If the movers and shakers of the American Football Association came away from the AFA Semi-Pro Football National Convention/Seminar/Tradeshow in Chicago last month with anything else - it was a clear message from the attending commissioners and team owners that quantity isn’t a very good substitute for quality when it comes to the adult amateur level of football . . . . And, that those leagues that have been loyal to the AFA national association over the years have a need to band together to show their support to the AFA in exchange for the national association bringing more awareness to the leagues that meet their membership commitments to the national semi-pro football organization.

Over the past 25 years the AFA’s approach was to try to provide needed services to all teams and leagues on a national level. Last year alone the AFA tracked the game results of 719 teams playing in 64 different leagues from coast to coast in order to provide a nationwide ‘power-rating’ service to their level of the sport. To power rate that large a number of teams takes an enormous amount of internet website research as a good portion of the levels leagues and teams aren’t exactly efficient in their game reporting skills. During the past 6 1/2 years (to-date starting in 1999), the game monitoring director of the AFA (Joe Hulsebus of the AFNews) has archived the scores of 13,936 semi-pro football games in the national associations computer database giving the AFA a pretty good handle on the level’s ‘who’s-who’ regarding team and league strengths.

While those leagues across the country that are registered with the AFA as having 100% of their teams approved for membership - will enjoy full league benefits, the remainder of the 2005 season will find the AFA front office working with their ‘associate’ member teams in an effort to have the rest of their league’s teams join the AFA next year as full fledged ‘registered’ leagues. ‘Associate’ member teams are those organizations that have joined the AFA in 2005 and are playing in leagues whose members have not yet complied with the AFA’s 100% team membership participation rule.

“From here on our AFA membership policy will be based on signing up ‘quality’ semi-pro football leagues sharing the same long and short term goals as the AFA National Association,” said the AFA president and founder Ron Real. “Ironically some of the oldest and best organized leagues in the country were among the first leagues to commit to the AFA’s 100% team participation program at the outset of the 2005 season.”

The first three full leagues to commit were the Empire Football League (organized in 1969), the Mason Dixon Football League (1978) and the Mid-Continental Football League (1991). Between them they have been in the semi-pro football business for 77 years and all are spearheaded by members of the AFA Hall of Fame. The EFL has teams in New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont as well as Ontario and Quebec, Canada. The MCFL teams are from Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Kentucky while the MDFL has teams representing Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina. The newest league to commit to AFA ‘registered’ league status is the 11-year-old (11 team) Ironman Football League from Wisconsin.

During the AFA’s 25th Annual Hall of Fame Induction Dinner in Chicago (June 4th) several AFA/HOF alumni pledged their support to have the leagues they are associated with join the AFA in 2006. Several semi-pro Hall of Famers are still very active with their local leagues and have volunteered to help stimulate AFA memberships prior to the start of next season. Two recently inducted AFA Hall of Fame Commissioners, Dave Rice (Southern States Football League - Florida) and Alex Flores (Golden States Amateur Football League – California) not only pledged the support for their spring/summer leagues but have already paid their league’s 2006 AFA membership fees for all their registered teams in hopes of setting a good example for the rest of the leagues operating during early months of the year.

To further enhance future AFA membership among organized leagues the AFA will soon announce that each member league with 100% team participation in the national association will be allowed to submit the name of one of their deserving football greats to the AFA/HOF nominating committee for Semi-Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement consideration in 2006. While the ‘member league’ nominating process is something new for the AFA - they will continue accepting nominations from the various AFA alumni associations across the country. Since its inception in 1980 the AFA has inducted 500 deserving semi-pro footballers into its Semi-Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The AFA ‘registered’ league membership program will help bring quality established leagues closer together by having their commissioners share information about what makes their leagues run so efficiently and help deter overzealous new startup leagues from infringing on established league’s territorial rights.

Semi-pro football teams wanting to join the AFA as ‘associate’ members for the remainder of the 2005 season may do so by downloading a membership application from the AFA website at www.AmericanFootballAssn.com. Check the latest game scores, league standings and AFA member league power ratings by visiting the national association’s AFNews web page at www.americanfootballnews.org.

Member teams needing to purchase spectator liability insurance before the start of their season should contact Debbie in the AFA sports department at Sadler & Company (800) 622-7370.