmannschaft, http://blog.ladiesbowl.de/?p=134 (Accessed 13 September 13, 2015)

[xxvi] “Women’s World Championship,” International Federation of American Football, http://ifaf.org/pages/competition/world-games (Accessed on 16 July 16, 2016)