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Everything is Here
NAAF BLOGSPOT
SCOUTING REPORTS - Submit Players Here
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Welcome Everyone,
Quick Introduction: I am a huge fan of building fictional sports leagues (much like assume a lot of people here) and I had come up with this idea for a hybrid version of gridiron football that would combine the American and Canadian rules. So, that brings me here. *Side note* I am going to do my best with the writing and storytelling which I will get more into later in this post, and I am still just starting to learn Illustrator (thinking this is a good way to learn it) so my designs are a bit rough or simple form the start.
Origins of Gridiron Football and the NAAF
During the early part of the 1900s, Canadian and American colleges began to play hybrid football games against each other that merged the two different rule styles. The games continued throughout but it wasn’t until following WWII that the official interconnected football organization was formed to bring the sports together at the professional level. Ryan Jameson, an Ottawa native, was a professional level hockey player as well as a football player in college at the University of Ottawa. His dreams of being a star football player were not to be hence his decision to play hockey, but he always had a special passion for football. Over his time playing hockey and connecting with American athletes with a similar passion, he learned the differences between each nation's version of the sport.
During this, Jameson became curious about the idea that they could be combined into one sport. He read up on the earlier college matches that had happened where the rules were mixed and he started to develop his idea. During this time he also returned to hockey and played a couple of seasons with the Ottawa Stars. The time he spent off the ice was devoted to this idea and as he travelled during the season he talked to local football teams, the owners of the Ottawa Stars and the commissioner of his hockey league. Following his 1948 retirement from hockey, Jameson was ready to announce a brand new organization of competitive football. He retired from hockey at the season’s end and became the full-time commissioner of the North American Association of Football (NAAF).
Football before this had some attempts at a nationwide league, but the wars had all but crippled them. After WWII ended it was difficult for the teams to get back into the same competitive level, returning to the regional leagues of before. Ryan Jameson’s journey across to several teams brought upon a new opportunity. Several teams had declined his offer, but enough teams believed in his vision and Ryan was able to pull together 4 teams in Ontario/Quebec and Northeastern USA, as well as the entire New England Football Championship which had contracted to only 3 teams.
From Jameson’s connections, he formed a committee and front office for the league to give strong leadership that would hopefully lead to success in the future. Within this group was
Ryan Jameson - Acting as the NAAF Commissioner and President
Harold McCallister - Assistant/Co-Commissioner: McCallister is the former commissioner of the New England Football Championship and with his move into the NAAF, Jameson is trusting his experience in running the NEFC to help him do the best job he can in the NAAF. McCallister was on board with the idea for the new version of the sport and the new opportunity sparked a way out of the struggles his competition was going through. John McCallister, Harold’s father, was the founder of the NEFC and had become too old to run the league, so Harold had taken over. John was a passionate football fan all his life and the NEFC was his pride and joy. He had built the league up to one of the best in the world. When Harold took over, he came in with more experience with finance and business than the sport itself and had sparked some struggles that he was having. Harold will hopefully bring financial stability to the league as Jameson focuses more on the game itself.
Fredrick LeFrae - Assistant Commissioner: LeFrae has no experience as a commissioner, but had strong connections in the Ligue de Football du Québec (LFQ). He was seeking higher opportunities within the LFQ but felt that Jameson’s drive and idea was going to be a success. LeFrae also had a connection with Jameson through the U of Ottawa, playing sports together. LeFrae shared Jameson’s passion for the sport and now he wants to help him reach his goals of being the top football league in North America.
The Committee is ever-expanding and has regular meetings with owners and teams within the league to keep things moving in the right direction. Their first action was to set the rules that would be used.
Last edited by Wallflower (1/31/2023 6:24 pm)
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This sounds interesting, looking forward to seeing the teams!
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Boston Independents:
The Boston Football Club has been around since 1915 when the NEFC originally came together. Since then they have become one of the most successful teams in the Atlantic. They won 16 of the 30 championships in the NEFC in its history. After a stretch of 7 in a row, the club decided to try and go to a better league and they became an independent club. This lasted 7 years, but when WWII came up the team returned to the NEFC for stability and won several more championships. While the club was always just known as Boston Football Club, they were nicknamed the “independents” during their time as an independent club. With the merger into the NAAF, the club officially deemed its team name the Boston Independents. They play at Richardson Stadium which holds 46,245 in which they have full rights.
The current owner of the Independents is Glen Harris, who purchased the club in 1919. His leadership and ambition were a major factor as to why the team went independent. He has always been looking for a bigger and more competitive competition to be a part of and the NAAF was intriguing to him. Harris became a major factor for the entire NEFC to join the NAAF.
The Independents are easily the best team in the NAAF. They hold the best Offence and second-best defence. They are led by QB Larry Larson, who is the best in the league. Alongside him are offensive weapons RB Joel Bonner, and WRs Ethan Walters and Samuel Floyd. They also have a strong O-line led by C Malachi Knowles. Safety Michael O’Brian leads the defence with other well-rounded players like LB Carlos Bennet and DL Jon Lewis. The coach is longtime Head Coach Peter McDuffin. One of the best coaches in the league, McDuffin, is an aggressive and competitive coach that loves to win. It’s a good thing he’s good at it. McDuffin has a lot of confidence heading into the first season of the NAAF.
Brand:
Going typical old school with the logo. Interconnected letters so on. For the jerseys the Independents go for white at home which they always have worn with the alternating strips. The strips used to cover the entire jersey but have been moved to just the sleeves with the NAAF jerseys. The green dark jersey will be worn in rare occations.
