American Youth Football & Cheer
the nations largest youth football and cheer organization

Youth football coaches say 'no hard feelings'
By Franceen Shaughnessy/ Staff Writer
Thursday, September 1, 2005

Two months ago, six suburban teams split from the Bay State Pop Warner Football League.

     The league disbanded, and the move set off a flurry of reports and accusations.

     Talk circulated that the suburban entrants - including Weymouth, Natick, Needham/Wellesley, Walpole, Norwood and Framingham - no longer wanted to play city teams. Complaints were filed about loud rap music, a sense of insecurity at White Stadium and a vague charge that the city teams were too rough. The names of parents and team officials who placed the complaints were never specified.

     In turn, talks of racism surfaced among the city teams toward the suburban counterparts.

     But coaches say the split was due more to the league's weight structure, and hoped that a recent Jamboree between city and suburban teams helped to set the record straight, especially for the kids. The Jamboree came about following a meeting between Boston Raiders coach Harry Wilson and Needham/Wellesley's John Sullivan.

     "We knew we had to get these kids together in some fun event," Sullivan said.

     So all six suburban teams and eight city teams met at White Stadium in Franklin Park on Aug. 20 for a day of fun and unity.

     Sullivan said Pop Warner wouldn't allow for interleague scrimmages, but the teams participated in other interleague activities.

     Josh Pruce, media relations for Pop Warner, said the league didn't allow for the interleague scrimmages because there would have been a different weight structure. Pop Warner has its own weight structure different from the suburban teams' new affiliation with the American Youth Football [League].

     Nonetheless, Needham/Wellesley's David Schindler said it was a great day.

     "...I think these teams that are playing [today] have a great amount of respect for the Boston Raiders," Dennis Wilson, Raiders assistant coach, told the Boston Herald following the game. "I think this will show those parents and programs that were reluctant to come into the city that it's safe and competitive, and that there's no reason to stay away."

     According to coaches, it was Pop Warner's weight structure, among other reasons, that originally caused the teams to split from the Bay State Pop Warner Football League.

     Under Pop Warner, for example, there can be 7- to 9-year olds with a 45-pound difference playing in the same division, Sullivan said.

     According to the Pop Warner Little Scholars Web site, 7-, 8- and 9-year-olds who are between 45 and 90 pounds are in one division. Schindler said with Pop Warner's grouping, one kid could be double the weight of another child.

     In Needham/Wellesley's new league, AYF[L], the squad is split up, Sullivan said. The 9-year-olds are in a separate squad because they know the game. The 7- and 8-year-olds are in another squad because they are just learning the game.

     AYF[L] allows for different structures, he said.

     "We can tailor our program," Schindler said. "We can teach kids football at an even level."

     The city teams are competitive teams with good coaches, he said.
     "I don't think the [suburban] kids have ever had a problem with coming in to play against inner-city kids. I think it came from some unhappy, out-of-touch and prejudiced parents. But no one organization has ever been identified as not wanting to come in," Raiders assistant coach Wilson told the Herald.

     Another draw to make the switch to the AYF[L], Schindler said, is that it's costing the suburban teams about one-eighth less than it did for Pop Warner.

     Additionally, Sullivan said, with nationals, AYF[L] lets the teams choose its transportation and accommodations. Whereas, he said, with Pop Warner, teams are offered three packages.

     "The AYF[L] doesn't charge anything of its teams," Wilson said, who noted that the Raiders were forced to raise $53,000 to send their C-level team to the national Pop Warner tournament in Florida last year. "The suburban teams left because of the Pop Warner's fees and its inability to subsidize teams going to its national tournament."

     Wilson noted that consideration is being given to eventually joining the AYF[L].

      Franceen Shaughnessy can be reached at fshaughn@cnc.com.