It looked just like any other Saturday football game with the pads, the helmets, the tackling, the flags and the referees. However, there was something very different about this particular football game: The players. They were women. The Voodoo Dolls are the first ever womens’ professional football team in New Orleans. The team was commissioned in September of this year by the Womens’ American Football League, and became one of 17 teams in the league. The teams are divided into two conferences, the Atlantic and Pacific.
The teams which make up the Atlantic conference include: the Jacksonville Dixie Blues, Orlando Fire, Alabama Slammers, Tampa Bay Force, Indianapolis Vipers and the New Orleans Voodoo Dolls.
The Pacific conference is made up of the Arizona Caliente, California Quake, Los Angeles Lasers, San Diego SunFire, Oakland Banshees, Sacramento Sirens, San Francisco Tsunami, Hawaii Legends, Rose City Wildcats and the Seattle Warbirds.
The WAFL is a full-contact tackle football league, which uses the same rules as the National Football League. The plans set up by the league call for a ten-game season with playoffs and a championship game.
The team is made up of about 30 players, most from the New Orleans area and some from Pennsylvania, Chicago and other states. The players range in age from 19 to 48, and few have any experience in high school or college competitive sports.
Fullback and linebacker, Julie Pittman said playing for a professional team is different from high school or college. “I take it more seriously because this is a huge opportunity for women, and I want to be a part of it,” she said.
The Voodoo Dolls are coached by Joseph Riley Jr., and started the season last month with a 6-0 win over the Alabama Slammers. Riley tries to give all the players field time during every game because the players are new to the game and to one another.
“Coach tries to utilize everyone right now because it’s our first season, and we’re just trying to feel each other out,” said Pittman.
Players and coaches share the profits generated by the team’s ticket sales after all expenses are paid. The league mandates that at least twenty-five percent of a team’s profits will go toward a player compensation pool. According to estimates, players can earn between $150 to $500 per game.
Since the players are not paid a salary, most of them have to find work elsewhere to pay for their uniforms, equipment and traveling fees.
The players have also had to find their own sponsors and supporters, as well as find time to practice. Pittman said the worst thing about telling people that she plays on a women’s professional football team is the ridiculing.
“Men are the worst, they constantly ask ‘why would I want to do that to my body?’, or they think I’m joking. It just makes me mad because I don’t know if they are saying these things because they are truly worried about my welfare, or if it just that they don’t believe that women can play football just as well as men,” Pittman said.
Despite the challenges the team is faced with, the players have managed to win two out of the three games they have played, and hope to gain another at home this Saturday against the Tampa Bay Force. The game will be played in the Pan American Stadium in City Park at 7:05 p.m. Tickets cost $10 for adults, $6 for children and children under the age of six get in free.
