There are only seven women’s teams playing American football in Russia. In our country, it is an amateur sport. Girls of different ages, with different builds and training come into it: some were called by their friends, others were interested in the unusual game, and others simply wanted to improve their physical fitness. Everything here is based on enthusiasm, so the players have to learn the rules and combinations on their own, and the role of coaches is usually played by more experienced sportswomen and players of men’s teams.
Not everyone stays after the first training session: the sport requires not only strength and endurance, but also the ability to understand and memorise a large number of different game combinations. You have to buy protective equipment, pay the rent of the training field, go to competitions in other cities at your own expense. But those who stay, find a new family.
The football field is a safe place to release emotions, including aggression. The girls admit that thanks to the lessons they become braver and more determined. They allow themselves to step out of their comfort zone, to push the limits of their usual activities. They change jobs, leave outdated relationships. And the clatter of ‘frames’ from collisions during the game becomes their favourite sound.
There are only three women’s American football teams in Moscow, but they manage to hold their own championship with the involvement of legionnaires from other cities. One team each is based in St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg, and two more in the Far East. In Voronezh, the girls tried to create their own team, but due to the absence of their coach, the motivation to play gradually waned, and the quarantine last year dealt the final blow. The teams that survive are those that have their own leader leading the others. Some teams will eventually reclassify to flag football — a non-contact version of amphut, where no protective equipment is needed and mixed teams of men and women can be organised. Flag football will enter Olympic sports in 2028.
Even though American football is the most popular sport in the United States, there are no professional women’s teams, only college and amateur teams. That said, you can’t play it unless you have good health insurance. The rules allow women to play on professional men’s teams, but only in positions where physical contact is excluded. There is an international league of women’s American football where teams from six countries play: Great Britain, Canada, Finland, Germany, Mexico, and the USA, but the championships are not held regularly, every three or four years.
