Tricia Donovan, like many officials in the Women’s
Professional Football League, pulls double duty to help the league survive. Not
only is she the owner of a new WPFL franchise, the New England Intensity, but
she also helps the league with public relations.
That’s because the WPFL, which is entering its eighth year
of existence, can’t afford a full-time PR person — or many other positions
that a men’s sports league might take for granted. The same goes for each of
the league’s 16 teams; Donovan says team budgets range from only $25,000 to
$100,000.
Although it’s the oldest women’s pro football league in the
country, the WPFL is still struggling to attract financing, fans, and media
coverage. Not only are they competing against the larger National Women’s
Football Association, but the WPFL and all its teams are going up against the
country’s proliferation of male professional sports teams and leagues.
“We always want more fans,” says Donovan. As far as media
attention goes, “there’s the hope that we’ll get more national coverage, not
only in newspapers but also on radio and even cable-access TV.”
Donovan hopes that each WPFL team will reach the point where
it’s both making money and garnering regular media coverage. But, she says,
“Not all our teams are there yet.”
One WPFL team that league officials say has the potential to
reach that level of success is Rochester’s
franchise, the Empire State Roar. Now in its second year in the league, the
Roar’s operational structure is much like the WPFL itself: many players also
fill managerial roles for the team. Even the Roar’s owner, Sandra Rogers,
sometimes suits up herself to play special teams.
But such cost-effectiveness can only go so far, and Roar
members realize they need to get fans in the seats through aggressive marketing
and public relations. But that can be hard sell when,
in many ways, women’s football is still viewed as a novelty — if it’s viewed
at all.
“I wish we had a lot more exposure,” says Roar all-pro
defensive tackle Jodie Judd. “Nobody knows about the women’s football team in Rochester. It would be
nice to get the word out more. It’s extremely hard to compete against all the
men’s sports.”
Rogers says her team drew
between 450 and 750 fans to each home game last year, but it made barely a
ripple in the Rochester
media. The team is desperately looking for financial sponsors who can help pay
for things like equipment and travel costs. (Rogers says many potential sponsors are
scared off because some Roar players are gay.) As of now, all team members buy
their own equipment, and they pay a hefty $750 joining fee to help defray
travel expenses.
As a result, the Roar remains just a passionate hobby for
most players. Team members drive from as far away as Oswego
and Toronto to
attend practices and games, and they all, for the most part, work full-time
jobs.
“It really is a labor of love,” says Rogers. “You have to love it.”
Revenge, they say,
is best served cold. But not for the Empire State Roar.
When it came from behind to beat the previously undefeated
New York Dazzles last year, the Roar avenged a disappointing loss to the
Dazzles earlier in the 2005 season. The 30-13 victory became perhaps the
highlight of the Roar’s inaugural campaign, and contrary to popular cliché, the
revenge win was executed in the sweltering heat of August.
As this year’s edition of the Roar practices at EastRochesterHigh School on a recent Saturday, Rogers and operations
assistant Amy “Boucher” Griffen reminisce about that big win — and the effect
it had on the Dazzles.
“They were crying at the end of that game,” says a gleeful
Griffen, who got her nickname after her adeptness at dispensing water to
thirsty players reminded the team of a certain Adam Sandler movie.
The relishing of on-field vengeance has always been a key
tradition of the male-dominated sport of football. The enjoyment members of the
Roar still derive from remembering their landmark win proves that some pigskin
traits are universal, regardless of gender.
But that victory came last year. On this day, the team is
preparing for its 2006 season opener, a road game against the Albany Ambush
July 29, with the Roar won 36-0. Rain has periodically drenched the players and
staff throughout the morning practice.
The team is hoping to improve on its 2-4 record from 2005,
when it lost three games by a total of 11 points. This year’s squad, coached
again by Shawn Stauber, features a mix of talented newcomers and capable
returning players, including four 2005 WPFL all-pro honorees: Judd, running
back Nikia Speed, fullback/defensive end Shannon Lamie, and center Jen Dawson.
Rogers and the team’s coaches hope that this year’s offense
will be more balanced than it was last year, when it relied heavily on Speed,
who is playing this year on a damaged meniscus in her left knee. As a result,
quarterbacks Jenna Herington and Kaitlin Corcoran and wideout Jane Kobos are
being counted on to establish a more reliable passing game.
Defensively the Roar will be bolstered by the arrival of
D-lineman April Clarcq, who jumped to Rochester
from the now-defunct Dazzles. The linebacking crew will be anchored by Kobos
and Speed, who are among a handful of two-way players on the squad.
With fewer than 30 players on the roster, such Ironman
football is a necessity for the Roar, although the team has enough talent on
the offensive and defensive lines to ensure that most linemen will only have to
play one way.
The Roar also looks good
on special teams, where kicker/punter Mary “GQ” Palaimo has been known to put
the ball through the uprights from the 30-yard line.
While the team is loaded with potential talent, the staff and players say the Roar also has the
intangibles required for a successful season. “This year they’ve gelled really,
really well,” says Rogers.
“We had a lot of squabbles last year, but I think we’ll have less of that this
year.”
Judd, the team’s standout defensive tackle, says the 2006
squad has two main strengths. “One, we have a lot of returning players, which
will help with or stability and teamwork,” she says. “But two, we have our
determination and all the hard work we’ve put in.”
Determination, hard work — and a love of
the sport.Rogers,
for example, savors playing kickoff because, she says, “You get to barrel down
the field and really hit someone.”
It’s an awesome game,” she says. “Once you put on the
equipment and get out on the field, it’s an addiction.”
The Empire State Roar plays its season home opener Saturday, August 5, at
7:05 p.m. at EastRochesterHigh
School against the Connecticut Cyclones. Adult
tickets are $8. The following week the team holds a fundraiser for the Honeoye
Falls Fire Department featuring actor Randolph Mantooth. For more information
or to purchase tickets, go to www.theempirestateroar.com.
This article appears in Aug 2-8, 2006.