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Boston looks great, love the color scheme.
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Hey I love everythin that’s goin on here, the independents look good! I don’t even mind that’s you used my template! Just ask next time.
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Buffalo Blue Wings:
The Buffalo Blue Wings join the NAAF from the New York Competitive Football League (NYCFL) which was formerly the Atlantic Football League before the Second World War. The club was founded in 1927 as an expansion team in the league. The Blue Wings had never been able to claim a championship in the NYCFL. They had appeared in one championship game where they were thrashed 27-0 against the Brooklyn Guardians in 1935. They play out of Buffalo Civic Stadium (38,538) and have a 5-year contract on the use of the stadium that was built back in 1919.
The Owner and founder of the team is Milton Charles. He has been a passionate fan of football for years and has wanted to bring the sport at a professional level to Buffalo. While the team itself has been completely outmatched over the years, within the community of the Blue Wings, they have been beyond successful. The team sports some of the most loyal fans in any team across the NAAF. This is partly because of how much Charles has done with the city. Many promotional events (creating Family Day combos, so on) and getting players involved in the community. The fans have fallen for the team and many players love being a part of the team. The major issue, however, is the team’s distance from the rest of its opposing teams. With a majority of the clubs coming out of the New York City area with only a couple outside, The Blue Wings have been cast aside and they have not been treated well. Often players from New York City were complaining about traveling to Buffalo and so the league responded by scheduling fewer games in Buffalo. The fans were not happy and neither was Charles so when Ryan Jameson presented a new league they were on board. Unfortunately, the damage that the NYCFL has caused the Blue Wings has made it difficult to bring in new players and maintain old ones.
They come into the NAAF as a team that is looking at the playoffs from the outside. They have a decent offence and defence but still many holes all around. However, they do have the youngest team in the league with an average age of 26.5 which is a whole year younger than the next youngest. Their star is hometown hero DB Oscar Patterson who has played for the Blue Wings his entire career. The defence also houses a strong DL in Jonathan Brown. Their QB is veteran Evan Morrow, but they also have a young prospect in Andrew Glover at the QB spot. The Offence also has some okay weapons in RB Arthur Conner and WR Travis Gallager. Head Coach and GM Bobby Hooper is a passionate coach who is a great motivator and will be a large factor in the success of the Blue Wings.
Brand:
For the Blue Wings logo I just wanted to be a little goofy but give a feel for older sketched logos and in this case how about a buffalo with wings. This has been the team's mascot for the last couple of decades. Jerseys are very simple, but I wanted to have a Detriot Red Wings/Toronto Maple Leafs feel of classic colour and white combo.
Last edited by Wallflower (8/17/2020 11:36 pm)
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MyTeamIsDr.Pepper wrote:
Hey I love everythin that’s goin on here, the independents look good! I don’t even mind that’s you used my template! Just ask next time.
Thanks!
So sorry, I had made these designs several months ago when I really had no plan to post them and just completely forgot to ask, my bad.
Hope it is all good that I use it, I will be much much more careful about that in the future.
I really love the template and what you're doing with the NFA!
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Section30 wrote:
Boston looks great, love the color scheme.
Thanks! Boston is one of my favourite overall looks!
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Wallflower wrote:
MyTeamIsDr.Pepper wrote:
Hey I love everythin that’s goin on here, the independents look good! I don’t even mind that’s you used my template! Just ask next time.
Thanks!
So sorry, I had made these designs several months ago when I really had no plan to post them and just completely forgot to ask, my bad.
Hope it is all good that I use it, I will be much much more careful about that in the future.
I really love the template and what you're doing with the NFA!
Oh you’re good don’t worry, was just a little shocked when I realized it was mine. Truely i based my off of Gridiron Uniform Database’s (which is a great site if you need help with uniform era accuracy)
Thanks for the kind words! I’m working on updatin that soon, I’ve been kinda busy lately.
The Blue Wings and league logo look phenomenal, how are you getting such a good era appropriate logo? I’m excited for what else you have in store!
And btw, I can pm you a version of the template without the plastic helmet, depending on the era, teams might’ve still be usin leather helmets!
Last edited by MyTeamIsDr.Pepper (2/15/2020 10:21 pm)
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MyTeamIsDr.Pepper wrote:
Wallflower wrote:
MyTeamIsDr.Pepper wrote:
Hey I love everythin that’s goin on here, the independents look good! I don’t even mind that’s you used my template! Just ask next time.
Thanks!
So sorry, I had made these designs several months ago when I really had no plan to post them and just completely forgot to ask, my bad.
Hope it is all good that I use it, I will be much much more careful about that in the future.
I really love the template and what you're doing with the NFA!
Oh you’re good don’t worry, was just a little shocked when I realized it was mine. Truely i based my off of Gridiron Uniform Database’s (which is a great site if you need help with uniform era accuracy)
Thanks for the kind words! I’m working on updatin that soon, I’ve been kinda busy lately.
The Blue Wings and league logo look phenomenal, how are you getting such a good era appropriate logo? I’m excited for what else you have in store!
And btw, I can pm you a version of the template without the plastic helmet, depending on the era, teams might’ve still be usin leather helmets!
For the logos I actually use some filters and tools in photoshop to get some of those effects, took me a little bit to get it the way I wanted it but I love the look.
As for the template, that would be great, however, according to Gridiron Uniform Database, some teams were starting to use plastic helmets. I generally prefer the look of plastic and thought it would fit the story of innovating football both with the rules and the equipment.