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2/15/2020 5:27 pm  #1


North American Association of Football - NAAF



Everything is Here
NAAF BLOGSPOT
SCOUTING REPORTS - Submit Players Here

^ - I have added a disclaimer to the top of the form after several issues have come up in a conversation behind the scenes about submissions of real people or directly fictional characters. Please just give it a read before you submit any new prospects. Thanks!
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Hi everyone, welcome to the NAAF. I am Wallflower and I began writing this series in February 2020. For a quick summary, this series covers a professional football league that plays a hybrid rule set for North American Football, that combines the rules of American and Canadian rules and is competing with both other versions of football for the fans of North America.

If you are new here welcome to AHS! I totally understand that there is a lot to catch up on. If you want to read through the whole thread, awesome, but if not, you can check out the Blogspot which is currently being updated with information to make it easy for people to catch up or to refresh memories. 

This series runs on a week-to-week basis, where I cover each game from week to week during the season and playoffs, and then each stage of the offseason. 

Also, above you will see the link to the Blogspot or "Wiki" as mentioned before, as well as the link to the player submission form. You can submit players that will eventually be drafted into the NAAF and play out their careers. Note that I don't accept every submission, typically if I deem a player as inappropriate or too outside the realm of reality I will not use them, but I always appreciate the submissions from everyone it helps make the world feel alive. If you ever have any questions you can ask in the DMs or in the thread itself. 

Origins of Hybrid Football and the North American Association of Football

For the many early years of gridiron football, two different rule sets were being developed. The American rules in the USA and Canadian rules in Canada. In the early 1900s, a game would be played between Cambridge University of Boston and Montreal Provincial University. The game would be played with a mix of both American and Canadian rules marking the game as the first technical hybrid football game. These changed rules would be commonplace in games over the early years of the 1900s. Eventually, the American colleges would stop playing in the games, but the rules were still kept by some Canadian schools like Rideau University in Ottawa where a man named Ryan Jameson attended school. At this point, hybrid rules were only ever used in exhibition or scrimmage situations. Jameson who was a Wide Receiver/Defensive Back at Rideau absolutely adored playing the hybrid rules when the team played, here certainly wondered why it wasn’t actually used more. After graduating Jameson would go on to have a career in professional hockey, as he was much better at hockey than football, playing for the local Ottawa Hockey Club. 

After his career was cut short due to an injury and then Canada’s involvement in World War II, Jameson would take time to make some money, and many friends, in order to attempt to bring back hybrid football. Following the conclusion of World War II, Jameson had endless talks with several Canadian football club owners. Eventually, he was able to get a couple of owners to agree to form a new league to play under a new rule set. The first was the Ottawa Royals of the Ontario Football Union. His connection to the owner Rudolph Wilson was formed since Wilson also owns the Hockey Club and he had a lot of trust in Jameson’s vision. The Royals had also already been a pretty loose member of the OFU since they had moved between that and the Ligue de Football du Québec as well. Speaking of the Quebec League, Jameson’s next pull was the most dominant team in the Ligue de Football du Québec, the Montreal Rouge. Montreal had long-awaited opportunities to face tough competition as they had hardly lost any games in the last few years, and they jumped at the opportunity to be in a higher-level league. There was an attempt to pull the Toronto Lakers out of the OFU along with Ottawa. The Lakers were the biggest and best team in the OFU and dominated themselves. However, they were not for a new league and elected to remain in the OFU, but Toronto’s secondary team, the Tigers, would show interest in moving to the NAAF. The Tigers were under new ownership and wished to get out of the shadow of the dominant Lakers, so they made the move to the new league. Finally, the NAAF would bring in a single American team in the New York Football League’s Buffalo Blue Wings. Buffalo had been treated poorly by the rest of the NYFL, as games were rarely scheduled in Buffalo as the NYC teams didn’t like travelling up to Buffalo and Rochester. The Blue Wings had enough and decided to move over to the NAAF. 

The newly formed league was getting ready to go forward with the 4 initial teams for the 1949 season, but before the season got off to a start a bigger change would occur. The New England Football Championship, which was down to only 3 clubs was on the verge of folding outright. When Jameson got word of the historic league’s situation, he would step in and work out an agreement to allow the NEFC teams to merge into the NAAF. The Boston Football Club (later changed to the Independents prior to the 1949 season), the Hartford Hawks, and the Providence Gold Stars would join the NAAF to form the initial 7 teams of the league. 

Once the league was brought together, the official rules of what would become modern Hybrid Football were put in place.

From Canadian Football:
3 Downs to gain 10 yards
Singles are scored when the ball travels through the endzone
No Yards - 5-yard halo around the returner
No strict formation rules - any number of players can be in motion prior to snap except the O-line.

From American Football:
100-yard US-sized field
11 Men per side
The ball is in the neutral zone (ie no one-yard distance between the offence and defence. 

New Rules:
Endzones are 15 yards the average between the two styles. 
Goal Posts in Front of Endzones (at the time they were for both sports).

Another aspect that was a selling point for players more than anything, was a focus on safety and equipment in the sport. The NAAF is going to be a major force in the advancement of technology, most notably already bringing in plastic helmets as mandatory for all players, and lighter jersey fabrics for the games during the summer.

