In recent weeks, the A7FL blasted around the internet once again. First, ESPN’s biggest social account (ie SportsCenter) circulated some of our hard-hitting no-pads football highlights. Then BarStool Sports picked up the story, and then other outlets connected the millions of views and thousands of comments associated with the A7FL and connected that to Snoop Dogg’s recent interest in owning a team.
Some of our clips even caught the eye of the most famous rugby squad in the world, The All Blacks. New Zealand’s National Rugby Team. With 3 World Cup Championships to their name and their signature intimidating Haka chant before each game, the All Blacks have a massive global fanbase. (The All Blacks chirped back on social media, calling the highlights “cute” and implying that their sport is somehow tougher and better.)
To the uneducated sports fan, our sports look a lot alike. No pads, a white ball, and tackling each other while trying to move the ball across the goal line. But that’s about all we have in common.
The A7FL evolved as a safer version of American football, where the forward pass is king, whereas in rugby it’s prohibited. Our ball is white but it’s still a regulation football, designed to be able to be thrown in tight spirals over long distances. In our league, players don’t just push and shove and pick up the ball and run, and it’s hard to imagine A7FL QBs Alsaiah “Woog” Gross and Quatrell “Huff” Huffington throwing backwards passes instead of heaving missiles downfield to their speeding receiver corps. In sum, we have all the key components of American football, but lose the pads (our main similarity to rugby) to create a more exciting (and safer) alternative.
But make no mistake, the A7FL is still a tough sport. While our players are glad American 7s rules minimize head-to-head contact, they’re all too familiar with “A7FL Mondays” when they return to their day jobs after an afternoon playing full contact tackle football against some very tough and talented competition. Anyone that follows our league or checks out our highlights can see the size, speed and talent of our players – as they compete in one of the toughest games on the planet – so thanks All Blacks but “cute” doesn’t really cut it.
But it’s still a testament to the growth of the A7FL that one of the world’s biggest sports teams gave us a shout out – even if it did mean calling us out. Our game that started in the backyard has now made its way to the world stage. So to the All Blacks: we play two COMPLETELY different sports, but the US has the greatest athletes in the world and we like our chances on the A7FL gridiron…or the rugby pitch. Challenge accepted!
And now to settle once and for all which sport is “cute”…
Editor: Evan Barnes
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