What is the A7FL?
The American 7s Football League (A7FL) is an American football league that was founded in 2014 with rules that are similar in some ways and very different in other ways from the NFL and college football. There are 7 players on each team as the name suggests. Instead of kickoffs, there are throw offs. Each throw off is from the 35 yard line of the 100 yard football field. One rule that makes the game safer than the NFL and college football is that players cannot block from the back. Another rule change is that pads and helmets are not allowed. Much like in Rugby and Aussie rule Football, not wearing pads and helmets results in tacklers taking greater care when bringing down their opponent. Another safety rule in the A7FL is that defense-men are not allowed to aim for players’ heads. In the A7FL if a team is leading by 42 points at the 4th quarter the game will be ended.
If any of these rules are broken there are penalties. The penalty for blocking under the waist or hands to the face will result in being moved 15 yards back. For holding you will have a 10 yard penalty. If a player trash talks on the field or sideline his teams will get a 10 yard penalty.
In the A7FL there are 20 teams from the northeast and San Diego. However, right now the A7FL has a “Back in Motion” tournament with 4 teams playing in New Jersey at Yogi Berra stadium. The tournament is a way for a subset of the teams to compete while dealing with the risks of Covid-19. This Sunday the tournament will have its championship. The A7FL hopefully will have a full season next year with all 20 teams. In the championship game, the NJ Hawks who defeated the NJ Renegades last week, will play Patterson U who defeated BIC last week.
Many great football players play in the A7FL. These players are former high school and college players. Some of the best players from the A7FL are Corey Price aka CP3 who’s a QB for the NJ hawks playing in this weekend’s Championship. CP3 won A7FL MVP in 2018. Another good player in the A7FL is Kareen “SilkySmoothe” Moon who plays for Paterson U; he is their Quarterback.
What is the A7FL’s Goal?
The A7FL’s goal is to give America the game it wants. To take the things people love about professional and college football and improve upon them by listening to the fans and players. More in future articles about what fans and players want (improved safety is just one example) and how the A7FL is structured to meet their wants. If successful, the A7FL will give people an improved version of American football.
You can watch the NJ Hawks play the NJ Paterson U, online this Sunday August 23rd at 6:30 PM ET for free on the A7FL facebook page https://www.facebook.com/A7FLTV/ and YouTube page https://www.youtube.com/user/TheA7FL.
I think you will agree with me that the league’s new rules will make the league fun with fast paced action and safer rules.
Author: Nathan Sigal
Nathan Sigal is 11 years old, a fan of all sports especially football and the A7FL, and hosts his own sports podcast.
