(Image: Shamaar Thomas – CHS Reporting Intern)

The Super Bowl of inclusive football is coming to Seattle and teams you see battling on the turf at Cal Anderson’s Bobby Morris Field are at the middle of it.

“The Cascade Flag Football League is an all-inclusive league. Not only geared towards the LGBTQ plus community, but also we welcome those that are part of the CIS community as well,” CFFA director of marketing and player DJ Harden said.

Sponsored by the Seattle Seahawks, National Gay Flag Football League (NGFFL), and multiple queer-friendly establishments across Seattle, CFFA is about inclusivity and sport.

“I think it’s just a great opportunity to sort of turn the narrative about football around. Football has this sort of toxic masculinity associated with it,” CFFA league commissioner Andrew Gorman said. He said the league brings members of the community a sense of achievement knowing that they can enter a space where they may not feel welcomed and make it their own.

The league is now gearing up for an ultimate battle in the sport.

(Image: Shamaar Thomas – CHS Reporting Intern)

The CFFA has won the bidding to host the 2023 Gay Bowl, NGFFL’s tournament for players across the U.S. and Canada to compete. Around 2,000 athletes, coaches, officials, and fans are expected to travel to Seattle for the tournament planned for the weekend of October 5th, 2023. Gorman believes this will help immensely with growth.

“In terms of the city, this is a good chance for us to host and sort of showcase the Seattle gay scene,” Gorman said. “To show that it’s very different from a lot of other cities, because it’s the right size where we have a vibrant LGBTQ+ community, but it’s not so big that people self-segregate into different subsets of that scene.”

The CFFA plans to host the 2023 Gay Bowl differently than other cities. Instead of the Gay Bowl having two divisions, an open division for all genders, and the women’s plus division, the CFFA wants to bring them together. “We are gonna try and pull that together because Seattle doesn’t roll like that. We do everything together anyway,” Gorman said.

Gay Bowl games will move off the Hill with plans to host the tournament at the much larger complex at Magnusson Park.

But the Gay Bowl is a long way off. CFFA play continues Saturdays at Cal Anderson Park culminating this year’s season with a June 11th championship game on Bobby Morris field.

Harden, team captain on the CFFA team Seattle Boom, joined the league last fall season because he wanted to find a sense of community after moving to Seattle in 2019. For him, the Seattle freeze is real and the CFFA has been an incredible community to warm him up to what the city has to offer, he said.

“This is a league where you can come play and you may have just moved to Seattle or you don’t know anybody,” Gorman said. “It’s a way to both play football and also meet people that you’re gonna be friends with, or you’re gonna be in relationships with and go out drinking with, or go out to eat and socialize with.”

Gorman said that in the past, players showed up for games and then went home. Today, the atmosphere has changed. Players and people hang out before and after games, sharing moments. Gorman describes the atmosphere of games as a “family affair” on the sidelines.

This spring season, the CFFA opened with its largest roster ever, expanding to 8 teams and having a waitlist. It was not always like this for the CFFA as the pandemic and a lack of general interest in the league didn’t help.

After the spring season, the CFFA looks forward to running summer programs that possibly get Seattle Seahawks players involved. They also are interested in starting a little league flag football league.

“Cascade has brought many people together over years and will continue to do so,” Harden said. “If people feel that they don’t know if they belong, I’m going to say that you do belong. Come out, check us out, try it out, see if you enjoy it. Even if you don’t wanna play and you wanna be a cheerleader or a spectator, we welcome them.”

Interested in joining the league or coming out to watch? Learn more at cascadeflagfootball.org.

(Image: Shamaar Thomas – CHS Reporting Intern)

Thanks for the pic, Boom!

CORRECTION: We incorrectly identified the captains of Seattle Boom. We are informed that Wilthalri’o Coachman-Jensen and Chris Nichols lead the team. The Boom won the 2021 Division B Championship at Gay Bowl 2021 in Tempe and are excited for Gay Bowl 2022 Hawaii where the team will defend its title. Apologies for the error — and good luck!

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