Flag football league coming soon
PETER STEIN/NEWS-SUN
Jeremy Padilla had a dream, or more like an inspiration.
When the United Way sponsored the fourth annual TURFS flag football tournament outside of Watson Memorial Stadium last month, it gave Padilla some motivation. That tournament for the younger players was all fine and well, especially because it helped raise thousands of dollars for needy students, but it also helped push Padilla to establish a flag football league for older players – older as in 18-and-up.
It was something that had been in the back of Padilla’s mind for a while, a couple of years or so, but it was after the TURFS tournament that he got serious about starting some kind of flag football league.
“It set into me that I was going to do it,” Padilla said. “I thought, ‘Yeah, this is something I want to keep going. It’s something for people to do.’”
Enter the Hobbs Flag Football League, which is scheduled to begin play on Sunday August 3 and run Sundays through the end of August. Games will be played at The Boys & Girls Club’s Norm Fee Field in Hobbs.
“It was just something to bring to us older guys,” said Padilla, a former Hobbs football player and 2016 Hobbs High graduate. “We’re getting older. We’re looking for something, just to have some fun on the weekends, wind down on Sunday and get ready for the long week.”
The teams of 18-and-older participants will be able to have up to eight players per roster, though the on-field play will be five-on-five. There won’t be any brackets or multiple divisions yet, as the league is still just trying to get rolling. So there will be one big division including all teams, at least for the first season.
Padilla says the league will operate with national USA Flag rules.
“It’s kind of like the standard,” he said. “We’re going to be going off the official rules, the USA Flag football league, they have rules, so we’re going to go off of that. It’s fair for everybody, so we’re not just making up rules.”
The United Way tournament, though ironically named TURFS, was played on the grass practice fields outside of Watson. Norm Fee Field, where the Hobbs Flag Football League games are being played, is a turf field.
“It’s one of the next best options we can get, instead of going to an open field,” Padilla said. “So we just went that route.”
As of Saturday the schedules and game times had yet to be determined, but Padilla said he and the other organizers are aiming for early afternoon.
“That would give people a chance to have their morning breakfast, get out of church, do the things they like to do on Sundays,” Padilla said. “So I think 1:30, 2 o’clock will be the best time to start.”
Flag football has become immensely popular, not just locally but nationally and beyond, to the point that there are state, national and world flag football tournaments. In August alone, USA Flag will host tournaments in Denver, Boston and Las Vegas. The sport has even been televised by ESPN this summer.
“It’s always been popular,” Padilla said. “I can’t really tell you why it’s gotten so much more popular with people. It’s just one of those things – America’s deal, football.”
The sport has long been Padilla’s deal.
“I played a lot of football in high school,” he said. “Football is one of the deals that me and my dad love.”
Padilla, however, won’t be playing in the Hobbs Flag Football League, at least not initially. He plans to start off sitting on a six-member league board.
“None of us are going to be playing,” Padilla said of the board. “We’re going to be officiating, running the league. We’re going to be out there giving people water, making sure people enjoy it. We’re going to be running it ourselves until it gets to the point where it can be run by other people.
“But,” Padilla added, “we hope to see some smiling faces out there running around.”
Padilla is hoping for more smiling faces than have already signed up. As of Saturday afternoon he said he had five teams registered and was aiming for eight to ten.
“It’s been a little bit slow,” he said. “I’ve been trying to get a hold of some old friends from the area, from Eunice, Lovington, Seminole; I’ve been hollering at them. I have some friends from the fire department and police department; I’ve been trying to get those guys to make a team.”
Anyone who wishes to participate in the league can contact Padilla at (575) 602-4099 or HFFLLEAGUE@YAHOO.COM.
