New pro women's league scores touchdown for equality

New Jersey Dames and Baltimore Belles. Nashville Honey Bees and Birmingham Bombshells.

Those are just four of the colorfully named franchises in the fledgling Women's Football League Association, a 32-team play-for-pay American gridiron circuit that is set to launch its inaugural season in May.

"The WFLA is designed to be the largest and most competitive women's professional full-tackle football operation in the world," league founder and CEO Lupe Rose said ahead of its recent player draft. "Female teams and leagues have been in existence for decades, but we're introducing the first fully professional tackle league for women."

Rose, head of the California-based SHE beverage empire, said the WFLA's mission is to empower and promote equality for women in sports. Its launch is dependent on a coronavirus vaccine being available in the US by early spring, but a TV contract with the newly launched Women's Sports Network has already been secured and live coverage will be streamed worldwide via Ova TV& Media Group.

Two Canadians－21-year-old running back Hanna McEwen and 28-year-old defensive tackle Breanne Ward－were selected by the Denver Gold Rush in the WFLA draft from the amateur Western Canada Women's Football League.

"This is a dream come true," Ward said in an interview with CBC. "We get to go down to Denver next year and get paid a very good salary to play the sport we love. We don't have to worry about having second jobs, going to school, all those kinds of things. We'll be able to focus on football 100 percent."

For the past few years, their focus has been on work and school. McEwen is studying to become a massage therapist, while Ward is an xray technologist. Both said they still encounter skeptics who don't think women should play tackle football.

"That is one of the most frustrating things. I would love for someone to just once ask me 'How many sacks did you make?' versus us almost having to defend that we are tackle-football players," said Ward, who also coaches under-18 girls.

"I got so many messages from them when the news broke that we had been drafted and signed contracts in the new pro league," she said.

"I really never thought this would happen for me. I thought I would be able to watch these girls play, and they might eventually be able to turn pro. Just to be that person 10 years from now, to know I helped guide them on that path, it's just an amazing feeling."

The WFLA will be the second major women's pro league in North America to operate in 2021.

The National Women's Hockey League last week announced a plan to present its six-team round-robin tournament and Isobel Cup playoffs in a bubble at Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, New York, from Jan 23－Feb 5.

"The NWHL is excited to provide fans a fast-paced schedule of thrilling games on the road to the Isobel Cup," interim commissioner Tyler Tumminia said.

"The continued challenges brought by the pandemic resulted in a mandate for our league, players and partners to collaborate on creating a controlled environment protecting the health of everyone involved.

"At a time of hyper-growth for girls' and women's hockey, we see this as a celebration of the sport.

"This will be a historic moment at the hallowed arena that was the site of Team USA's 'Miracle on Ice' in 1980 as it hosts its first women's professional championship. It's a proud moment for the NWHL, the players, and all hockey fans."