Crawford, Russ. Women’s American Football: Breaking Barriers On and Off the Gridiron. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2022. Pp. 408. $34.95 hardcover and e-book.
Reviewed by Łukasz Muniowski
As pointed out by Russ Crawford at the beginning of the first book devoted solely to women’s American football, “Women and girls on more than 150 teams play tackle football in around ten leagues in the United States, and there are also hundreds of flag football leagues for females of various ages across the country” (p. 1). That number would be impressive on its own, but, taking into account the fact that most women either play for free or have to pay in order to participate in the game that they love, makes it more impressive, as roster must be compiled with the adequate number of players.
Crawford’s book enters uncharted territory, attempting to list and assess the experiences of women athletes in a sport in which they still fail to receive proper recognition for their efforts. “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Shoulder Pads” extends beyond the borders of the US, with countries such as Poland and Czech Republic having their own teams filled primarily with native players. Crawford, though, limits the scope of his work to the US and produces an impressive book based on his research, observations, and interviews with over 240 women players (and a number of men).
The history of women’s American football officially begins in the year 1926, when the game between two professional teams––the Frankford Yellow Jackets and the Chicago Cardinals––took place. During the halftime break, two men played against a team of women. In the 1930s, there were women’s barnstorming teams that played exhibition games, but they failed to become more than a novelty act. A proper chance was never provided, as women’s participation in the sport soon was prohibited due to their supposed risk of losing their “womanly qualities” (p. 15). It was only with the introduction of Title IX in 1972 that American women’s football slowly started to develop to the place it is at now––far from respected but able to exist. Women players rarely did see themselves as fighting the patriarchy in the name of progress; instead, they just wanted to play their game.
The contemporary history of women’s football begins in 1999, with the creation of a women’s professional league by Terry Sullivan and Carter Turner. Around 360 potential players entered the tryouts, with 90 making the cut. With little financial backing and publicity, the league started off with considerable promise before ending its first season with $100,000 in debt and players never getting compensation for their games. Things never changed in that aspect, regardless of the leagues. Prime examples include the “The Gender Bowl,” held between women all-stars and a team of older male football players in 2005, or the X League (formerly the Lingerie Football League), with games shown on MTV2.
In the meantime, “proper” football players, with little to no advertising, played games in front of a couple of thousands of people, risking career-ending injuries during every game. The recurring theme of the book is women’s football’s calls for the NFL to organize a women’s league, similar to the NBA establishing the WNBA. With “more than two thousand girls are playing tackle football with boys in schools around the United States” and “thousands more…playing flag football,” it only seems like the fair thing to do (pg. 252).
Łukasz Muniowski recieved his Ph.D. in American Literature from the University of Warsaw. He is the author of Three-Pointer! A 40-Year NBA History (McFarland, 2020), Narrating the NBA: Representations of Leading Players after the Michael Jordan Era (Lexington, 2021),and The Sixth Man: A History of the NBA Off the Bench (McFarland, 2021).
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