The first season would kick off in July of 1949 and finish with the Championship game in October 1949. Each team will play 8 games over 10 weeks with 2 bye weeks per team. At the end of the season, the top 4 teams will play in a playoff to determine a champion with the 1st place team playing 4th and 2nd place playing 3rd. With the NEFC merging into the NAAF, the trophy that the NEFC competed for over many years would be passed onto the NAAF to be the championship trophy.

History of the NAAF Champions

1949 - 31: Boston Independents - 23-13 - Providence Gold Stars - Boston, MA

1950 - 32: Boston Independents - 16-10 - Montreal Rouge - Montreal, QC
1951 - 33: Montreal Rouge - 24-14 - Boston Independents - Montreal, QC
1952 - 34: Buffalo Blue Wings - 21-16 - Boston Independents - Buffalo, NY
1953 - 35: Montreal Rouge - 22-14 - Providence Gold Stars - Providence, RI
1954 - 36: Ottawa Royals - 27-23 - Boston Independents - Ottawa, ON
1955 - 37: Ottawa Royals - 32-20 - Long Island Raiders - Hempstead, NY
1956 - 38: Ottawa Royals - 33-27 OT - Worcester Athletics - Worcester, MA
1957 - 39: Buffalo Blue Wings - 27-17 - Ottawa Royals - Boston, MA
1958 - 40: Long Island Raiders - 27-24 - Ottawa Royals - Indianapolis, IN
1959 - 41: Ottawa Royals - 27-21 - London Tigers - Montreal, QC

1960 - 42: London Tigers - 38-33 - Ottawa Royals - London, ON
1961 - 43: Boston Independents - 25-24 - London Tigers - Ottawa, ON
1962 - 44: Louisville Thunder - 23-16 - Montreal Rouge - Louisville, KY
1963 - 45: London Tigers - 34-31 - Providence Gold Stars - Hempstead, NY
1964 - 46: Buffalo Blue Wings - 20-17 - Long Island Raiders - Providence, RI
1965 - 47: Long Island Raiders - 17-10 - Louisville Thunder - Buffalo, NY
1966 - 48: Buffalo Blue Wings - 30-12 - Montreal Rouge - Toronto, ON
1967 - 49: Buffalo Blue Wings - 23-15 - Long Island Raiders - Ottawa, ON
1968 - 50: Halifax Mariners - 24-20 - Indiana Victors - Boston, MA
1969 - 51: Buffalo Blue Wings - 16-15 - Ottawa Royals - Indianapolis, IN

1970 - 52: Long Island Raiders - 16-13 - Vancouver Wolves - Montreal, QC
1971 - 53: Louisville Thunder - 30-26 - Montreal Rouge - Providence, RI

History of the NAAF Changes

1949 - 7 Original Teams
Boston Independents
Buffalo Blue Wings
Hartford Hawks
Montreal Rouge
Ottawa Royals
Providence Gold Stars
Toronto Tigers

1951: Expansion to Worcester, MA  -> Worcester Athletics
1953: Relocation: Toronto Tigers -> Kitchener, ON -> Ontario Tigers
1954: Relocation: Hartford Hawks -> Hempstead, NY -> Long Island Hawks
1955: Rebrand: Long Island Hawks -> Long Island Raiders
1957: Expansion to Louisville, KY (Louisville Thunder) and Indianapolis, IN (Indiana Victors)
1958: Relocation: Ontario Tigers -> London, ON -> London Tigers
1962: Rebrand: Worcester Athletics -> The Athletics
1963: Relocation: The Athletics -> Halifax, NS -> Halifax Mariners
1964: Merger with Ontario Football Union: Toronto Steelheads
1965: Expansion to Pittsburgh, PA -> Pittsburgh Blacksmiths
1969: Expansion to Minneapolis, MN -> Minnesota Serpents
1970: Temporary Merger Agreement with WFU - Calgary Tigers, Edmonton Rangers, Regina Wheat Kings, Vancouver Wolves, and Winnipeg Falcons
1971: Rebrand: Calgary Tigers -> Calgary Predators

 

Last edited by Wallflower (3/16/2024 2:16 pm)


 

2/15/2020 6:28 pm  #2


Re: North American Association of Football - NAAF

This sounds interesting, looking forward to seeing the teams!



 

2/15/2020 8:34 pm  #3


Re: North American Association of Football - NAAF

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.
 


     Thread Starter
 

2/15/2020 9:54 pm  #4


Re: North American Association of Football - NAAF

Boston looks great, love the color scheme.



 

2/15/2020 9:57 pm  #5


Re: North American Association of Football - NAAF

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.

 

2/15/2020 10:00 pm  #6


Re: North American Association of Football - NAAF

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)


     Thread Starter
 

2/15/2020 10:09 pm  #7


Re: North American Association of Football - NAAF

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!


     Thread Starter
 

2/15/2020 10:10 pm  #8


Re: North American Association of Football - NAAF

Section30 wrote:

Boston looks great, love the color scheme.

Thanks! Boston is one of my favourite overall looks!


     Thread Starter
 

2/15/2020 10:19 pm  #9


Re: North American Association of Football - NAAF

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)

 

2/15/2020 10:54 pm  #10


Re: North American Association of Football - NAAF

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.
 


     Thread Starter
 

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